Spring Practice Thread (Interviews, Press Conferences, Practice Reports)

[KentuckianaBFan]

i just hope the qb battle doesn't produce the sour grapes it has the two years amongst fans. I still can't believe that a few posters were still so anti Jake that it seemed that they were more hoping him to fail than for us to win a championship with him behind center.

To paraphrase, but with actual support, the GOP candidates," I will lend my support to the eventual quarterback, even if he wasn't the guy I picked on a Tidefans forum."

But it should be an interesting battle to say the least. May the best man win

Unlike the GOP candidates, I don't get a vote where fielding a team is concerned, so I don't a 'favorite'...that, and I know that CNS is going to put the players on the field that he feels give the team the best chance of winning...maybe I'm just not close enough to the program, but I don't get the cheerleading that goes on...

RTR!!!

 

[bigjue24]

I'm just not worried about RB's. I have always found that a great O-line is more important to the running game than a great RB. Both being great is the perfect storm. Lacy and the 2012 line are the best example of this in my mind, but a great O-line will allow an average running back to put up really good numbers. I don't put any of our backs in the average category. If this line gels and plays up to potential I could gain some yards. I'm much more interested in the lines development.

 

[rgw]

I'm just not worried about RB's. I have always found that a great O-line is more important to the running game than a great RB. Both being great is the perfect storm. Lacy and the 2012 line are the best example of this in my mind, but a great O-line will allow an average running back to put up really good numbers. I don't put any of our backs in the average category. If this line gels and plays up to potential I could gain some yards. I'm much more interested in the lines development.

Eddie is back in good shape this offseason and he's already the most productive NFL back we've produced despite him sitting behind a Heisman winner and finalist. I really think Green Bay may make a Super Bowl run with all their playmakers healthy and/or in conditioning.


Anyways...I don't think Lacy is anything near an average back when he was here. He had some ball protection issues that he shored up by 2012. Dude had to beat out two Heisman caliber guys in his first three years. That's like faulting Bo Scarbough that he couldn't take snaps away from Henry.

 

[Tideflyer]

I'm just not worried about RB's. I have always found that a great O-line is more important to the running game than a great RB. Both being great is the perfect storm. Lacy and the 2012 line are the best example of this in my mind, but a great O-line will allow an average running back to put up really good numbers. I don't put any of our backs in the average category. If this line gels and plays up to potential I could gain some yards. I'm much more interested in the lines development.

I think it was OJ Simpson, back in the days before he lost his mind, that said, " Without a good offensive line, all running backs are the same. Lousy. " Regardless of who said it, lot of truth to it IMHO.

 

[gtgilbert]

Eddie is back in good shape this offseason and he's already the most productive NFL back we've produced despite him sitting behind a Heisman winner and finalist. I really think Green Bay may make a Super Bowl run with all their playmakers healthy and/or in conditioning.


Anyways...I don't think Lacy is anything near an average back when he was here. He had some ball protection issues that he shored up by 2012. Dude had to beat out two Heisman caliber guys in his first three years. That's like faulting Bo Scarbough that he couldn't take snaps away from Henry.

I think the OP was saying Lacy was great. i.e. the perfect storm of having a great OL and great back at the same time.

 

[Redwood Forrest]

I think it was OJ Simpson, back in the days before he lost his mind, that said, " Without a good offensive line, all running backs are the same. Lousy. " Regardless of who said it, lot of truth to it IMHO.

Look no farther than Alabama vs. Nebraska in a bowl game. Nebraska completely shut dominated the LOS. Musso was tackled behind the LOS on just about every play if I remember correctly). One Nebraska player said "the Italian Stallion" was just ordinary.

 

[CrimsonEyeshade]

Look no farther than Alabama vs. Nebraska in a bowl game. Nebraska completely shut dominated the LOS. Musso was tackled behind the LOS on just about every play if I remember correctly). One Nebraska player said "the Italian Stallion" was just ordinary.

They had three first-team All-Americans in their front 4, including Rich Glover vs. our 195-pound center. Hannah couldn't block all of them.

 

[CrimsonForce]

Don't get me wrong, I think our front DL is going to be very very good, possibly even great, but they don't have 6 top flight DE's to rotate like last year. Just for perspective our likely starter DaShawn Hand was third string last year. Our #2 guys against USC will all be guys who have never taken a snap at Alabama. Big difference in depth.

The length of the QB battle means the offense will be less prepared to start the season which usually translates to an "L" to Ole Miss and I HATE LOSING to those cheating lieing low down dirty worthless mouth breathers!

I'm not trying to be rude or anything but you're flat out wrong about several points in this post. Alabama didn't lose 6 "top flight" defensive ends. Actually, the 2 best defensive ends from the team last year are back this year - Tim Williams and Jonathan Allen. They led the team in sacks last year. So we didn't lose much from the defensive end position. What we did lose was the interior defensive line in A'Shawn Robinson, Jarran Reed, DJ Pettway, Darren Lake, etc. You also say that our #2 guys have never taken a snap at Alabama. That's not true either. Daron Payne, the true freshman last year, played a lot of snaps. Payne started 3 games and recorded 13 tackles. DaShawn Hand had 4 tackles and 2 tackles for loss in the national championship game. You also mention DaShawn Hand being 3rd string last year. That may be true in terms of the depth chart but I think he was just more of a situational player last year and, per CNS comments, he is on track to be an every down player this year. You also have to remember that back in 2013 Hand was the #1 OVERALL recruit in the nation. And your last point - as RTR already pointed out - we didn't lose to Ole Miss because the offense wasn't prepared. I don't want to rehash that game but that's not the reason that game was lost. Not even close to being the reason..

 

[bamamc1]

I'm not trying to be rude or anything but you're flat out wrong about several points in this post. Alabama didn't lose 6 "top flight" defensive ends. Actually, the 2 best defensive ends from the team last year are back this year - Tim Williams and Jonathan Allen. They led the team in sacks last year. So we didn't lose much from the defensive end position. What we did lose was the interior defensive line in A'Shawn Robinson, Jarran Reed, DJ Pettway, Darren Lake, etc. You also say that our #2 guys have never taken a snap at Alabama. That's not true either. Daron Payne, the true freshman last year, played a lot of snaps. DaShawn Hand had 4 tackles and 2 tackles for loss in the national championship game. You also mention DaShawn Hand being 3rd string last year. That may be true in terms of the depth chart but I think he was just more of a situational player last year and, per CNS comments, he is on track to be an every down player this year. You also have to remember that back in 2013 Hand was the #1 OVERALL recruit in the nation. And your last point - as RTR already pointed out - we didn't lose to Ole Miss because the offense wasn't prepared. I don't want to rehash that game but that's not the reason that game was lost. Not even close to being the reason..

Also, it was talked about the week leading up to the ole miss game that Coker had been sick thus Batemen getting the start. Don't know how accurate that is but if so that was also an issue.

 

[Matt0424]

The last two seasons were nice, I have a T-shirt from one of them. But they mean exactly SQUAT going forward. We do NOT have the nations best defensive line any more allowing us to never blitz and yet rack up record sack totals. You cannot win a championship with a game manager quarterback any more. I admit in the past it was possible but TODAY, sooner or later you're going to run into a point machine like DeShawn Watson and you're going to have to play slot machine football. I will be forever grateful that Jake Coker had the arm talent to ring that bell no matter how many times he had to against Clemson. Even with that Saban had to pull the greatest trick play in championship history to pull it off. I never viewed Coker as game manager. He was that guy who had the all world ability and a long list of sad stories how it never worked out for him. He was the Maverick, the Shane Falco. They should make a movie about Coker, it's classic Hollywood.

We need the next Shane Falco.

First off, I'm pretty sure we will still have the best defensive line in the country. We return 9 of the top 11 guys in sacks/tackles for loss. We may not lead the country in sacks again, but with guys like Allen, Anderson, and Williams back along with Frazier, Hand, Payne and the rest I promise it's not going to be a huge drop off.

Second, Coker may have a ton of talent but in our offense he played the part of game manager. He was asked to do less than either AJ or Blake throughout the season most of the time. He was tough, a fiery competitor, and what 99.999% of people would equate to a typical Alabama QB. Game manager isn't a negative term. Some of the best QB'S ever are the definition of that (Brady, Manning, both versions). You don't need a Manziel, Watson, Newton, RGIII type video game QB to win.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[bamaslammer]

I'm not trying to be rude or anything but you're flat out wrong about several points in this post. Alabama didn't lose 6 "top flight" defensive ends. Actually, the 2 best defensive ends from the team last year are back this year - Tim Williams and Jonathan Allen. They led the team in sacks last year. So we didn't lose much from the defensive end position. What we did lose was the interior defensive line in A'Shawn Robinson, Jarran Reed, DJ Pettway, Darren Lake, etc. You also say that our #2 guys have never taken a snap at Alabama. That's not true either. Daron Payne, the true freshman last year, played a lot of snaps. Payne started 3 games and recorded 13 tackles. DaShawn Hand had 4 tackles and 2 tackles for loss in the national championship game. You also mention DaShawn Hand being 3rd string last year. That may be true in terms of the depth chart but I think he was just more of a situational player last year and, per CNS comments, he is on track to be an every down player this year. You also have to remember that back in 2013 Hand was the #1 OVERALL recruit in the nation. And your last point - as RTR already pointed out - we didn't lose to Ole Miss because the offense wasn't prepared. I don't want to rehash that game but that's not the reason that game was lost. Not even close to being the reason..

I didn't say we lost 6 guys, I said we don't have 6 guys. and the rotation was necessary because of all the HUNH offenses we face, what happened when Clemson finally wore us out? We couldn't stop them, we couldn't even slow them down. that was why Saban had to throw caution to the wind.

Our DL situation is thus, we have DaShawn Hand who I think is ready for prime time, I expect him to be teamed with Jonathan Allen in a three man line. I'm not too worried about NOSE or interior because Daron Payne is outstanding, Frazier has at least played some and Kendell Jones is probably just big enough and strong enough to hold the point of attack. I expect Dalvin Tomlinson to be interchangeable with Hand depending on the situation, Tomlinson's better against the rush, Hand's better against the pass.

The problems comes after that, We have Jamar King who is a transfer of unknown ability, we have Anfree Jennings who red shirted last year. those are two three star guys. What's next, the former tight end Johnny Dwight? We could throw the true freshman out there but is that going to fly?

My point on Ole Miss is that in two seasons we have allowed 6 TD passes many of them long passes. We responded with four interceptions thrown. I would love to see us Jack up Kelly and shut down their passing game but you're not going to get great Vegas odds on that happening this year either. They are after all the best paid college team in America.

 

[CrimsonForce]

I didn't say we lost 6 guys, I said we don't have 6 guys. and the rotation was necessary because of all the HUNH offenses we face, what happened when Clemson finally wore us out? We couldn't stop them, we couldn't even slow them down. that was why Saban had to throw caution to the wind.

Our DL situation is thus, we have DaShawn Hand who I think is ready for prime time, I expect him to be teamed with Jonathan Allen in a three man line. I'm not too worried about NOSE or interior because Daron Payne is outstanding, Frazier has at least played some and Kendell Jones is probably just big enough and strong enough to hold the point of attack. I expect Dalvin Tomlinson to be interchangeable with Hand depending on the situation, Tomlinson's better against the rush, Hand's better against the pass.

The problems comes after that, We have Jamar King who is a transfer of unknown ability, we have Anfree Jennings who red shirted last year. those are two three star guys. What's next, the former tight end Johnny Dwight? We could throw the true freshman out there but is that going to fly?

My point on Ole Miss is that in two seasons we have allowed 6 TD passes many of them long passes. We responded with four interceptions thrown. I would love to see us Jack up Kelly and shut down their passing game but you're not going to get great Vegas odds on that happening this year either. They are after all the best paid college team in America.

You realize that Alabama beat Clemson and the Alabama defense stopped the Clemson offense plenty of times. Clemson had several 3 and outs in the first and second half. You're never going to completely shut down a player like Watson who will in all likelihood be the #1 pick of the 2017 draft. I also can't believe anyone would give credence to the 2 fluky TD passes that Ole Miss completed against Alabama. One was an illegal play because of lineman down field and the other was when the ball bounced off a players helmet and fell right into the hands of an Ole Miss receiver. I feel like I have to describe those plays because based on your analysis I'm not sure you watched or remember the game. I thought this thread was supposed to be about spring practice and this years team going forward instead of complaining about last years national championship team.

I do agree with you that the depth of the defensive line may be an issue throughout this year. However, I think that will be mitigated by rush linebackers such as Evans playing as a defensive end on 3rd and long and obvious passing downs. I think we have enough players between the defensive line and linebackers to keep control of the LOS..

 

[bamaslammer]

You realize that Alabama beat Clemson and the Alabama defense stopped the Clemson offense plenty of times. Clemson had several 3 and outs in the first and second half. You're never going to completely shut down a player like Watson who will in all likelihood be the #1 pick of the 2017 draft. I also can't believe anyone would give credence to the 2 fluky TD passes that Ole Miss completed against Alabama. One was an illegal play because of lineman down field and the other was when the ball bounced off a players helmet and fell right into the hands of an Ole Miss receiver. I feel like I have to describe those plays because based on your analysis I'm not sure you watched or remember the game. I thought this thread was supposed to be about spring practice and this years team going forward instead of complaining about last years national championship team.

I do agree with you that the depth of the defensive line may be an issue throughout this year. However, I think that will be mitigated by rush linebackers such as Evans playing as a defensive end on 3rd and long and obvious passing downs. I think we have enough players between the defensive line and linebackers to keep control of the LOS..

I unfortunately was there, I saw the stupid tipped pass, I saw the ridiculous lineman down field play. I was also there when Johnny Manzel launched similarly ridiculous passes that also floated miraculously into their hands. Heck I was in Birmingham the Day Doug Flutie tossed more garbage in the second 30 minutes than you can imagine and it all landed in the right place too. When it comes to losing Alabama has a gift, if they are going to lose, it's going to be something special.

You may have a point about the linebackers. Williams, Foster, Evans, Anderson and I believe Christian Miller is going to splash this season have more speed collectively than I've seen since Derrick Thomas was on the field.

 

[BamaMoon]

FWIW, last thing I'm worried about is our DL!

On Bama vs. Clemson we've just got to give credit where credit is due.

They were a great team (better than any of us gave them credit for).

It was a case of two juggernauts playing their best...what everybody outside of Bama and Clemson fans were hoping for!

Rarely, if ever do you meet a team playing on that level and yet, the way I look at it, we were good enough to overcome and it took great players and great coaches but we were the ones left standing at the end of an instant classic!

 

[gtgilbert]

I'm not trying to be rude or anything but you're flat out wrong about several points in this post. Alabama didn't lose 6 "top flight" defensive ends. Actually, the 2 best defensive ends from the team last year are back this year - Tim Williams and Jonathan Allen. They led the team in sacks last year. So we didn't lose much from the defensive end position. What we did lose was the interior defensive line in A'Shawn Robinson, Jarran Reed, DJ Pettway, Darren Lake, etc. You also say that our #2 guys have never taken a snap at Alabama. That's not true either. Daron Payne, the true freshman last year, played a lot of snaps. Payne started 3 games and recorded 13 tackles. DaShawn Hand had 4 tackles and 2 tackles for loss in the national championship game. You also mention DaShawn Hand being 3rd string last year. That may be true in terms of the depth chart but I think he was just more of a situational player last year and, per CNS comments, he is on track to be an every down player this year. You also have to remember that back in 2013 Hand was the #1 OVERALL recruit in the nation. And your last point - as RTR already pointed out - we didn't lose to Ole Miss because the offense wasn't prepared. I don't want to rehash that game but that's not the reason that game was lost. Not even close to being the reason..

Step back from the ledge...

The OP didn't say we LOST 6 top flight DE's just that we won't have that many in the rotation like last year. Remember that in our scheme guys like ARob and Reed are DEs, even though they play a lot like DTs and in some alignments are DTs. Pettway was also a DE. That's three of the tops guys in that rotation, leaving Allen, Tomlinson and Hand. Perhaps Payne can play that role also, but so far he's only seen reps at NT so it's an unknown. Then what? Frazier and Smith have been around a while, but not played much of a role and could be pure NT types not able to play the DE role. Dwight appears to have moved back to DL, but spent all last year as a TE. Net it out our starting 3 DL (Allen, Tomlinson and Payne) have solid reps - one second teamer (Hand) saw his reps increase as the year when on last year, and then there's almost no meaningful reps behind them - just garbage time.

Williams is an OLB, not a DE. That said, the Jack pretty often puts his hand in the dirt much like a DE. Williams has a lot to prove before he'd be the "best" at that slot though. Yes he had a lot of sacks, but all but 1 or 2 came on third down in obvious passing situations. Of the 5 guys who got a lot of reps at OLB last year (Devall, Lee, Anderson, Williams, Evans), he was 4th in tackles way behind even Lee who mostly played in the base 3-4 so saw limited action against a lot of teams. Most of that is b/c the coaches didn't play Williams in other situations as he had not shown the knowledge to be a three down guy. Williams has to show he can pick all that up, otherwise Ryan Anderson will get most of the reps and Williams will be a pass rush specialist again.

 

[CrimsonForce]

Step back from the ledge...

The OP didn't say we LOST 6 top flight DE's just that we won't have that many in the rotation like last year. Remember that in our scheme guys like ARob and Reed are DEs, even though they play a lot like DTs and in some alignments are DTs. Pettway was also a DE. That's three of the tops guys in that rotation, leaving Allen, Tomlinson and Hand. Perhaps Payne can play that role also, but so far he's only seen reps at NT so it's an unknown. Then what? Frazier and Smith have been around a while, but not played much of a role and could be pure NT types not able to play the DE role. Dwight appears to have moved back to DL, but spent all last year as a TE. Net it out our starting 3 DL (Allen, Tomlinson and Payne) have solid reps - one second teamer (Hand) saw his reps increase as the year when on last year, and then there's almost no meaningful reps behind them - just garbage time.

Williams is an OLB, not a DE. That said, the Jack pretty often puts his hand in the dirt much like a DE. Williams has a lot to prove before he'd be the "best" at that slot though. Yes he had a lot of sacks, but all but 1 or 2 came on third down in obvious passing situations. Of the 5 guys who got a lot of reps at OLB last year (Devall, Lee, Anderson, Williams, Evans), he was 4th in tackles way behind even Lee who mostly played in the base 3-4 so saw limited action against a lot of teams. Most of that is b/c the coaches didn't play Williams in other situations as he had not shown the knowledge to be a three down guy. Williams has to show he can pick all that up, otherwise Ryan Anderson will get most of the reps and Williams will be a pass rush specialist again.

I'm not sure what elicited your step back from the ledge comment. I would be curious to know what prompted that statement. :conf2:

There's always unknowns each season. Players leave early for the NFL and seniors graduate every year. I'm not worried one bit about the defensive line depth considering we've had the #1 overall recruiting class for the past 4-5 years in addition to leveraging the process that has produced 4 national championships in 7 years. Defensive line and defense overall will be fine. This time last year nobody really thought much of Tim Williams and he became the best pass rusher on the team. Trust the process friend..

 

[gtgilbert]

I'm not sure what elicited your step back from the ledge comment. I would be curious to know what prompted that statement. :conf2:

There's always unknowns each season. Players leave early for the NFL and seniors graduate every year. I'm not worried one bit about the defensive line depth considering we've had the #1 overall recruiting class for the past 4-5 years in addition to leveraging the process that has produced 4 national championships in 7 years. Defensive line and defense overall will be fine. This time last year nobody really thought much of Tim Williams and he became the best pass rusher on the team. Trust the process friend..

clearly you didn't understand the other poster, and even though you said you didn't want to be rude...

I think on DL, the starters are going to be fine but perhaps not as good as last year. We lost 4 guys out of what was really an 6-7 person rotation, and there's not much proven talent behind them. Given the way the staff has been trying to rotate guys to keep them fresh that raises questions. I'm not saying the sky is falling, just there are questions. We've also had some potential misses in DL recruiting (Smith, Frasier, Dwight) that make us not as deep as we could be. We'll have to see if they can step up, or if a complete newcomer will make a move for serious PT.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

Peace, brothers.

The 2015 DL was the best and deepest in Alabama history. It might have had the best combination of talent, experience and depth college football history.

It would be naive to think there won't be a drop off. That doesn't mean the 2016 DL is a source of concern, or that the talent isn't there. Only that it's not likely to be as effective as 2015's best ever, especially early while the youngsters are gaining experience.

It's still going to be Top Ten in CFB. Real good chance for Top Five. Maybe even the best by the end of the year. We'll be fine.

 

[CrimsonForce]

clearly you didn't understand the other poster, and even though you said you didn't want to be rude...

I think on DL, the starters are going to be fine but perhaps not as good as last year. We lost 4 guys out of what was really an 6-7 person rotation, and there's not much proven talent behind them. Given the way the staff has been trying to rotate guys to keep them fresh that raises questions. I'm not saying the sky is falling, just there are questions. We've also had some potential misses in DL recruiting (Smith, Frasier, Dwight) that make us not as deep as we could be. We'll have to see if they can step up, or if a complete newcomer will make a move for serious PT.

Do you know what the expression step back from the ledge means? I ask because the way you used it implies that you may not understand the meaning. Step back from the ledge or something similar is usually used to address an overly negative or doom and gloom type post. I was responded to a negative post with a very positive post. I don't really want to spar with you on the issue I just found it odd the way you used that figure of speech.

I think we're on the same wavelength about the defensive line. The starters and key backups are just about as talented as the ones from last year but it doesn't appear that we have as much interior depth. I'm hoping that doesn't bite us to bad and I don't think it will because we only play a few teams (LSU, Arkansas maybe AU) who are committed to running the ball between the tackles. I could see the defensive line this year being a group that may be a tad weaker against the run but maybe even better than last year at rushing the QB and containing dual threat QBs and spread offenses..

 

[TiderJack]

Peace, brothers.

The 2015 DL was the best and deepest in Alabama history. It might have had the best combination of talent, experience and depth college football history.

It would be naive to think there won't be a drop off. That doesn't mean the 2016 DL is a source of concern, or that the talent isn't there. Only that it's not likely to be as effective as 2015's best ever, especially early while the youngsters are gaining experience.

It's still going to be Top Ten in CFB. Real good chance for Top Five. Maybe even the best by the end of the year. We'll be fine.

This is what I have said on several occasions. A'shawn and Jarran don't grow on trees. We will be excellent on pass rush and pass coverage and good against most rushing teams. How good we are against downhill teams like LSWho and Ark in the middle of our D line in winning individual match-ups that A'shawn and Jarran always won will determine how great the 2016 defense will be IMO.