TUSCALOOSA -- Alabama coach Nick Saban speaks. His players hear. But do they listen? Do they absorb? Do they act?

They didn't in 2010. Saban repeatedly but unsuccessfully hammered a single, simple message: Practice and play to a high standard, he said. Blah, blah, blah, they heard. Don't focus on results, he said. Yak, yak, yak, they heard.

Ears received. Words were not perceived. The point was not believed.

As a result, a team that was coming off a national championship lost three games. A team that was ranked No. 1 in the preseason fell far short of expectations.

Now a new season nearly is upon the Crimson Tide, which is ranked No. 2 in both major preseason polls.

Will the results improve?

Listen up. There's evidence now that Saban's pupils might have been paying attention after all. Preseason practices have been distinctly different.

"It's a lot more intense," defensive back Will Lowery said. "We're out to prove something this year. Last year, everybody was kind of just throwing everything on us. 'Oh, you're going to be so great.' I know people are trying to do that this year."

Lowery then quoted his coach.

"'It's not about what you can do. It's what you do,'" Lowery said, repeating Saban's mantra. "He said last year we kind of bought into what we could do. That's what the team was about. This year, we're all about going out and proving it. We've been really grinding, really working this camp."

Now hear this. Saban has seemed distinctly different this month compared to a year ago, when the hard-to-please coach so often sounded agitated.

"We have lots of guys committed to a high standard and have worked hard," he said on Aug. 7.

"Yesterday, we probably had the best two practices in a day that we've had," he said on Aug. 16. "I really like the way the players responded to making the corrections that we needed to make from the scrimmage. We've made some progress."

"The practices have been good," he said on Aug. 18. "The tempo has been good. We continue to make improvements."

Questions remain. Who will be the quarterback? Will under-proven AJ McCarron and unproven Phillip Sims share the job? Who will catch the passes besides senior wide receivers Marquis Maze and Darius Hanks?

But the makings for a balanced offense are there. Star running back Trent Richardson and a veteran offensive line will provide the punch.

Nine starters are back from a defense that was young but talented last season. Senior linebackers Dont'a Hightower and Courtney Upshaw and senior safety Mark Barron bring play-making and leadership to a unit that was stout statistically last season.

Alabama ranked third nationally in scoring defense (13.54 points per game) and fifth in total defense (286.38 yards per game). But it allowed 35, 24 and 27 points in its three losses, and defensive coordinator Kirby Smart is quick to note that the Tide ranked 118th out of 120 teams in forcing fumbles.

"We probably gave up too many big plays last year ... and it will be a key to us being successful that we minimize the number of big plays that we give up because we were one of the top teams in the country in the red area against scoring," Saban said.

During the offseason, a buzzword quickly bubbled up for a team that blew a 24-0 lead and lost to Auburn 28-27 last season.

"Our focus this year is finishing," senior nose guard Josh Chapman said on the first day of preseason camp. "That's one thing we want to do on the practice field. It kind of carries over into the game. We didn't finish a lot of times in practice. That's what we've got to do now."

Here's more evidence that the players not only hear Saban now, they are embracing his sage comments.

"I don't want to compare this team to last year, but we did learn a lot from last year," senior center William Vlachos said on the opening day of camp. "Coach Saban says it all the time: worrying about the end result and worrying about winning and losing instead of playing to a standard. The key to winning is doing the little things right. We got away from that a little bit. We're definitely aware of that today."

If there's a voice of experience, perhaps it takes an ear of experience to hear it.

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