Texans' Will Anderson Jr.: Nick Saban's Alabama Practices Were '10x Harder' Than NFL

Houston Texans pass-rusher Will Anderson Jr. isn't fazed by practices in the NFL.

After all, the rookie said he had it harder when he was in college.

"Alabama did a really good job preparing us for this next level," he said during an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show. "Just making practice 10 times harder than what it is in the league."

When asked by Eisen to clarify if Alabama's practices were more difficult than those in the NFL, Anderson said, "100 percent."

"The intensity is the same," he said. "But as far as, like, the number of plays and reps and everything you get. And with Coach Saban, the way he runs practice, we do a lot of good-on-good periods, and sometimes it's tackle. And it's just physical."

It isn't particularly surprising that the Crimson Tide have some intense practices under head coach Nick Saban given their level of success. Saban has won six national championships at Alabama, so he surely knows how to get a football team prepared for a long season.

Anderson's preparation in college should pay off for the Texans, who made him a franchise cornerstone when they selected him with the No. 3 overall pick of the 2023 NFL draft.

If he parlays his practice sessions in the NFL into production in games like he did at Alabama when he was a two-time SEC Defensive Player of the Year and two-time All-American, he can quickly become one of the faces of the franchise looking to turn things around in the AFC South.