Nick Saban Named Regional Coach Of The Year
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
Awards and honors announcements were flying left and right on Tuesday all across the college football landscape. And one would expect the Alabama Crimson Tide to be in the thick of it again this season.
This is the second regional award for Saban, having been previously recognized in 2009 by the AFCA. Regional winners are Ken Niumatalolo of Navy (Region 1), Nick Saban of the Alabama Crimson Tide (Region 2) P.J. Fleck of Western Michigan (Region 3), Dana Holgorsen of West Virginia (Region 4) and Mike MacIntyre of Colorado (Region 5). Incidentally, Region 2 consists of the Southeastern and Sun Belt conferences. Voting for AFCA regional and national coach of the year awards is done by AFCA-member coaches.
Being named as a regional winner means that Saban is now a finalist for national AFCA Coach of the Year honors. The AFCA Coach of the Year award was established in 1935 and is the oldest national coach of the year award in college football. Previous national winners from Alabama include Paul "Bear" Bryant in 1961, 1971 and 1973 and Gene Stallings in 1992.
Saban is now in his 10th season at Alabama, leading the Crimson Tide to a 13-0 record, its 26th SEC championship and a No. 1 seed in the 2016 College Football Playoff this year. It should also be noted that this is the ninth consecutive season that Bama has won 10 games under Saban and the sixth consecutive season with 11 wins. Alabama will enter the 2016 postseason on a 25-game winning streak, the longest current streak in the nation.
The AFCA is scheduled to announce the 2016 FBS National Coach of the Year winner at the inaugural American Football Coaches Awards show on Tuesday, January 10th. The even will be broadcast live on CBS Sports beginning at 8 p.m. CST.
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Alabama Crimson Tide Football's Nick Saban
Named Finalist For Eddie Robinson Coach Of The Year Award
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| Nick Saban Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
Alabama Crimson Tide football head coach Nick Saban has been named a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award. The announcement came Tuesday afternoon from the Football Writers Association of America. Saban has won the award twice before, the first coming in 2003 when head coach at LSU, then again in 2008 at Alabama.
The Football Writers Association of America has presented a coaching award since the 1957 season, with legendary Ohio State head coach Woody Hayes was named the first recipient. The award is named for the late Eddie Robinson, who coached at Grambling State University for 55 seasons.
The official presentation reception will be held on January 7, 2017, in Tampa, Florida. The reception will be held in conjunction with the College Football Playoff National Championship.
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Allen, Foster, Robinson & Fitzpatrick
Named To Sporting News All-American Team
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Allen, Foster, Robinson & Fitzpatrick
Named To Sporting News All-American Team
More honors. More Bama players. More, more and more to come.
The University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team has had four players placed on the The Sporting News All-America Team. The announcement was made this afternoon.
A total of three Crimson Tide players were added to the first team, and another placed on the second team. Nagurski Trophy and Ted Hendricks Award winner Jonathan Allen, Butkus Award winner Reuben Foster and Outland Trophy finalist Cam Robinson were all named as first-team selections, while sophomore Minkah Fitzpatrick received second-team honors.
Jonathan Allen is pretty much the anchor of the Alabama defensive line, thus the honor of being named the 2016 SEC Defensive Player of the Year, and all the other honors bestowed. He has definitely been a disruptive force in the middle of the defensive front that leads the country in rush defense allowing only 63.4 yards per game. He has a career-high 56 tackles this season, including a whopping 13 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks. Allen is also credited with 15 quarterback hurries, a blocked field goal attempt and two fumble recoveries. Oh yeah, both of those fumble recoveries returned for touchdowns.
Foster leads the Crimson Tide in tackles with 94, including 12 tackles for loss and four sacks. He also has recorded eight quarterback hurries as well as two pass breakups.
The SEC Jacobs Blocking Trophy winner, Mr. Allen, makes sure you stay out of his neighborhood, leading an Alabama offensive line that has helped lead the way to open lanes and provide protection for the quarterback for an overall offense that leads the SEC in scoring at 40.5 points per game and is second in total offense (471.3 yards per game), rushing offense (245.0 yards per game) and yards per rushing attempt (5.7). The young man on Monday picked up First Team All-SEC honors and is the second Alabama player to win the Jacobs in as many years. Center Ryan Kelly won the award in 2015.
Fitzpatrick is having a great 2016 season. He has recorded a career-high 56 tackles, including five tackles for loss and one sack. He leads the SEC with five interceptions and 158 return yards, including two pick-sixes. The two returns for a score give Fitzpatrick four in his career, which is the most in Alabama history.
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Crimson Tide Places 11 On 2016 Coaches All-SEC Team
The University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team led the way with 11 players named to the 2016 Coaches All-SEC Team, including a league-best seven being named to the first team. The announcement was made by the SEC office on Tuesday.
This is the ninth consecutive season the Crimson Tide has had the most All-SEC selections. For the defense, it was Jonathan Allen, Reuben Foster and Minkah Fitzpatrick named to the first team. For the offense were Cam Robinson, Jalen Hurts and ArDarius Stewart. JK Scott was selected as the first team punter.
On the second team offense were O.J. Howard and Calvin Ridley, while Tim Williams and Eddie Jackson were named to the second-team defense.
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Krystal Rivers Named AVCA All-South Region
This wasn't the first time that Rivers has been afforded an honor for her abilities. In fact she has the most regional honors for any Crimson Tide player in Alabama volleyball history, earning a spot on the postseason list in each of her four seasons at UA. She is the only four-time winner among the 14 South Region honorees and is one of just six four-time winners among all regions.
Rivers was named the SEC Player of the Year for this season, leading the league in kills (705) as well as points (803.5). She concluded her Alabama career as the program's all-time leader in kills, moving into first place in the final week of the regular season before finishing with 2,148. Rivers is also the career leader in points (2,506.0), and ranks among the top five in seven other categories.
With the All-South Region honor Rivers is now in contention to earn AVCA All-America honors.
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Crimson Tide Soccer Places Two On Regional Team
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
University of Alabama Crimson Tide soccer now has two of its ladies on the 2016 NSCAA NCAA Division I Women's All-South Region Team. Kat Stratton and Lacy Clarida were named to the third team according to the announcement made yesterday.
Tide goalkeeper Emily Rusk and forward Laura Lee Smith were the last Alabama soccer players to be named to the NSCAA All-South Region team back in 2014 to the third team as well.
Stratton finished the season nationally-ranked at No. 67 in total saves with 90. She finished No.85 in goalkeeper minutes with 1,741:20, and No. 5 in save percentage (0.804) and saves per game (4.74). Stratton also completed the season ranked No. 3 in total saves with 90, and had five shutouts for seventth-best in the SEC.
Clarida only played in 10 games last season. She finished the year tied for first on the team in goals scored with a total of seven. She ended the year nationally ranked No. 61. In league play, Clarida finished runner-up in goals per game averaging 0.7. She also concluded conference play ranked No. 5 and No. 6 in points per game with 1.5 as well as shots per game averaging 3.1 per game.
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Former Crimson Tide Softball Player Honored
Haylie McCleney Receives NCAA Top 10 Award
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
Crimson Tide softball head coach Patrick Murphy commented, "What a tremendous way to finish an incredible career at Alabama - with the highest honor a student-athlete can receive from the NCAA. All of us realized we had something special in Haylie the athlete when she initially said yes to us. We just didn't know Haylie the young woman was going to be just as special or better. She's made me a better person in the four years I got to spend with her. She made us all better."
McCleney is now the second Bama softball player to earn NCAA Top 10 recognition. The first was Brittany Rogers back in 2009.
Alabama Director of Athletics Bill Battle said, "This is another extraordinary honor for an extraordinary career. It has been a privilege to watch as Haylie piled up honor after honor, on the diamond and in the classroom, during her amazing career. She is a testament to what can be accomplished when the pursuit of excellence is your everyday focus."
McCleney was a four-year All-American while playing for the Crimson Tide, and earned first-team honors in three of her four seasons. She completed her senior season in 2016 with four school career records, including a .447 career batting average. McCleney is just the fifth player in Alabama softball history and the 21st in NCAA history to total 300 hits, 200 runs and 100 stolen bases. She is a four-time All-SEC and SEC All-Defensive team honoree.
In addition, McCleney is a three-time First Team CoSIDA Academic All-American and a two-time Softball Academic All-American of the Year selection, just the third two-time winner for the sport of softball since the yearly award was introduced in 1988.
It should be noted that McCleney is only the second Alabama softball player to earn First Team honors as an All-American and Academic All-American in the same season, doing so three times over the course of her career. She was named the 2016 H. Boyd McWhorter SEC Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was the 2015 SEC's Softball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. In 2016, McCleney graduated with a 4.0 cumulative grade point average in exercise science and won the Senior CLASS Award, celebrating senior student-athletes who use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as community leaders, and was a finalist for NCAA Woman of the Year honors.
McCleney's selection marks the ninth time in 11 years an Alabama student-athlete has received the award, joining Kim Jacob (gymnastics/2014), Barrett Jones (football/2013), Brooke Pancake (women's golf/2012), Kayla Hoffman (gymnastics/2011), Greg McElroy (football/2010), Rogers, Beth Mallory (track and field/2007) and DeMeco Ryans (football/2006).
Battle again commented, "To have a Crimson Tide student-athlete earn this prestigious honor nine times in a span of just over a decade is an amazing accomplishment and a great point of pride for our Athletics Department and the University as a whole.
Alabama's previous NCAA Top 10 (formerly Top VIII) recipients include: Randy Hall (football/1975), Steadman Shealy (football/1980), Meredith Willard (gymnastics/1997), Andreé Pickens (gymnastics/2002), Sterner (gymnastics/2003), Rogers, McElroy, Hoffman, Pancake, Jones and Jacob.
