Nick Saban Gives Update on DL Christian Barmore

The redshirt-sophomore defensive lineman suffered a knee injury prior to the Crimson Tide's second scrimmage

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — In his Wednesday virtual press conference with the media, Alabama football coach Nick Saban gave an update regarding redshirt-sophomore defensive lineman Christian Barmore.

Barmore suffered a knee injury prior to the Crimson Tide's second scrimmage of fall camp and has been recovering since then.

According to Saban, he is still unsure whether the 6-5, 310-pound lineman will be able to participate in Saturday's season-opener at Missouri.

“I can’t really say right now," Saban said. "He’s done a little more each day. I think when you have an injury like this, sometimes the more you do it creates a little soreness. Then you have to back off a little bit then you can do a little bit more the next day. He’s worked every day this week and he’s made progress and we’re encouraged by the progress that he makes."

The loss of Barmore at defensive line would certainly be significant, but fortunately the injury does not appear serious and Barmore would be expected back within the next couple of weeks at the latest.

Barmore, on the other hand, seems very optimistic about his recovery for Missouri. The redshirt-sophomore posted this on his Twitter on Sunday:

How Barmore feels about his recovery doesn't necessarily matter when it comes to getting him back to 100 percent, though.

Following up on Barmore, Saban expressed the importance of gradually recovering rather than rushing things and possibly making the situation worse.

"I think [Barmore] gets a little frustrated because he wants to be 100 percent but you know players have to learn that when they come back from injuries you have to be able to give 100 percent of whatever you have," Saban said. "If you’re 70 percent and you can give 100 percent of 70 percent, that’s how you get to 75, 80, 85, 90 and that’s how you get back to 100 percent. But you can’t get frustrated just because you’re not 100 percent the first day you hit the field but you have to learn how to give 100 percent of 70 percent so that you can get back to 100 percent as quickly as possible.”

Despite Barmore's willingness to get back out on the field to be ready for Saturday, it looks like he just might have to wait a little while longer.

Saban also reiterated he and his player's excitement to return to the field of competition.

"[...] We’re really looking forward to this game," Saban said. "A good Missouri team, playing in an unfamiliar place, really, to us. But the field will be 100 yards deep and 53 yards wide, so we’ve gotta go there and compete and stay focused on what we’ve gotta do and keep out all the distractions and try to focus on what we need to do to play and execute and do the things we need to do to be successful in the game.”