Alabama coach Nick Saban spent his Thursday doing a number of interviews at ESPN in Bristol, Conn. And during nearly every interview, Saban was asked about quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

The questions varied, but one thing remained consistent: Saban wants to see Tagovailoa take what the defense gives him this fall instead of trying to score on every play like he did to end 2018.

Below is everything the 13th-year head coach said about his star signal-caller.

FIRST TAKE

Question: What do you think your young, star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa needs to improve upon in order to get to the next level.

“I think Tua played fantastic football for us all year long. He was one of the best quarterbacks in the country. He was one of the most productive guys at his position in the country. He didn’t turn the ball over. And that’s the one thing that showed up a little bit more at the end of the season, in the last 5-6 games -- a couple of interceptions.

“But sometimes you have good interceptions and you have bad interceptions, and when you’re coaching a player, when the corner bails … and you’re going to throw the ball underneath, you’re not going to try to throw the ball in the seam, you’re going to try to stick it in there anyway. To me, that’s an indication that a guy’s trying to make plays and he’s trying too hard, and I think Tua’s just got to stay patient and take what the defense gives.

“And I think when he does that, he’s the most effective player at his position in the country, and that’s going to be a goal from his this year. And for the most part, he did that all year long, so it’s not like we’re disappointed in any way, shape or form.”

SPORTSCENTER

Question: Let’s talk about your Heisman contender this year, Tua Tagovailoa. If I asked him what’s the one thing your coach gets on you the most about, what would he say?

“I think he would probably say take what the defense gives. I think that all quarterbacks want to make plays. … You’re a leader. You know the design of what’s supposed to happen. You know the receivers want to make plays, you know the runners want to make plays, and you get to distribute the ball to them every time.

“But the thing the quarterback has to do is have enough patience and discipline to just take what the defense gives. Don’t try to force plays, don’t try to make plays when they aren’t there. And when Tua threw a couple picks late in the season, some of that was the issue, and I think he learned a lot from that, aight, that we don’t need to try to make it all on one play. Let’s take what they give us, and they’ll give us the game if we let them because we’ve got good enough players that there will be plays to be made.”

Alabama head coach Nick Saban and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa celebrate after the Orange Bowl.

NFL LIVE

Question: You talked about the goal of a lot of players is to get drafted, certainly the ones that come to Alabama, and you’ve preached, “Just get there.” But when you have a season and player like you’re going to have with Tua this year -- it’s going to be talked about from Day 1 all the way to the end. How do you coach him and say, “Hold your fire. We’ve got to get through this season.”

“I think Tua plays the best when he takes what the defense gives. And I think any quarterback wants to make plays, and I think we have some outstanding receivers that can make plays. So, the instinct is, ‘Let me get them the ball and let them make the play,’ aight.

“But you’ve got to take what defense gives. You cannot try to force things, aight, because when you try to force things at quarterback, to me, I think that’s when bad things happen. That’s when you throw interceptions. That’s when you don’t take care of the ball. That hurts the team. And when Tua has done the first part of that the right way, he is phenomenal, and he’s phenomenal most of the time because he doesn’t make a lot of mistakes.”

COLLEGE FOOTBALL LIVE

Question: Tua had some reads in the championship game that we weren’t used to seeing Tua make. Once again, you replace your offensive coordinator, so you have a quarterback that needs to fix some things at the end of the season, old coach out, new coach in. How do you continue to let this young man grow and coach him as he’s also getting used to a new coordinator?

“Look, we didn’t change the system on offense, we didn’t change the terminology. So, it’s not going to be totally different for him. When we have changes at Alabama, we’re not having independent contractors come in and change everything because the change if for everybody in the building, aight.

“And Sark has been with us before. He knows our terminology, he knows the system. He’s going to add things that he wants to do, which is going to make us better. He’s a really good quarterback coach. He has a great relationship with Tua. I think that’s going to be a positive for us and a positive for Tua’s development.

“But Tua has to take what the defense gives. I’ve said that all offseason that when he made mistakes last year, he forced ball, aight. He forced balls down the field trying to make plays. And look, everybody wants to make plays, aight, but you’ve got to be patient enough to make the right decisions to make the plays.”

Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports' personal messaging or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).

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