Days 'til Spring Practice: 1 Days 'til the A-Day game: 29
Talk about a crazy night. It couldn't have happened any better. The two teams I wanted to see win not only won, but won in heartbreaking fashion. I hope it REALLY hurts Tennessee. Hahahahaa.
Coach Saban had a press conference just to somewhat give the media an introduction to spring practice.
Cecil talks about how Saban has upgraded Alabama's "quotability" over at tidesports.com.
The Crimson White goes over everything, including the fact that a few players will be limited due to some injuries, including Jimmy Johns, Will Oakley, and the player who needs the most practice, Chris Capps.
The assistant coaches came to Bama because of Nick Saban, according to the Birmingham News. Duh.
The Decatur Daily goes over Saban's "process" for making this team touger.
The Huntsville Times goes over how Bama's offense will fit the players that are available. So Applewhite won't exactly be airing it out completely just yet.
Kirk McNair, from BamaMag.com, revealed that no depth chart or roster was provided to the media. The Montgomery Advertiser discussed Saban saying that everyone has "a clean slate."
So today we'll focus on the defense.
Defensive line: This could be the weakest group on the entire team. For the past few years we ran with Defensive linemen that should have been linebackers, linebackers that should have been in the secondary, and a secondary that, despite what you want to believe, should have been on the bench. It helped out as far as speed goes, but how many times did you see Bino, or anyone else for that matter, give up a big play when they needed to make a stop?
The defensive is pathetically small. If you saw the LSU game last year, you'll understand what I mean. We're not big at all. Recruiting this year helped out a little bit, but you can't start an entire line of freshmen (and if Saban does that, more power to him). Gilberry is all-world. He's a helluva ballplayer, but that doesn't make him unstoppable. The biggest question marks will be with Greenwood and Saunders. They have the potential to be REALLY good if they get the right training.
Two other potential stars will be incoming freshmen Kerry Murphy and Luther Davis. Davis is a character and is already a fan favorite, but will have to learn his role on this team quickly. Freshmen are not allowed to talk to the media, so he'll have to shut up at least for this year. Both he and Murphy are huge and are very talented. If they pick up a little bit more muscle, they'll be ready to be BIG TIME contributers by the time September rolls around. Jeremy Elder is another to watch out for as long as he qualifies. He'll be a force and could be a potential starter as early as the middle of this year.
Cornerback: I see NO weaknesses here. There are two kids coming in (Kareem Jackson and Chris Lett) that will be All-SEC players by the end of '08. Simeon Castille has one corner wrapped up, while I would imagine that Lionel Mitchell will take the other spot. Experience is, of course, key here. The secondary is Saban's specialty - just look at the kids that are going to the NFL from LSU.
Safety: I think Rashad Johnson and Marcus Carter were tremendous last year, and will only be better this season, especially with a more fine tuned defensive staff. This will be a fun position to watch because we're incredibly deep and talented enough to rotate on a regular basis. Watch out for Justin Woodall, Michael Ricks, and possibly Corey Reamer to make big plays back here this year.
Outside Linebacker: I don't know much about ANY of these guys. What I do know is that this position is definitely up in the air after losing our starters from last season. We're bringing in Rolando McClain, Nick Gentry, Alex Watkins, and Chavis Williams, along with a lot of guys that are also in the running for Defensive End (Saunders, Greenwood, etc). I don't know who's going to step up, but I saw Rolando McClain in high school and my guess is that either he or Williams will be key at this position. They could end up being 4 year starters.
Inside Linebacker: Prince Hall should have this wrapped up. Matt Collins has experience behind him, and then there's all the kids that I mentioned that can also play outside linebacker. This should be a pretty talented spot on the field. As long as Hall has learned not to over pursue plays, he's got the talent to be All-SEC. This should be another fun year at the linebacker position.
So, there's your defense. Biggest weakness is across the defensive front, but I believe there's enough speed around to make up for it, at least for this year. Just hope we don't play against anyone that's good enough to just pound it up the middle every play, or we'll never see the football. Haha.
¶ 9:10 AM
