Final A-Day/Spring Practice Analysis, Observations, Reflections, Predictions, etc.

[football mania]

Re: McElroy winning the Heisman....of COURSE he is going to have to improve!!!! What is he...an 18 year old freshman!! probably the youngest person on the field Saturday....

Anyone who is critical of that kid's performance should ask themselves how they would have done the first time they played in front of 92,000 folks...

 

[CaliforniaTide]

Re: Offense @ A-Day?

I could be wrong, but I don't think the D does any blitzing on A-Day. Or if they do it is very minimal and basic. That could explain why the QB's were not really pressured that much. But maybe someone who knows more could enlighten us.

After reading that, that would make sense. I don't really remember anybody getting to the Qb other than the linemen and maybe 1 LB. Nevertheless, it still really seemed like that the O-line blocked better than anytime last season.

Any other info on the O-line blocking vs. lack of defense blizting would be helpful, although one cannot get a whole lot out of a spring practice vs. a real game.

 

[RAM]

What's the update on Coffee and how are the other walking wounded doing in getting ready for summer workout, Walton and B.J.Stabler. I was watching and hoping that we would not have any major injury, just wanting an update and sorry if I did not see this posted somewhere else.

 

[silentsam74]

Someone is doing some quick work. I havent seen this posted so I thought I would share it. It's not a bad production. :biggrin2:

A Day 2007 - YouTube

 

[BAMARICH]

Re: McElroy winning the Heisman....of COURSE he is going to have to improve!!!! What is he...an 18 year old freshman!! probably the youngest person on the field Saturday....

Anyone who is critical of that kid's performance should ask themselves how they would have done the first time they played in front of 92,000 folks...

Look... when people make observations about players from A-Day, it is not for the purpose of tearing them down. Instead, it is for the purpose of discussion and helping out people who were not able to attend the event get an idea how the team looked. I know it's not that way on a lot of other Bama forums, but that's how things work on TideFans... and if undue criticism is offered, amins and mods deal with it.

Your posting history indicates that you are a fan of McElroy... well enough. It is important to notice, when discussing his performance Saturday, that he was playing against the second defense. Did he do well considering things? Yes... but to annoint his as a future Heisman winner is WAY over the top. Thus, you can get the gist of my comment earlier in the thread.

 

[BAMARICH]

Re: Offense @ A-Day?

I could be wrong, but I don't think the D does any blitzing on A-Day. Or if they do it is very minimal and basic. That could explain why the QB's were not really pressured that much. But maybe someone who knows more could enlighten us.

You are correct, blitzing was non-existent Saturday... though it may have seemed like it sometimes because of the different 4-man front packages.

 

[CaliforniaTide]

Re: Offense @ A-Day?

You are correct, blitzing was non-existent Saturday... though it may have seemed like it sometimes because of the different 4-man front packages.

Since I was very close the field on the South Endzone, I couldn't really read the defenses that well. Was there a lot of 3-4? Or was there rather a lot of variety? Based on my limited angle of view, I could see some 3-4, with the "over" dude lining up as the 4th down lineman.

 

[BAMARICH]

Re: Offense @ A-Day?

Since I was very close the field on the South Endzone, I couldn't really read the defenses that well. Was there a lot of 3-4? Or was there rather a lot of variety? Based on my limited angle of view, I could see some 3-4, with the "over" dude lining up as the 4th down lineman.

There was a lot of variety in personnel and front "looks." At times in obvious passing downs, some of our DE's would slide inside with our OLB's on the line with hands on the ground. However, it's obvious that the base is a 3-4. At times, however, it could appear that we would be in a 4-3 when we really are not.

 

[deliveryman35]

35, not BR, but you never heard any of our staff hear poo-poo the weaknesses in S&C. In fact, several times I was attacked for saying that certain assistants were not supporting CRC and that CMS wasn't either. When a coupoe of you DBs can out-BP all of your OL but one, you've got trouble. It was spotty. Some of the assistants did make their guys show up, but not CBC and a couple more...

Earle,

I have no doubt that you, and perhaps others on the tidefans "staff" saw the deficiencies last year in this area, but if you will recall, many, including myself, who pointed this weakness out were absolutely crucified for daring to challenge the S/C program under Shula. That was my only point. I'm glad we're all in agreement now on the issue...

 

[GrandBayTider]

One thing that caught my eye is the lack of jumping around whenever a player did something. What I mean is the last few years, it seemed that after stopping a player for a three yd gain two or three players would jump and chest bump. This game, the players seemed to be concentrating on doing their job, and then getting back to the huddle to get ready for the next player. Not a lack of emotion but a sense of "professionalism" where the good play is expected. Also not a lot of jumping offside and other mental mistakes. I'm sure there were mistakes but they weren't obvious to the "untrained" eye!

:BigA:

 

[Bamabuzzard]

One thing that caught my eye is the lack of jumping around whenever a player did something. What I mean is the last few years, it seemed that after stopping a player for a three yd gain two or three players would jump and chest bump. This game, the players seemed to be concentrating on doing their job, and then getting back to the huddle to get ready for the next player. Not a lack of emotion but a sense of "professionalism" where the good play is expected. Also not a lot of jumping offside and other mental mistakes. I'm sure there were mistakes but they weren't obvious to the "untrained" eye!

:BigA:

There were times last season (Duke game specifically) that players would celebrate after the rb gained five and six yards a carry. Like they did something good. I would be like "Dude, he just gashed us for six yards and here y'all are chest pounding!!!".

 

[Bamathrunthru]

4 things to take note i noticed @ Aday . 1) Remember the name Lowe he"ll be a stand out on special teams. he"ll return more than a few I believe. 2) Kicking looked better, I think that will make alot difference in close games 1 or 2 more than expected wins. 3) Defense needs to improve. 4) Coach Saban we did our part its your turn make us proud.:BigA:

 

[BEATtutorsee]

Re: Offense @ A-Day?

You are correct, blitzing was non-existent Saturday... though it may have seemed like it sometimes because of the different 4-man front packages.

I'm pretty sure I saw a couple of blitzes. There weren't many, and in fact they were all pretty much basic, but they were there. There's even one captured on that clip Sam posted I believe.

 

[Tide&True]

I liked what I saw from Jamar Taylor...something tells me that name will be heard alot here at the Capstone.

 

[Alanbama27]

AL27, don't remember about JC's kickoffs being any better than last year, but one thing I did remember is that that Kick Off team was wearing yellow hats and looked to be consisting of "scout team" type players (other than JC). They were running against a "first team" type of return unit. That might be the explanation for the poor coverage.

The kickoff team was wearing yellow helmet covers to differentiate them from the return team and NO they were not made up of scout team players! Both the kick off and kick return teams were first teamers with the exception of a particular player who would be on both teams. Our coverage was pretty poor given that Jamie did a nice job of getting the ball consistently inside the 5 yard line, while kicking from 5 yards further back.

 

[Alanbama27]

Well the kickoff rules have been changed by the NCAA so unless our kickoff coverage was extremely poor, I think we were seeing the limited effects of the those exact rule changes for kickoffs, where essentially, there won't be nearly as many touchbacks as there will be, unless you have a kicker that can absolutely boom the ball.

Was it just me, or did it seem like JPW's mechanics have changed a bit (for the better)? He seeme like he was actually stepping into his throws a lot more and not a whole lot of throwing them on his back foot.

You are 100% correct that the rule change moving the ball back five yards on the kick-off to the 30 was put in place to have more excitement on kick offs and limit the number of touchbacks. With that said, we were consistently giving up returns to the 30 and beyond. Moving a ball back five yards and having Jamie still get the ball inside the 5 yard line a good team would still stop the return at worst by the 25 yard line. We were giving up more than that way to consistently.

In all fairness, we only have 15 days of practice and we were attempting to install a new offense, new defense and new special teams. Hopefully we'll get better. My initial point was simply a contradiction to the original post on this thread that said our Special Teams were fantastic! Our kickoff returns, punting and kick-offs were really good, leaving the opposite not so good!

 

[BamaMoon]

The kickoff team was wearing yellow helmet covers to differentiate them from the return team and NO they were not made up of scout team players! Both the kick off and kick return teams were first teamers with the exception of a particular player who would be on both teams. Our coverage was pretty poor given that Jamie did a nice job of getting the ball consistently inside the 5 yard line, while kicking from 5 yards further back.

If you are right and that was our starting kick off team I'm real suprised. Some of those guys on the kickoff team looked no bigger than 175lbs (that's why I thought it might have been a scout team). Never saw JJ (actually he was on return team as upman on the opening kickoff) and some of the other horses we have on kickoff team. Perhaps there was a conscious decisions not to put the best against the best on kickoffs.

Also, it was probably a little easier for JA to run into traffic knowing he wasn't going to get leveled since the rule was "down on contact". :wink:

 

[PDL]

Also, it was probably a little easier for JA to run into traffic knowing he wasn't going to get leveled since the rule was "down on contact". :wink:

Yeah, that's why I'm not really buying into all of this "our kick coverage is terrible" talk. Not only are the returners braver since they aren't going to be popped in the mouth on each run, but since there is no tackling, a modest gain may turn into a big one because the coverage team can't reach out, grab the guy, and bring him down. If the tackler isn't right in front of the returner impeding his progress, the refs won't blow the whistle.

This doesn't mean that our kick coverage isn't bad. It just means that the A-Day game isn't a good measuring stick for it.

 

[jthomas666]

Re: Offense @ A-Day?

HAHAHAHA!:biggrin:

Roll Tide!!
ChattTide

Heh. After the game, I went by my old dorm, and I saw an ad for the Corolla on one of the doors.

The ad was a picture of Ken Darby being mobbed by 5 MSU players from last year. The headline was

How Else Will You Be Able to Explain "Darby Up the Middle" to Your Kids?

 

[HitMan54]

Re: Offense @ A-Day?

Heh. After the game, I went by my old dorm, and I saw an ad for the Corolla on one of the doors.

The ad was a picture of Ken Darby being mobbed by 5 MSU players from last year. The headline was

How Else Will You Be Able to Explain "Darby Up the Middle" to Your Kids?

In Darby's defense, that wasn't his fault. Shula and/or Rader didn't do him or us (obviously) any favors.

I'm so glad that we finally got some coaches and the good ole' boys are gone.