The first full week of Alabama preseason practice brought six veteran players to the media room for a light-to-medium grilling.
In case you missed anything, here's a quick rundown of the things said when the mics and cameras came on:
-- Deionte Thompson graduated with a degree in environmental science Saturday. He said getting the undergrad degree out of the way should help on the field. "I'll probably have a few online classes and I won't be in class that much," Thompson said, "so I'll be up here watching film and taking care of my body."
-- Thompson said among the differences between spring ball and now is the coaches "picked up the intensity."
-- Junior defensive back Shyheim Carter "can play just about any position in the secondary," Thompson said.
-- Thompson still gets nervous around Nick Saban at times. "Oh yeah, he's watching us all the time. Even if he's not around he's watching. In the sky, he's watching, he's going to be watching the film. He'll tell you exactly what you're doing wrong in meetings even before the play pops up."
-- Alabama's stepped up its social media video game in recent years. Among the clips that went to the web this week was a shot of tight end Hale Hentges saying he planned on being in the Bay Area in January (where the national title game is played this season). He explained that Thursday. "I really just want to get the guys focused on the big picture," he said. "We all preach 'one-day at a time,' and I'm a firm believer of that, but we can't forget what the end goal in mind is. When you start in the beginning, you have the end in mind. That was the first day of pads and I really wanted to get the guy motivated, because sometime whenever you get in camp you get so lost in the monotony of every day just grind, grind, grind that you're like, 'What are we working for?' And I wanted to get in the guys' minds that 'this is a big deal, guys.' I mean, we can do really big things, so let's focus on what we're doing and let's have the end in mind."
-- Hentges said he's always been a lead-by-example guy but he's challenged himself to step outside his comfort zone to be vocal as one of the veterans on this team.
-- Linebacker Anfernee Jennings' injured knee feels "great," he said. "That's the best I can explain it."
-- A typical day at camp for Jennings means arriving at 7:15 a.m. and staying to approximately 9:30 every night. He loves it.
-- Center Ross Pierschbacher graded the offensive line at a "B or B-minus" in spring. "We're hard on ourselves, and I know the media is hard on us as well, so we get the brunt of the blame. But that's fine. We need to be on point, on our game."
-- Pierschbacher confirmed Josh Casher, Deonte Brown and 2017 starter Matt Womack worked with the second group on the offensive line but there's always some shuffling.
-- Lester Cotton is playing "probably better than he ever has" at left guard," Pierschbacher said.
-- Linebacker Christian Miller caught what he estimates was a 50-pound carp when he went fishing this summer.
-- Damien Harris had promised to get a tattoo if Alabama won last season's national championship but he admits he backed out of that pledge.
-- The first scrimmage of the season is Saturday in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Michael Casagrande is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.