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Alabama Football
Bama Practice Moves Indoors For Tuesday
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
A chilly, rainy day forced the University of Alabama football team indoors for yesterday's practice. The Tide worked out in full pads for approximately two hours getting ready for their matchup with the Florida Gators this Saturday in the 2015 Southeastern Conference Championship Game.
Running back Kenyan Drake was again practicing yesterday, but it is still a wait-and-see situation with regard to his playing this Saturday. He suffered a broken arm only a few short weeks ago but has been recovering nicely since surgery. Outside linebacker Denzel Devall was also at Tuesday's practice. He had been absent on Monday due to a sprained knee.
This will be Bama's 10th trip to play for the SEC championship, and Florida's 11th. This will be the 39th meeting between the two teams, with Alabama holding a 24-14 series lead. Their most recent meeting was last season with the Tide coming away with a 42-21 win in Tuscaloosa.
Two more full practices are scheduled, today and tomorrow, before the team heads to Atlanta, Georgia on Friday for Saturday's contest.
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Bama Women's Basketball Heads To UT-Martin
The University of Alabama women's basketball team (6-0) travels to UT-Martin (2-4) for a contest tonight at the Elam Center in Martin, Tennessee. The game is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. CT.
This will be the third meeting between the two schools in as many years. UT-Martin took the first contest in 2013 by a score of 75-57. Last season Bama won 68-55. Both of the previous games were played in Tuscaloosa.
The Tide's most recent win was over Utah Valley this past Saturday 57-60, giving them the championship of the 2015 Nugget Classic in Reno, Nevada.
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Saban, McElwain Speak
Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
SEC Now aired portions of the press conferences held by Alabama head coach Nick Saban and Florida head coach Jim McElwain. Both coaches spoke of what playing in the SEC Championship Game means.
Saban said, "This is a great opportunity for our team to play in the SEC Championship game. This is something that we still feel is very, very important and something that is a significant accomplishment because of the quality of our league, and winning our division and having an opportunity to play against a really good Florida team."
McElwain said, "I'm looking forward to something that I'm not sure anybody expected...and that's us, the Florida Gators, this football team playing in the SEC Championship, and going to Atlanta with the opportunity to win a football game...that means so much...in a place the Gators belong...a place they've been. And to get it back this quickly, we've got a long ways to go as an organization and as a program, and yet the momentum this team has built is something everybody should be proud of.
"We're getting ready to play a football team that is arguably the best football team in all of college football," stated McElwain. "And by all means is the best football program over the last, probably, eight years...of any football team or football organization or program there is."
Saban, speaking of McElwain, commented, "I've always thought Mac was a really, really good coach, really good guy, well-liked by the players, very good teacher. The guy's integrity professionally, the kind of person he is, it's all A-plus. So any success that he's had is not at all a surprise to me...and he did a fabulous job here with the players that we had at the time, developing a very productive, consistent offensive group that helped us win a lot of games."
McElwain commented, "Well, I think as we continue to play in these games that...have real relevance...it really helps you prepare as you move forward as a program and as a football team. It also sets a certain standard of this is how you do it. Anytime you can experience something it gives you a chance to be better at it the next time it happens."
Both coaches went on complementing the other team. Saban built up the Gators and said he couldn't get why people didn't look at them as a legitimate challenge for Alabama. McElwain spoke of how Alabama was a fun team to watch, and how good Derrick Henry is, and whether a "fast-moving semi" was a good comparison. He then compared Henry to a fast-moving train going to tear up the city at the end, and everyone chuckled. He again said, this time of Henry, that "he was fun to watch."
The second-ranked Crimson Tide faces the twelfth ranked Florida Gators this Saturday afternoon in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game at 3 p.m. CT. The game will broadcast live on CBS.
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Kirby Smart Headed To Georgia
UA Defensive Coordinator Kirby Smart
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
It appears that 39-year old Kirby Smart will become the new head football coach at the University of Georgia. The announcement is expected as early as Sunday. Smart, a native of Bainbridge, Georgia lettered in football at Georgia from 1995-198 and served as team captain his senior season.
Smart came to Alabama in 2007, and served as defensive coordinator for head coach Nick Saban since 2008. He received the Broyles Award in 2009, representing the nation's top assistant coach. More recently, in 2012, he was named the AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year. He has been an integral part of helping the Crimson Tide win three national championships, and making a run for number four this season. The announcement is timed to come after the SEC Championship Game this Saturday when he coaches the Bama defense against the Florida Gators.
According to reports from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution some of the current Bulldog staff would remain, but Smart would have full control over who that would be, as well as new hires. Thomas Brown, running backs coach is expected to stay as would recruiting coordinator/wide receivers coach Bryan McClendon.
Smart still has three years remaining in his current contract at UA. The buyout is believed to be around half a million dollars.
Former Georgia head coach Mark Richt was first after 15 years on the job. He had averaged over 9 wins per season, and was the fifth-winningest active coach in Division I. Much of the fan base had been divided over the decision to fire Richt, and it's thought a former Georgia man was needed to help in the healing process.
Should the announcement come that quickly it is not known whether Smart would coach the bowl game or games following the SEC Championship.
