Starting with the 99 team there were several years, particularly 2001, when some of the players seemed to be focused on "next year" meaning the NFL, and seemed to save themselves during the season. Fulmer even commented on it, and though I never heard or read where he called him out directly I believe he was referring to Jamal Lewis.
This became a problem for UT in the early 2000s and might explain some of the underachievement that people puzzled over. I personally suspect this led to Fulmer being undermined as the head coach and gradually led to his and UT's underachievement with the talent they had.
As much as I dislike Saban he seems to be able to focus his players on playing for Alabama while they are there, though some say there was a problem in 2014 team that Ohio State beat. Last year there was not.
The reason I bring this up is because so far, Butch has not allowed this to happen that I can see. I was really impressed that he ran off a couple of really good players that did not "buy in". While no one wants this to happen sometimes it's necessary. (I learned a valuable business lesson on this when a colleague of mine told me "if you can't fire them when you need them you'll never be able to fire them".) He was right!
This season will start to answer whether this will be true or not. If he can keep them focused and perform for UT then I agree with BB, this team could be better than any we have seen since 1998. If he can do this this year and into the future then he can be a great coach and our record will show it.
