Alabama Spring Football Completes Second Spring Scrimmage
2016 Spring Scrimmage - Bo Scarbrough
Photo Credit: RollTide.com/Kent Gidley
The 2016 edition of the University of Alabama football team held its second scrimmage of the spring yesterday afternoon inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. As expected it was met with mixed reviews.
In reference to a Tony Dungy speech at the coaches' clinic being held at UA, Alabama head football coach Nick Saban said, "One of the things I wanted to share with the players after practice was something Tony Dungy said. He said he learned from Chuck Noll that champions don’t have
to do extraordinary things. They just have to do ordinary things
extraordinarily. I think that really speaks a lot about the scrimmage we
had today and the spring practices as a whole."
This scrimmage will be dissected even further by the coaches over the coming days in preparation for the final week of practice as well as the upcoming A-Day Game to be held this Saturday, April 16th inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. The highs and lows will be viewed and reviewed for strengths as well as weaknesses in order to tweak the machinery during the process that is Saban and the Crimson Tide.
It was Robert Foster leading the Alabama offensive attack yesterday, pulling in four catches for a total of 106 yards and two touchdowns. One of those four receptions went for a 50-yard touchdown. Calvin Ridley was in the mix as expected, catching three passes for 62 yards. ArDarius Stewart stepped in with five receptions of his own to add another 60 to the receiving yards total of the Tide. Cam Sims added another 47 yards with two receptions.
During his press conference Saban did comment concerning the quarterbacks, though not what the fans are wanting to hear. Probably not what the coaches wanted to hear either, from at least one perspective. While he complimented the QBs saying they did some good things, nobody really stood out. No separation between the group means there is still no clear leader for the starting job. Saban said he was watching for how the quarterbacks "moved the team." He did compliment Cooper Bateman, David Cornwell and Jalen Hurts for doing that.
The Crimson Tide defense is again expected to field another great group of athletes this season. It was Reuben Foster who led the Tide in tackles yesterday with nine stops, including one tackle for a loss and one forced fumble. With seven tackles on the day, Ryan Anderson stepped up. Two of the seven were tackles for a loss and one sack. Rashaan Evans had a big day with seven tackles and one sack. Christian Miller added six tackles, with two being for a loss as well as one forced fumble, and Minkah Fitzpatrick was big with five tackles as well as a 43-yard interception return for a touchdown.
The head ball coach said, "I think the ones on both sides of the ball played well. Obviously they can do better things. We’ve got plenty to improve on, but there was better continuity and a lot of improvement. There were plays made by both sides. There was a lot better consistency and a lot better performance on both sides. Past that, I think we have a lot of guys that need to learn how to play winning football, which is really taking care of the ordinary things well."
Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban
Photo Credit: RollTide.com/Kent Gidley
Statistics For Alabama Football Spring Scrimmage #2
Rushing Leaders:
Bo Scarbrough – 12 rushes, 112 yards, TD
Damien Harris – 8 rushes, 56 yards
Ronnie Clark – 7 rushes, 31 yards
Receiving Leaders:
Robert Foster – 4 rec., 106 yards, 2 TD
Calvin Ridley – 3 rec., 62 yards
ArDarius Stewart – 5 rec., 60 yards
Cam Sims– 2 rec., 47 yards
Defensive Leaders:
Reuben Foster – 9 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 FF
Ryan Anderson – 7 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 sack
Rashaan Evans – 7 tackles, 1 sack
Christian Miller – 6 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 FF
Minkah Fitzpatrick – 5 tackles, 1 INT (returned for TD)
Photo Credit: RollTide.com/Kent Gidley
Photo Credit: RollTide.com/Kent Gidley
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Bama Football Picks Up 4-Star LB VanDarius Cowan
4-Star LB VanDarius Cowan
Photo Credit: 247Sports
University of Alabama football picked up its eighth commitment for 2017 this weekend. While on a visit to the Capstone, VanDarius Cowan decided he wants to continue his football career with the Crimson Tide.
The four-star linebacker hails from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida and had previously committed to Florida State, but after his visit to Tuscaloosa he flipped and announced via his Twitter account.
Cowan stands 6' 4" and weighs in at 217 pounds. He is rated by the 237Sports composite as the No. 5 outside linebacker prospect and No. 17 prospect in the state of Florida, and the No. 78 overall recruit in the country.
In a statement made by Cowan, not only is he happy with his selection, but will be accepting no more offers. He said, "This was the best fit for me going forward. I'd also like to thank all the schools that have offered me, but I will be shutting down my recruitment from here on out."
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NCAA Deregulates Electronic Communication With High School Recruits
It appears that if you are one of the top football recruits in the nation, or your state for that matter, you are now going to have more "contact" with your head coach or position coach...or both. Yes, the NCAA Division I council not only banned satellite football camps on Friday, but went on to deregulate electronic communication between the coaches and recruits. The change not only applies to football, but also cross country, swimming and diving and track and field. Also, it not only applies to texting, but also social media communication such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and all the others.
Players were allowed to text a coach, but a ban put in place back in 2007 prohibited a coach from returning that text. Now the texting and social media recruiting is wide open.
Incidentally, the NCAA deregulated the texting between Division I basketball coaches and recruits in 2012.
The three-game series wraps up today at 1:30 p.m. CT.
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Alabama Softball Clinches Series With MSU 8-0
The Alabama softball team recorded another shutout, run-rule win and series victory yesterday afternoon with an 8-0 whooping of the Mississippi State Bulldogs in six innings at Rhoads Stadium in Tuscaloosa.
The Bama belles banged out nine hits, scoring eight runs yesterday, led by Chandler Dare who was three-for-three and had two RBIs. Sydney Booker led the Tide driving in five of Bama's eight runs with a two-run single in the first inning and then a big three-run homer in the sixth to end the game.
Alexis Osorio (9-5) picked up the win on her complete-game shutout. She recorded nine strikeouts, gave up nine hits but no walks.
Tide head coach Patrick Murphy said, "Alexis made some good pitches today. Every time they got a couple people on base, she would get out of it. We made a few defensive mistakes behind her, but she pitched out of them. I was really pleased. Whenever you shut out a Division I opponent that's a great performance."
Alabama improves to 34-7 overall and 7-4 in the SEC while Mississippi State falls to 21-17, 2-9 SEC.
The three-game series wraps up today at 1:30 p.m. CT.
