Nick Saban and Alabama held their coaching clinic recently where they brought in featured speakers like Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia, Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio, Purdue’s Jeff Brohm, Patriots special teams coordinator Joe Judge, and Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens.

It was a message from Kitchens that really caught the attention of Nick Saban, and while the talk was geared toward coaches, Saban took one of the points Kitchens made and he liked it so much that he shared it with his players.

“Freddie Kitchens made an interesting statement last night when he spoke at the clinic coaches, and I actually shared it with my players.”

“You know, we actually have about five choices in our life. We can be bad at what we do. We can be average at what we do. I mean, we can be good at what we do – which is probably God’s expectation for whatever ability he gave us. Or we can be excellent…or we can be elite.”

“Everybody has a choice as to what they want to do and how they want to do that. But if you’re going to be excellent or elite, you’ve got to do special things. You have to have special intentions, you have to have a special focus, you have to have a special commitment, and drive, and passion to do things at a high level and a high standard all of the time.”

“It doesn’t matter what God given ability that you have…that probably can make you good. But without the rest of it, I’m not sure if you ever get excellent or elite, and that’s the part that we’re trying to get to.”

Hear Saban’s full comments in the clip.