What does Nick Saban tell college players who get paid millions through NIL?

Nick Saban's advice to young players with large NIL payments is not to let the money change them and to stay focused on what they can control to build value for the future. He told Theo Von that a former Alabama player, who later earned well in a long NFL career, said he was not sure he would have become the man or player he became if he had been paid $2 million at 18 or 19.

• Saban says the coach's value now lies in judging character and talent and deciding which positions and players to pay.
• Saban's line is that talent is not talent if you cannot use it, and that accountability and commitment have to be developed.

▸In their words

“if I would have gotten paid $2 million when I played here,” Nick Saban · at 1:10:15 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von (2026-10-06). Read the whole episode summary →

▸More from this episode