Mark Ingram’s Goal: To Be Even Better

Most Alabama fans who had the opportunity to watch part of the ESPN marathon coverage of Crimson Tide football saw the push-ups. Mark Ingram went to a handstand, then pumped out a few push-ups. What was with that?

Mark Ingram said he hasn’t seen any of the ESPN shows that highlighted Alabama football, and gave particular attention to Ingram, the 2009 Heisman Trophy winner. “I haven’t had much time,” he said. “Maybe I can find someone who made a TIVO of it.”

As for those handstand push-ups, Ingram said, “He santed to challenge me to a push-up contest. I didn’t want to do a push-up contest, so I said, ‘I’ll just do a push-up you can’t do.’”

After last year’s performance in which Ingram won sports’ best-known award, earned All-America, and set Alabama records, including rushing for 1,658 yards in leading Bama to a 14-0 record and the national championship, it would seem Ingram could do anything. He has something he wants to do this year.

“I want to be a better player,” he said. “I want to be the best player I can be. I know there is a lot of room for improvement. You can’t live off your past. Coming in with a new team is my motivation.”

Alabama had a good offense in 2009. With eight starters back, including Ingram, quarterback Greg McElroy, and star receiver Julio Jones, the 2010 offense is being ballyhooed as the strength that will carry Bama high, perhaps even to a second consecutive national championship.

“It can be a lot better,” Ingram said. “The sky’s the limit for the offense. It’s up to every individual and how he competes and executes on every single play. The mindset we have going into every practice is to have the attitude to help us play championship football. It’s up to us. We have a lot of experience, a lot of talent, so I think the sky is the limit.”

  Offense was pretty good last year. How much better can it be this year? “It can be a lot better. The sky’s the limit for the offense. It’s up to every individual and how he competes and executes on every single play. The mindset we have going into every practice is to have the attitude to help us play championship football. It’s up to us. We have a lot of experience, a lot of talent, so I think the sky is the limit.”

Ingram admitted he didn’t know the standard that would be the best offense in Alabama history. “I heard our offense last year broke a couple of records,” he said. “I heard. But we don’t pay a lot of attention to that. We just want to improve every day.”

One thing Ingram said he had not heard about was the new documentary movie on Alabama Coach Nick Saban. Asked if he thought that might be the team’s Friday night pre-game movie, Ingram said, “I don’t know about that. That’s Coach’s decision. I doubt he’ll pick that.”