Alabama Football Recruiting
5-Star Athlete JaCoby Stevens Has Crimson Tide In Top 7
JaCoby Stevens
Photo Credit: 247Sports
The Alabama Crimson Tide football program is sitting pretty for the services of 5-star athlete JaCoby Stevens, a 6' 2", 200-pound recruit out of Oakland High School in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. His top five, in no particular order, are Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Tennessee, LSU, Clemson and Florida State.
Stevens says he will make his choice and announcement sometime before his senior year. He says that the top seven will remain in place until the announcement.
The young man is just returning from Big Cat which was held at the campus of Auburn University this past Saturday.
According to 247Sports composite, Stevens is the No. 25 overall recruit, and listed as No. 1 in the athlete category.
While he does plan another visit to Auburn, Stevens says he will be visiting the University of Alabama soon. This week is out, however, since he will be traveling to support his sister in one of her volleyball tournaments.
Univeristy of Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin has been pro-active concerning Stevens. He personally visited Oakland High School in Murfreesboro where Stevens attends. Stevens has also spoken with Alabama head football coach Nick Saban.
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Alabama Football Recruiting
4-Star OT Austin Troxell Still Torn Between Tide & Tigers
4-Star Offensive Tackle Prospect Austin Troxell
Photo Credit: Rivals.com
The top-rated high school football player in the state of Alabama made two college visits this weekend. One of those visits was to the University of Alabama. The other was the college down the road.
When four-star offensive tackle Austin Troxell left Auburn University this past Saturday he was torn on where he wants to play college football. He liked the laid-back atmosphere on the Plains during Big Cat Weekend, but they still didn't persuade him and says he is still "50/50" at this point.
He then visited the Capstone on Sunday. No word yet as to how that visit went and where his head is.
The 6' 7", 275-pound tackle out of Madison Academy says he does intend to make a commitment sometime this summer before the start of his senior football season.
He says he plans to visit no other schools before choosing between the Crimson Tide and Tigers.
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Girls State Underway At University of Alabama
Girls from all across the state of Alabama are currently gathering at the University of Alabama for the 74th annual American Legion Auxiliary Girls State. The event began yesterday on the main campus in Tuscaloosa and will continue through Friday, June 10th.
Guest speakers throughout this week include Kate Randall Danella of Regions Financial Corporation, Girls Nation president and 1996 Alabama Girls State governor; Dr. Cathy Randall, Alabama Academy of Honor, Girls Nation president and 1967 Alabama Girls State governor; and Lt. Andrea Bagley, U.S. Army, 2010 Alabama Girls State governor.
Alabama Girls State offers its delegates an immersive leadership program designed to develop young women as future leaders grounded in patriotism and Americanism by educating them in the democratic process and how our republic form of government works at the state and national levels.
More than 350 participants will conduct mock elections and learn about civic processes this week. Then on Friday, June 10th, the Girls State seniors will visit Montgomery.
Nearly 1 million young people have had the opportunity to learn first-hand about the duties, privileges, rights and responsibilities of American citizenship so they may understand and participate in the functioning of their government since the programs inception back in 1937.
Photo Credit: AlabamaGirlsState.org
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Search Underway For Head Baseball Coach
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Battle Says Looking For A New Era
Alabama A.D. Bill Battle
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
The following is an excerpt from The Battle Plan, a column written by University of Alabama Directory of Athletics Bill Battle.
He is speaking here of the search and philosophy of that search for a new head baseball coach at UA.
Battle wrote:
"As we move forward, we are engaged in a search to find the best coach available to lead our program. Our goal is to compete for championships, as well as recruit and develop players to become champions on and off the fields and courts. That is our mission for all our programs. While we are sad to see Mitch and his family leave our program, we are excited about the possibilities ahead.
"It is my goal to help Alabama return to championship levels in baseball. The SEC is a very competitive conference in all sports, which is both a problem and an opportunity. If we are able to compete for championships in the SEC, high national rankings will be a natural byproduct. We are proud of our new stadium and our commitment to building the kind of program of which our university and fans can be proud."
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Comments From Bama Following The WCWS
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Alex Leatherwood Still Committed To Alabama Football
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Comments From Bama Following The WCWS
University of Alabama Softball
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
The Alabama Crimson Tide softball team made an early exit from the 2016 Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This was the 11th trip to the WCWS for the Alabama softball program, the fifth in the last six years.
Alabama softball (51-14) head coach Patrick Murphy called the Tide's 2016 draw "Murderer's Row" because of who ended up in the same bracket. The sixth-seed Crimson Tide was grouped with No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 10 Michigan. Murphy did comment, however, that at this level every team was good leaving little room for error.
Crimson Tide junior pitcher Sydney Littlejohn commented, "The impact that these seniors have left is like, it's unbeatable and the
legacy will live on forever. They have taught each of us so much. Whatever they taught us mine and
Chandler's (Dare) class is next, it's going to be hard shoes to fill,
but we're going to do our best to do it and I can't thank them enough
for everything and for each of them they're about to go into the world
and just change so many people's lives and the best is yet to come."
Murphy was highly complimentary of his four Bama seniors. This year's group, having completed their college career's with a trip to the WCWS, are Kallie Case, Andrea Hawkins, Leona Lafaele and Haylie McCleney.
Murphy said, "Couldn't ask for anybody better to represent the school, me, the
program, their teammates. Three of the four have graduated
already... and that's number one. If you know me it's about the total
experience, it's kind of getting here is icing on the cake. Obviously
all of us would love to win a national championship but I know they're
going to leave the program better young ladies than when they entered
and that's the biggest thing for me."
McCleney was highly complimentary concerning her own experiences as a student-athlete at the University of Alabama. In her final post-season press conference McCleney said, "I never thought this day would come, but I can't say enough about
this program. There
is no other place in the world like Alabama. I played in Japan, I played
in Europe, Alabama is special and it's a special program because we
leave better people and not just better players... Everyone on this team
is a great person. And you can say that every single year. We never
have a bad egg. And that's because of Coach Murphy. All you recruits out
there, you need to come to Alabama. I'm telling you, man, it's
literally the best place in the world."
Leona Lafaele said she really wasn't happy with the outcome but was very proud of the team. She commented, "I'm proud to wear this A and I'm proud of all
the girls sitting up here and all those girls that are back in the
locker room right now. For the future of this program, we're just going
to keep coming back. We're always going to be coming back. We're always
going to be up there."
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Alex Leatherwood Still Committed To Alabama Football
Alabama football commit Chris Leatherwood
Photo Credit: Chris Kirshner/AJC
Slow down, Crimson Tide fans. The photo of University of Alabama offensive tackle commit Alex Leatherwood in a Florida jersey was neither a omen of bad-new-to-come or a hoax. Nothing more than an old photograph being tweeted.
Leatherwood is a five-star prospect out of Booker T. Washington High School in Pensacola, Florida. He had tweeted early in the week he would be in Gainesville to help some family there. Turned out he didn't even go.
He has, however, made a second visit to the Auburn campus. He said nothing to worry about there either. His commitment remains strong to the Tide.
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UA Summer Volleyball Camps Nearing
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
The seven different summer volley camps hosted by the University of Alabama volleyball program are looming ever closer.
To reserve a spot for the Team Camp high school head coaches must email Assistant Coach Ryan Freeburg at rfreeburg@ia.ua.edu.
All campers will have the opportunity to work with a large number of current and former players, head coaches and assistant coaches from both the Division I and Division II level. Last season's camps at UA set new records for attendance, a trend that has been growing since Ed Allen took over the Crimson Tide program back in 2011.This year's camps are set to be the largest yet.
With anticipated growth in attendance, the camp team will be setting up additional sport courts in the Hank Crisp Indoor Practice Football Facility. This will allow for bigger and better camps that will allow each player to find a level that maximizes their pace of learning. Team camp capacity will nearly double, increasing from 12 teams to 22.
The full list of camps are:
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Bama Birthday Calendar
Birthdays For Monday, June 6, 2016:
Clara Draper, mother of Lisa D. Lipscomb @Lipsle2 on Twitter
Kevin B. Lynch @kevinblynch
If you are an Alabama fan, contact me to get YOUR birthday added to the Bama Birthday Calendar. We will add your birthday, or the birthdays of any family member, Bama fan or not. Send your birthdays to my email at hightideblogpost@gmail.com or contact me on Twitter @1High_Tide.
