Ryan Kelly Discusses the Expectations Playing for Alabama [Audio]

Former Alabama offensive lineman and current Indianapolis Colt rookie center Ryan Kelly joined Ryan Fowler inside "The Game" to talk about life as an NFL player but also to discuss what it was like playing for Nick Saban and the expectations of the Alabama football program.

When Nick Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa, he essentially changed the culture of the Alabama football program, demanding excellence by way of his "Process." This was one of the biggest selling points for Kelly to commit to Alabama coming out of high school, and he believes that there's no other collegiate program that can say the same thing.

"Every player that commits there [Alabama], they have to know those expectations because that expectation wasn't set just by them coming, it's been set years and years before they got there."

The Crimson Tide have won four national championships under the tutelage of Saban, and so the expectation bar of winning championships in Tuscaloosa has been set. For the players who understand the expectations, they thrive in the system: yet for the ones who don't understand them, Kelly says a sort of societal natural selection takes place and allows the ones who want to succeed do so.

"The players who are there now, they understand the expectations, they're going to rise to it. And if not, then they're just going to weed themselves out. That's the way that program is, I think that's what makes it great."

You can hear the entire conversation in the video below.