Alabama head football coach Nick Saban attempted to de-escalate his budding rivalry with Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher on Saturday.

According to AL.com's Mike Rodak, Saban appeared on ESPN's PGA Championship simulcast with Joe Buck and addressed his recent comments about recruiting, saying: "It was not my intention to really criticize anyone."

Per ESPN's Alex Scarborough, Saban discussed recruiting and the impact that college athletes getting paid for their name, image and likeness (NIL) has had on it during a local business leaders event in Birmingham, Alabama, on Wednesday.

Saban specifically mentioned Texas A&M, saying that the Aggies "bought every player on their team" via NIL.

He also mentioned the Jackson State program coached by Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, saying that the FCS school "paid a guy $1 million" in reference to 5-star recruit Travis Hunter.

247Sports ranked Texas A&M's 2022 class as No. 1 in the recruiting cycle with eight 5-star commitments, followed by Alabama at No. 2.

Saban said his players who earned NIL money last season were "doing it the right way" and opined that remaining near the top of the recruiting rankings would be "tough" moving forward due to the NIL system.