Say what you want. Two of my favorite all-time coaches, other than Bill Walsh, are football coaches. And again, say what you want — I know a lot of people may not like them or don't like the team they coach for — but it's Bill Belichick and Nick Saban . Not just because they're the winningest coaches, really, but because they didn't really have a lot to say. They never did. In fact, watching news conferences, press releases, and things for both of the coaches, you never really got a lot out of them UNLESS, they really had something to say. It was more of, you know, just kind of "roll off your shoulder." "Kids played great, kids did well, kids did this, kids did that," which was awesome. But when they did speak up, everybody listened, and they spoke volumes.

Nobody Owes You Nothing

One of my favorite speeches by Nick Saban is the Nick Saban speech about nothing. So think about that — just the verbiage of it. Nick Saban's speech about nothing.

It comes off as if, well, typical Nick Saban. He's not going to talk about anything, like, "Yeah, we did well, we played good, it was okay." But here's what Nick Saban said. He goes, "You get up every day and you're entitled to nothing." That's how he started.

He then carried on and said, "Nobody owes you nothing." You can have talent, but if you don't have discipline and you don't execute and you don't focus, what do you get? The answer is nothing. If you're complacent, if you don't pay attention to detail, what does that get you?

The answer is nothing.

So, nothing is acceptable except for your best.

Nick Saban, talking about nothing.

Again, in all it is 35 words, but as I mentioned, those coaches didn't have to stand up there for an hour to give a press conference. They didn't have to stand up there and go ahead and tell you some heartfelt story to do those things.

But by talking about nothing, he was, in fact, talking about everything you need to do to be successful.

Let's Talk About Showing UP

I'm going to take that one step further. I'm not going to talk about nothing; I'm going to talk about showing up.

Sounds like a simple thing.

In fact, a lot of people — athletes especially — think in the offseason, "All I gotta do is show up. All I gotta do is put that face time in. I gotta show that I'm there for the team, I'm there consistently enough, and showing up is enough."

When in reality, showing up is what's expected. It's showing up for what purpose.

So hear me out on this. I thought a lot about what Nick Saban was really saying. Maybe I think a little too far into his speeches, but showing up to me is as follows:

• Show up when it's tough.
• Show up and get the work done.
• Show up even when you don't like it.
• Show up even when nothing seems to work.
• Show up when you face a setback.
• Show up to learn and grow.
• Show up to support others.
• Show up with a positive mindset.
• Show up and embrace the challenges.
• Show up with determination.
• Show up to create opportunities.
• Show up as your best self.
• Show up and take responsibility.
• Show up and you'll find success.
• Show up and inspire those around you.
• Show up and make a difference.
• Show up every single day, and the results will come.

Nick Saban talked about nothing. All I've asked you to do is show up. Both are loaded words or phrases, but just showing up doesn't get it done. Just being present doesn't fully detail what needs to happen.

What You Need To Do As Men

You want to take that one step further?

Every "show up" that I just listed is what we need to do as men.

What you need to do as men: show up when you have adversity, show up when you have a setback, show up when things are good, show up when things are bad. show up when things are tough. Show up because showing up in those ways, in those situations, is what ultimately is going to prove your worth.

That's what you have to understand.

This is more than football. Nick Saban wasn't just talking about the players on his roster when he talked about nothing. He was talking about life. Everything is expected of you, but no one owes you nothing.

How do you show up and approach each day?

So, how do you go ahead and show up and approach each day? Show up. Show up and face everything that life has to throw at you.

Last thing: this Saturday, our JV teams will play their last football game. This should be a resounding message to all those players: show up. Yes, you may not play another game, but show up. Why is showing up so important — and we'll talk more about that on Saturday after your game.

More so than anything else, as we talk seniors and starters, next or tomorrow, show up. How are you going to show up? We talked about what 6-3 versus 5-4 is. We talked about what lays ahead of you.

The most important thing is tomorrow: SHOW UP!