What is and is not appropriate behavior for a trainer? There's a fine line between pushing players in training and outright abuse. Sometimes that comes to light in the moment; In other cases, it may require lengthy investigations to get to the bottom of things. And then there's the case of now-retired Alabama football coach Nick Saban, about whom one of his former players told a story in which Saban didn't do particularly well.

The former player was Brian Branch, who played for Saban from 2020 to 2022. During an appearance on the St. Brown Podcast, Branch was asked if he had a Nick Saban story to tell. Turns out he did.

“I got into it one day at practice,” Branch told hosts Amon-Ra and Equanimeous St. Brown. “It was with a lineman, and he had hit me.” From there, things escalated until, in Branch's words, “it became a defensive-offensive brawl.”

“Coach Saban took a little hit on the offensive lineman,” Branch continued. He later clarified that it “just felt like a slap in the face.”

As NJ.com's Todderick Hunt pointed out in his article, Branch didn't seem particularly bothered by the events. In the podcast itself, the St. Browns Branch can be heard saying they can remove the audio from his Saban story; It's probably no problem for him to reach a wider audience. And when it comes to conflict between coaches and players, it's not quite at the top of the table.

For his part, Saban donned a Nittany Lion costume before Penn State's game against Ohio State today. Football can be a strange sport at times.