Alabama’s Jesse Williams (54) sat out contact drills Wednesday as his sprained knee heals. (Copyright photo by Daily Bama Blog contributor Brett Hudson)
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — The Crimson Tide worked out in full pads today in the second practice since returning to work this week.
It was clear that the linebackers were a point of emphasis — not Alabama’s linebackers, but Notre Dame’s linebackers and how the Tide offense will attack them.
Crimson Tide offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier pressured his quarterbacks in dropback drills from the backside, emulating a situation in which a linebacker comes around the edge and beats an offensive tackle with speed. This required AJ McCarron, Blake Sims, Phillip Ely and Alec Morris — in that order — to make a quick step forward in the pocket before delivering the ball.
Also, the quarterbacks and wide receivers worked on a route combination that isolates linebackers. In the combination, the slot
wide receiver on the right side of the formation would run a shorter
drag route across the field (Chris Black, for instance, ran this route) while the other wide receiver, far out on the left side of the formation, would run a deeper in route to the middle of the field (fellow true freshman Amari Cooper was seen running that route).
In the running game, Alabama tight ends and H-Backs were seen working on running past defensive ends and hitting linebackers to help set up longer runs for the running backs.
On the injury front, center Barrett Jones worked with strength and
conditioning coach Scott Cochran on strength drills while using only his right foot. He held his injured left foot (encased in a light blue cast) in the air. Safety Jarrick Williams (preseason knee surgery) practiced with the safeties again with the black non-contact jersey, and can be seen in the video below (roughly the 1:30 mark).
Off the practice field, plenty of representatives from Daphne High watched, likely paying attention to a pair of their former standouts: linebacker Ryan Anderson and running back T.J. Yeldon.
Report and video contributed by Brett Hudson
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