TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – Nick Saban is targeting the Southeastern Conference's coordinator of football officials.

"I'm looking forward to Steve Shaw coming over," the Alabama coach said Thursday when asked about the NCAA's new "targeting" rule.

“I've had meetings with him before, and I think I understand it. I don't think public perception is exactly the way I understand it. So I'm hopeful that the officials are going to make those decisions in the game are sort of on the same page as we're on.”

Under the new rule, a player can be ejected immediately for targeting a defenseless player above the shoulders.

"When I see Clowney's play on TV, and they say he would have been suspended for that, that's not the way it was explained to me," Saban said of a hit by South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney that knocked off the helmet of a Michigan play.

“Look, I'm all for player safety. I don't want to hit anybody in the head, and I don't want our players to hit anybody in the head, and I don't want anybody to go helmet-to-helmet on any play. But the rule is to protect an unprotected player. Running back running the ball up the middle, he's not unprotected. Is that correct?”

Saban said he’s nervous about judgment calls, “and is everybody going to be on the same page?”

“As a coach, I'm concerned,” he said. “As a player, I think the players are concerned because the players don't want to do anything that is going to hurt another player. They don't want to do anything that's going to get a penalty or get them rejected or whatever.”

Hard-hitting junior safety Vinnie Sunseri was asked if the new rule affects how he practices.

“As a practice standpoint, no, I'm going full speed every single time,” he said. “But at the same time, Coach Saban has definitely looked at me and told me I've got to be smart with how I approach tackles and how I approach tackling people when they're up in the air and going for the football.

“That's something we've worked on during the summer and something we've definitely took a focus on, and it's looking good so far.”

But is that fighting natural instinct to make a big hit?

"No, as long as you have your head up, looking at the guy's numbers and you're doing everything you're taught in Pop Warner and like my dad taught me, you should be OK," Sunseri said, referring to his father, Sal, a former Alabama assistant coach who now is on the Florida State staff.

The instruction comes from the meeting room, film room and practice field.

“Every aspect of the game,” Sunseri said. “You take it from the film room to practice, and when you look at the practice film, you take it back to the meeting room.”