Daily Archives: November 14, 2012

Saban: Only knee injury has kept freshman lineman from playing time

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TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — Alabama true freshman defensive lineman Dalvin Tomlinson hasn’t played this season while he recovered from knee surgery.

The 6-foot-2, 266-pound Tomlinson needed reconstructive surgery after an April injury while playing for his high school soccer team.
But if he hadn’t gotten hurt, he likely wouldn’t be sitting out the season as a redshirt.

“Just watching him day-to-day, he has really good quickness,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said this evening. “If he wasn’t hurt he’s probably a guy who can help us because he’s one of those quick-twitch guys.”

Tomlinson came to Alabama from Henry County High in McDonough, Ga., and was rated as a four-star prospect by Rivals.com.

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Crimson Tide faces an early kickoff Saturday

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TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — Saturday’s game will kick off earlier in the day than any Alabama game this season.

With the SEC Network scheduled to televise the Crimson Tide’s home game against Western Carolina, kickoff will be at 11:21 a.m.

Alabama coach Nick Saban said that won’t lead to many changes for his team’s gameday routine.

“We still do everything the same four hours up to the game, in terms of pregame meal and that time on, but the pregame meal ends up being at 7 in the morning,” Saban said. “There’s not much adjustment you can do before that except maybe everyone’s got to get up a little earlier. We change around a little bit, like we usually have a church service a half-hour before a pregame meal. We’ll have that on Friday night.

“We change the meetings a little bit, but we get everything done on Friday because when your feet hit the ground on Saturday morning you have to be ready to roll, and every player’s got to understand and know that. It’s a little different circumstance from what they’re used to. Maturity goes a long way in how people adjust to new circumstances. Hopefully, our team will show the maturity that we need to start the game the way we need to, and play the way we can to improve and play a good football game.”

Alabama tight end Michael Williams said he doesn’t anticipate anybody being sleepy.

“Once you hit the stadium, anything about you — if you’re sleepy or anything — changes right then. So it doesn’t matter what time the game is,” he said. “Me personally, I like it. Get up, play hard, and get out.”

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Alabama signs pair of four-star basketball prospects

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TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — Alabama’s basketball team announced today it has signed the cousin of one of its former stars and a player from a standout high school program in North Carolina.

Jimmie Taylor is a 6-foot-10, 235-pound center from Greensboro High and is the cousin of Erwin Dudley, who was the Southeastern Conference’s player of the year at Alabama in 2002. That’s also the last Crimson Tide team to win the league’s regular-season championship.

Shannon Hale, a 6-8, 200-pound forward, plays at Christ School in Arden, N.C., which has produced current Duke players Mason and Marshall Plumlee.

Both Taylor and Hale are listed as four-star prospects by Rivals.com. Taylor is rated as the 60th best prospect in the country, while Hale is No. 93.

“We are very excited to have Jimmie and Shannon sign National Letter of Intents with the University of Alabama today,” Alabama coach Anthony Grant said. “They are both outstanding young men who come from quality families. They also have a passion and excitement level for Alabama and our basketball program.”

Taylor helped Greensboro to Class 3A state championships in 2011 and 2012 and averaged 9.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 5.4 blocks a game last season.

“Jimmie will provide for us the length and athleticism needed to be successful in the SEC,” Grant said. “He is a perfect fit for our style of play, and understands what it takes to be successful winning two state championships at Greensboro High School.”

Hale averaged 15.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.5 blocks as he helped Christ School to the North Carolina state semifinals last season.

“Shannon provides great versatility for his size,” Grant said. “He has an ability to play inside and out and like Jimmie is the type of player we target for how we want to play. Shannon also plays for one of the premier prep school programs in the country.”

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Barrett Jones wants a TD like former teammate Johnson

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Atlanta Falcons guard Mike Johnson (79) catches a touchdown pass as New Orleans Saints free safety Malcolm Jenkins (27) covers. (AP photo by Bill Feig)

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — Crimson Tide All-America offensive lineman Barrett Jones has won almost everything imaginable honor at Alabama and his team has won nearly every game while he has been on campus.

But there’s one thing he would love to do: Score a touchdown.

Former Alabama offensive lineman Mike Johnson scored a touchdown recently for the Atlanta Falcons, catching a 1-yard pass in the end zone against New Orleans. He was playing tackle at the time and was an eligible receiver.

“That was awesome,” Jones said. “I was super happy for him. He’s a good guy. We still talk occasionally.”

Added Jones: “I want to score a touchdown some day.”

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Thoughts from Wednesday’s Alabama practice

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We don’t always have the best seats in the house to watch every drill.

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — The Crimson Tide practiced outside in full pads. The players got to enjoy cool weather, little wind and a few clouds in the sky.

We watched the running backs today, even though they practice about as far from the places we can view the workout as you can get. All of the running backs went through drills. Some of these guys likely are looking forward to Saturday like I look forward to pizza.

Guys like Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon probably will get a few token carries, but Kenyan Drake, Brent Calloway and walk-on Ben Howell will get a few running attempts. Check the poll about that at the bottom of the story.

Everyone was carrying the ball in proper form, and according to Alabama coaches, that is to hold the ball high. Yeldon got caught carrying it low in the Texas A&M game, which was part of the reason he lost a fumble.

In other practice news, Alabama freshman cornerback Geno Smith is getting more work in the Tide’s alignment that includes six defensive backs. Cornerback John Fulton (turf toe) didn’t go through drills today, while safety Nick Perry (shoulder) is limited, too. It’s good to see Smith get a little action, because I think I’ve witnessed him catch more grief from Nick Saban during practice than all the other defensive backs combined. However, I’ve been told that with Saban, it’s not a good thing if you’re a young player and he never yells at you.

Wide receivers Kevin Norwood (lower leg) and Kenny Bell (left foot) worked in drills, although they didn’t look full speed.

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Tide’s McCarron makes the cut for a pair of awards

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Quarterback AJ McCarron has led Alabama to a 9-1 record. (AP photo by Bill Haber)

Alabama’s AJ McCarron has made the cut for two national awards.

The Crimson Tide quarterback is one of five finalists for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and one of 15 semifinalists for the Walter Camp Award.

Unitas honors the nation’s top quarterback, while the Camp goes to the country’s top player. Only fourth-year juniors and seniors are eligible for the Unitas Award.

The Unitas Award finalists:
–Matt Barkley, Southern California
–Collin Klein, Kansas State
–E.J. Manuel, Florida State
–AJ McCarron, Alabama
–Geno Smith, West Virginia

The Walter Camp Award semifinalists:
–Montee Ball, RB, Wisconsin
–Matt Barkley, QB Southern California
–Kenjon Barner, RB, Oregon
–Teddy Bridgewater, QB, Louisville
–Taj Boyd, QB, Clemson
–Colby Cameron, QB, Louisiana Tech
–Johnathan Franklin, RB, UCLA
–Jarvis Jones, LB, Georgia
–Collin Klein, QB, Kansas State
–Marqise Lee, WR, Southern California
–EJ Manuel, QB, Florida State
–Johnny Manziel, QB, Texas A&M
–AJ McCarron, QB, Alabama
–Braxton Miller, QB, Ohio State
–Manti Te’o, LB, Notre Dame

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Who’s No. 1? Sagarin says it’s Alabama

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The Bowl Championship Series is based on a wonderful concept — pairing the top two teams in the nation in one bowl game. For those of us who grew up when that didn’t happen every year, we think that’s a plus.

But here’s part of the problem with the BCS process: The six computer rankings the BCS uses as part of its formula aren’t allowed to consider margin of victory.

The ratings Jeff Sagarin provides for USA Today take margin of victory into account. Alabama is No. 1 in those rankings, ahead of Kansas State at No. 2, Oregon at No. 3, Texas A&M at No. 4 and Notre Dame at No. 5. In fact, the Tide has a reasonably comfortable margin over K-State.

(Click here to see his complete list.)

Sagarin also does a “politically correct” rating for the BCS, which doesn’t include margin of victory. Alabama is ninth in that list. Notre Dame is first and Kansas State second.

Why hamstring the computer rankings this way? If you trust them enough to be part of the process, trust them enough to figure out a fair way to rank teams.

Those of you who have followed what I’ve written over the years already know what a big fan I am of Sagarin’s computer ratings.

Sagarin is a mathematician and 1970 graduate of MIT. He developed a basketball rating system that the NCAA tournament selection committee uses to help fill out the field. USA Today publishes his basketball and football ratings. The basketball ratings are especially helpful.

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Saban talks SEC and the BCS National Championship Game

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The Southeastern Conference’s string of six straight national titles appears in jeopardy of not continuing. But should a one-loss SEC team make the game?

During the league’s coaches teleconference this morning, Alabama coach Nick Saban didn’t say yes or no. Instead, he put forward some of his thoughts on the league and the BCS.

“We obviously have a couple of teams that are still in the Top 25 and some other teams that are in the Top 10,” he said. “I think you have to take the whole body of work that each team does, relative to the schedule and the strength of schedule. The system that we have takes those things into consideration probably some kind of way.

“Two really good teams are going to play in the SEC Championship Game. If that elevates their status, then I think they deserve to go to the game.”

As for comparing an SEC team’s chances to one from another league, as you probably know that’s not something Saban would want to do.

“I don’t really think you can make comparisons,” he said. “I’m not really in the position to make comparisons, relative to what the other teams have done. I’m just kind of focused on what our team needs to do to be successful and try to give themselves the best chance to put themselves in the position if they can to control the things that they can control, which is to try to win the games that we have to play to see what happens.”

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Basic details for Saturday’s Alabama-Western Carolina game

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Who: Western Carolina (1-9) at Alabama (9-1)

When: Saturday, 11:21 a.m.

Television: SEC Network. Dave Neal and Andre Ware will call the game from the booth, while Cara Capuano will serve as sideline reporter.

Where: Bryant-Denny Stadium at Tuscaloosa

The series: The two teams have played twice, and Alabama won both times. Alabama won 52-0 in 2004 and 52-6 in 2007, which began the Nick Saban era in Tuscaloosa. The NCAA later vacated the 2007 win as part of sanctions over the violations involving players selling their text books. Vacating the win means the NCAA wants you to pretend it never happened. Don’t tell the NCAA, but it did.

Western Carolina background: The football program began in 1931, and the Catamounts have fielded a lot more losing teams that winning ones. But from 1969-88, the team had plenty of success under Bob Waters, a former San Francisco 49ers defensive back and quarterback. He compiled a winning record of 116-94-6, and his 1983 team finished runner-up in the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs. No Western Carolina coach since Waters has compiled a winning record at the school.

Perfect kicker: Alabama’s Jeremy Shelley hasn’t missed in 56 kicks this year, including 46 extra points and 10 field goals.

Next for Alabama: The Crimson Tide hosts Auburn on Nov. 24. CBS will televise the game at 2:30 p.m. A win will clinch a spot in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia, which clinched last week with a win over the Tigers.

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