Inside Alabama's locker room at Bryant-Denny Stadium, the players gathered around Nick Saban to hear the coach's last message of the spring.
It was April, 22, 2017. Saban had just spent the last few hours walking around the field in a blue sport jacket and pressed slacks, evaluating the performance of his team at A-Day.
He had witnessed his top two quarterbacks -- Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts -- throw for 614 yards. He had seen Alabama's athletic outside linebacker, Terrell Lewis, make an acrobatic interception. Highlights abounded and yet Saban wasn't impressed.
The specter of the program's most crushing defeat in Saban's tenure -- the last-second loss to Clemson in the 2017 College Football Playoff title game -- remained while the season opener against Florida State hovered off in the distance.