Former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban joined “The Pat McAfee Show” on Saturday and shed some light on the wild reality of college football in the age of NIL and the transfer portal.

Saban shared that he had a conversation with an anonymous head coach who is set for a bye week and that all they are doing this week – instead of practicing – is meeting with player agents to negotiate new NIL deals, talk about playing time, address portal threats, and more.

“People are struggling to sustain their intensity.”

Nick Saban discusses the new era of college football on the @PatMcAfeeShow 👀 pic.twitter.com/9Xt3FIlcY5

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“I talked to a college coach this week who has a bye week next week, and all he’s doing is meeting with agents. It’s the middle of the season!” Saban said. “Guys are worried about how much playing time am I getting, what I’m going to do if I don’t get enough playing time. I’m playing well, so how much money am I going to make next year there or someplace else?”

“The reason we’re seeing a lot of these inconsistencies in performance is people are struggling to sustain their intensity week in and week out,” Saban continued.

“Maybe it’s people are more conditionally committed to their team because the circumstances we’re putting these players in. … If you can’t sustain intensity, you can’t sustain the level of performance you want to sustain, you can’t play smart, you can’t play with intelligence. It all starts with your mental energy, and that starts with your commitment to your team and to your development as a player.”

Nobody has a better idea of what it took to win in the previous era of college football, but with every passing day, it becomes more and more clear the days of coaches running their programs in militant fashion like he did are gone. What that means for the future of the sport remains to be seen, but Saban’s perspective on how things have changed is always eye-opening.