Crimson Tide continues to be cautious with Yeldon-sds

The University of Alabama football team continues to be cautious with junior running back T.J. Yeldon, who has been dealing with a hamstring and ankle injuries since October. “It’s a medical decision as to what would be the best way for him to be able come back and be most effective playing, and that decision was to really limit what he does until we come back after Christmas,” Coach Nick Saban said Saturday evening. “So he’s doing a lot of rehab, he’s doing a lot of conditioning-type stuff that is not going to put strain on the hamstring and some of the injuries that he’s sort of had.
“We’re trying to use this extra time to get him healthy rather than stay on this sort of treadmill of he really never gets better. So that’s the plan.”
Yeldon has 184 carries for 932 yards this season, with 10 rushing touchdowns. He’s also caught 15 passes for 180 yards and another touchdown.
Coaches held him out of the Western Carolina game and Yeldon responded with 127 yards on 19 carries and two touchdowns against Auburn. However, against Missouri in the SEC Championship Game he had 14 carries for 47 yards and two touchdowns, while sophomore Derrick Henry took most of the late handoffs and finished with 20 carries for 141 yards and two touchdowns.
With both the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1 (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) and the potential national championship being playing on artificial turf, Alabama has practiced this week inside the Hank Crisp Facility. It’ll break for the holidays after Monday’s workout and travel to New Orleans on Dec. 26.
Saban announced that the only player who has sustained a significant injury during bowl practices had been Zach Houston, a walk-on defensive back from Daphne, Ala.
“He’s probably going to be out and (have) knee surgery,” Saban said.

Saban goes on rant about second chances-sds

Apparently University of Alabama coach Nick Saban had a few things on his mind besides facing Ohio State in the upcoming Sugar Bowl, during his press conference on Saturday. Meeting with reporters for the last time before the team breaks for the holidays, Saban was asked about defensive lineman D.J. Pettway making the most of his second chance at Alabama and recently earning his degree.
Pettway was dismissed from the team after being on the scene of two assaults on campus, but after spending a year at East Mississippi Community College was allowed to re-enroll.
“You know, I think D.J. has done a really good job for us all year long,” Saban started with. “He’s a hard worker, he’s certainly been productive for us in the games, he’s provided a lot of depth for us, he’s been a starter at times, he gives us something in pass rush that we don’t have enough guys who can do that with some of the bigger guys we have to play with on run downs he comes in and plays a real critical role for us.”
But then the coach went in a different direction:
“I think sometimes players don’t understand how important roles are,
he continued. “You know, you’ve got a guy who plays a role in a passing situation or you’ve got a guy who is a sixth DB or whatever, and all of a sudden … that’s a critical role, that’s a critical role to get off the field on third down. But yet, just like a middle reliever or a closer, that’s not a starting pitcher, the guy may only pitch to three batters. But that’s a critical role because you’re finishing the game, that’s a critical part of the game. Sometimes I appreciate those kind of guys a lot more on the team than they even appreciate themselves. Because they all just want to play more.
“But D.J. has done a really good job with that and he’s contributed and done everything we’ve asked him to every way we’ve asked him to do it and never but been anything but positive about doing it. It was really, really good for me, and I think some of our administrators around here who … our president, who shakes hands with all our players when they walk across the stage and graduate, when we give somebody a second chance and they do well and graduate from school.”
Saban’s voice started to rise with the next part.
“There’s always a lot of criticism out there when somebody does something wrong, everybody wants to know ‘How are you going to punish the guy?’ But there’s not enough – for 19 and 20 year old kids – people out there saying ‘why don’t you give them another chance?’ So I’m going to give a speech right now about this.
“Where do you want them to be? Guy makes a mistake. Where do you want them to be? Want them to be in the street? Or do you want them to be here, graduating. When I was over there at the Nagurski (Award banquet in Charlotte, N.C.) Muhsin Muhammad, who played 15 years for the Carolina Panthers, played for me at Michigan State (was there).
“Everybody in the school, every newspaper guy, everybody was killing a guy because he got in trouble and said there’s no way he should be on our team. I didn’t kick him off the team, I suspended him, I made him do stuff. He graduated from Michigan State, he played 15 years in the league, he’s the president of a company now and he has a seven children and his oldest daughter goes to Princeton. So who was right?”
Specifically, in 1993 campus police discovered a gun in the glove compartment of his car. Combined with a previous marijuana possession charge Muhammad served jail time for a probation violation.
Muhammad played with the Carolina Panthers from 1996-2004, 2008-09, and with the Chicago Bears (2005-07). He played in 202 games with 188 starts, caught 860 passes for 11,437 yards and scored 62 touchdowns.
He created his own charity foundation, “The M2 Foundation for Kids,” and was named the Panthers’ Man of the Year award in 1999. He now helps run an investment firm.
“I feel strong about this now, really strong, about all the criticism out there about every guy who is 19 years old and makes a mistake and you all kill them, and then some people won’t stand up for them,” Saban closed with. “So my question to you is, where do you want them to be? Want to condemn them to a life sentence? Or do you want a guy to have his children going to Princeton?”

Majority of FBS coaches say Alabama will win playoff-sds

According to 107 of the 128 FBS head coaches, Alabama is the favorite to win the playoff.
The Crimson Tide were picked by 60 percent of the coaches in ESPN.com’s weekly poll, #1Qfor128. Oregon came in second with 28 percent of the vote, followed by Florida State and Ohio State who received six percent of the vote.
When asked the pick the semifinal matchups, Alabama was chosen over Ohio State by a 90-10 percent margin. Oregon was selected over Florida State by a 73-27 percent margin.
Alabama-Oregon was selected as the national championship matchup on Jan. 12 by 67 percent of the coaches polled. Alabama-Florida State, Oregon-Ohio State and Florida State-Ohio State rounded out the selections.
Nearly one-third of the coaches polled believe the College Football Playoff selection committee didn’t choose the best four teams. A higher percentage of Power 5 head coaches believed the committee did select the best four teams (72 percent yes, 28 percent no) compared to Group of 5 coaches (67 percent yes, 33 percent no).
You can find more information from the poll conducted by ESPN’s Brett McMurphy here.

#1Qfor128 Voting Breakdown

Did the selection committee select the best four teams?
Yes: 69 percent
No: 31 percent
How Power 5 coaches voted:
Yes: 72 percent
No: 28 percent
How the Group of 5 coaches voted:
Yes: 67 percent
No: 33 percent
Who will win the College Football Playoff:
Alabama: 60 percent
Oregon: 28 percent
Florida State: 6 percent
Ohio State: 6 percent
How the Power 5 coaches voted:
Alabama: 58 percent
Oregon: 32 percent
Florida State: 7 percent
Ohio State: 3 percent
How the Group of 5 coaches voted:
Alabama: 62 percent
Oregon: 24 percent
Ohio State: 8 percent
Florida State: 6 percent
Who will win the Rose Bowl semifinal?
Oregon: 73 percent
Florida State: 27 percent
How the Power 5 coaches voted:
Oregon: 67 percent
Florida State: 33 percent
How the Group of 5 coaches voted:
Oregon: 77 percent
Florida State: 23 percent
Who will win the Sugar Bowl semifinal?
Alabama: 90 percent
Ohio State: 10 percent
How the Power 5 coaches voted:
Alabama: 91 percent
Ohio State: 9 percent
How the Group of 5 coaches voted:
Alabama: 89 percent
Ohio State: 11 percent
Who will meet in the College Football Playoff final?
Alabama-Oregon: 67 percent
Alabama-Florida State: 24 percent
Oregon-Ohio State: 5 percent
Ohio State-Florida State: 4 percent

SEC Headlines 12-21-2014-mrsec

SEC Football
1. Georgia in a holding pattern with offensive coordinator Mike Bobo until Colorado State coaching situation is resolved.
2. LSU cornerback Jalen Collins will reportedly enter the NFL draft while teammate Jalen Mills will apparently stay.
3. Funeral on Saturday for Auburn tight end Jakell Mitchell.
4. Don’t expect any changes on Auburn’s defensive staff under Will Muschamp until after the bowl game.
5. Cecil Hurt: The Nick Saban press conference on Saturday night ran to near-record length.
6. Ohio State co-offensive coordinator Ed Warinner was a graduate assistant for Nick Saban at Michigan State.
7. Meet new Kentucky defensive coordinator Shannon Dawson.
8. Will All-SEC omission spark motivation in Tennessee cornerback Cam Sutton?
9. With Dylan Thompson preparing to make his last start at quarterback for South Carolina, the transition to Connor Mitch is underway.
10. Very similar to last year, Missouri will lose the bulk of its receiving corps at the end of the season.
11. West side of Kyle Field imploded as part of the redevelopment of the stadium.