Bama Football Practices 2 Hours Wednesday
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| UA Photo |
This was the sixth of seven practices before the Christmas break and 11 prior to the Crimson Tide battling the Huskies of Washington in the college football semifinal game in Atlanta's Georgia Dome on New Year's eve.
Though he left Tuesday's practice session early with some sort of knee or leg injury, Keith Holcombe was back working out in practice yesterday.
Three players were working out on stationary bikes during practice. They were offensive lineman Josh Casher, running back B.J. Emmons and linebacker Shawn Jennings.
The top-ranked Tide will take on the No. 4 Washington in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on Saturday, December 31st in one of two College Football Playoff Semifinal games. Ohio State and Clemson will battle it out in the other game to see who will face the winner of the Tide-Huskies contest to determine the 2016 National Championship. The Peach Bowl matchup will air live on ESPN at 2 p.m. CT, with Joe Tessitore and Todd Blackledge in the booth and Holly Rowe working the sidelines.
Alabama is the defending National Champion, the Champion of the Southeastern Conference, ranked No. 1 in the nation and boasts a perfect 13-0 record for the 2016 season. The Washington Huskies enter the College Football Playoff Semifinal with a 12-1 overall record and an 8-1 mark in conference play as well as being the Pac-12 Conference champion. Washington earned its berth in the playoffs defeating No. 8 Colorado 41-10 championship game on back December 2nd.
The Crimson Tide and Huskies will be meeting for the fifth time, with Alabama winning each of the previous four contests. The most recent meeting was in the 1986 Sun Bowl where the Tide defeated the Huskies 28-6. This will be the third postseason meeting between the Huskies and the Crimson Tide. Besides the before-mentioned the Sun Bowl game, Alabama defeated Washington 20-19 in the 1926 Rose Bowl, the first Bowl appearance in Alabama football history.
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What Saban Said In His Wednesday Press Briefing
Saban opened Wednesday's press briefing with a greeting to reporters, and then wishing everyone a happy holiday, and speaking of the importance of this time of year to share with family.
Concerning football practice the last couple of days, Saban said, "Practice has gone fairly well. [Wednesday], the players had really good intensity, mental focus. For the most part, we have done a pretty good job in that regard. [Tuesday] was a little bit sloppy."
Saban said, "...I think that when you practice seven days in a row... and the reason we do that is we want to condense the time that the players are here so they have a little more time off to be at home to spend with their families for Christmas as well as time maybe over break. But they kind of get that. They kind of understand that. They understand why we do what we do, and they've responded very well.
"We have a high standard of expectations here for how we want to do things to try to be the best that we can be. Every player's got to understand that, and understand that your destiny and your future lies in what you're willing to put into and the choices and decisions you're willing to make moving forward from this time on. You know, some people can do that and some people can't. And it will be interesting to see how our guys do it and how we can get them to do it. And I think that will be a real key to how well we play in the game against a very, very good team."
Saban also said that the Washington Huskies squad is by far the best team that Alabama has played this year. He further commented that this was going to be a "really tough game for us."
Concerning injuries, Saban said that "everybody was back at practice." He specially called the names of both Keith Holcombe and Cam Robinson, and that the pair participated in practice on Wednesday. Saban commented that the team has "some guys nicked up, but nobody that couldn't go out there and practice and get their turns."
Saban then responded to a question concerning how the Star position had changed during his time as a player and now a coach. He went into some detail of his past experiences, including the pros, up to the present.
When asked about Washington quarterback Jake Browning, Saban said, "Well, he's a really good athlete. He's got quickness, he's got pocket presence, he extends a lot of plays, he can run. He's athletic enough to run. This guy is a really, really good player. He's accurate throwing the ball, gets the ball out of his hand quickly, and does a really good job of executing their offense. This will be one of the best quarterbacks we've played all year."
Responding to a question concerning the Alabama football program having six former players selected to the Pro Bowl, Saban said, "I think it's great." Saban had to ask who the players were, saying that he doesn't get a chance to read the newspapers this time of year, plus that he doesn't "do the internet." The names were given and Saban again said that he thought it was great, "I think that's fantastic. I'm so happy." He also commented that the six "really did a good job here for us." He also said that he was "really proud of them and really happy for them."
Concerning freshmen playing this year or any year, Saban said that he believed some players were "more ready than others, and some positions are easier to play than others." He then said that the offensive line was probably the "most difficult" for a freshman to play. He then named Cam Robinson and Jonah Williams as being mature, saying, it "speaks volumes for sort of the maturity that they have to be responsible to do the job." He also said that the guys that come into college and have the right mindset are more able to transition into becoming a college football player.
Saban continued, "I guess what I would say is, mature competitors usually understand what they have to do to be able to go play well, and they're will to put the time and work in to get there, so maybe it's not so much maturity as a person as much as it is maturity as a competitor."
Saban was then asked what he would say to a player that came to him and said he wanted to sit out the bowl game(s) to protect his NFL career in the future. Saban said he really didn't answer hypothetical questions, but he would say this: "I think when we created the Playoff, which all of you wanted to do and all of you wanted to make it four teams, and now all of you want to make it eight teams, and then pretty soon all you guys are going to want to make it 16 teams, and the only focus is on the Playoff. But when we all started this, however many years ago it was, I said that you're going to diminish the importance of other bowl games in college football, which has happened. All anybody talks about is the Playoff. We have a whole bunch of other bowl games that people don't think are all that important. So if you don't think it's important, all of a sudden the players don't think it's important. So you can't really blame the players. We created this. We created this. It used to be to go to the Rose Bowl, when you played in the Big 10, that was the ultimate experience you could have. When you played in the SEC, going to the Sugar Bowl was that same thing. And when you played in the Big 12, it was going to the Orange Bowl. Those things don't exist anymore. We have a Playoff, and everybody is interested in the playoff. Nobody is interested in anything else. So now that that's trickled down to the players, how could you blame the players for that? I can't blame the players for that.
"I think what every player has to decide - and what I would say to every player - is I think every player probably benefits from playing really, really well. I think when you play in big games and you play really, really well, I think that enhances your value as a player. That's what I think. Now, every player would have to make the decision between is that more important relative to protecting yourself? That's every player's choice and every player's decision. I don't know that there's much more to say about it than that."
Saban then responded to a question concerning one of the freshmen running backs. He spoke of the lack of depth at the beginning of the season at that position, and complimented Josh Jacobs in his development. Saban said it had "been critical to the success of our offensive team." He said that Jacobs had "played well for us."
When asked about preparation for a team like Washington with almost no common opponents, Saban said that it was more involved in watching the game film, learning what a team is prone to do in certain situations since you have no actual experience with that particular team. Saban commented, "So you're kinda teaching the players from scratch and you're trying to learn it from scratch, and I think when you have extra time when you play in these kind of games, when you have opponents you haven't played before...that's probably helpful to the players."
The press conference ended with Saban complimenting the Washington defense.
View Nick Saban Press Conference Below:
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| Click HERE to view Saban press conference Courtesy Tide TV |
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Bama Men's Basketball Ignites For 67-52 Victory
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| UA Photo |
Besides Taylor, two other Bama players finished the game in double figures. Freshmen Braxton Key put up 11 points on the night and Dazon Ingram contributed 10 points to the win. Albertville, Alabama native Riley Norris also led the way in rebounds by hauling down nine while scoring eight points for the Crimson Tide.
Alabama men's head basketball coach Avery Johnson said, "What a tremendous crowd we had tonight. I would like to thank the city Huntsville for the great support we've had this week during our time here. We've done some things in the community and it was great to see the fans show up tonight. I think that really gave our guys some energy.
"As far as the game goes, I thought we did a great job defensively and we were very competitive tonight," Johnson said. "This is the first game we've had since I've been here that a team didn't make a three on us in the first half. We gave up a couple of long rebounds but I really liked our flow defensively. Offensively, you saw us trying to run a little more. We simplified a couple of things, so we have something to build on. That's a really good team that's been scoring a lot of points. I'm really proud of our guys tonight."
The Crimson Tide shot 44 percent from the field as well as sinking 31 percent of its shots from behind the three-point line. The Tide dominated in the paint, scoring 40 points compared to only 26 from State.
Alabama blocked nine shots while collecting six steals in the contest. The Tide also won the battle of the boards 43-40.
Alabama will break for Christmas, then come back after eight days off to battle Stetson in Coleman Coliseum on Thursday, December 29th at 7 p.m. CT.
| Game Stats | ASU | UA |
|---|---|---|
| FG% | .339 | .439 |
| 3FG% | .250 | .308 |
| FT% | .421 | .591 |
| RB | 40 | 43 |
| TO | 16 | 14 |
| STL | 9 | 6 |
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Lane Kiffin Is Honored
Named FootballScoop Offensive Coordinator Of The Year
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| FootballScoop Photo |
Despite the losses personnel-wise on offense from the 2015 squad, the Alabama Crimson Tide jumped from 30th to 13th nationally in scoring, and from 49th to 18th in yards per play while continually evolving the offense. In fact, the Crimson Tide has now won three consecutive Southeastern Conference titles, three College Football Playoff appearances with three different starting quarterbacks in the three years Kiffin called plays for Alabama.
Kiffin began his coaching career as an undergraduate assistant when David Carr arrived at Fresno State as a true freshman and promptly "pushed him" into coaching. His first official job, however, was as a graduate assistant at Colorado State in 1999. Kiffin spent a year as a quality control assistant with the Jacksonville Jaguars before he joined Pete Carroll’s staff at USC, first as tight ends coach, then wide receivers, then as passing game coordinator and offensive coordinator. He was also head man of the Oakland Raiders, Tennessee and USC before joining Saban’s staff in 2014.
He was named Florida Atlantic’s head coach on December 13th.
"Lane did a phenomenal job for us over the last three years, and we appreciate the impact he made to the success of the program. We are excited for him to have this opportunity to be the head coach at Florida Atlantic, and we wish him all the best," Alabama head coach Nick Saban said. “He did a tremendous job of molding an offensive system that fit our players, and he is a great hire for the Florida Atlantic football program."
Kiffin will receive his award and be recognized at an event at the AFCA Convention in January.
Previous winners of the Offensive Coordinator of the Year award are Kevin Wilson (Oklahoma, 2008), Bryan Harsin (Boise State, 2009), Gus Malzahn (Auburn, 2010), Kliff Kingsbury (Houston, 2011 and Texas A&M, 2012), Philip Montgomery (Baylor, 2013), Tom Herman (Ohio State, 2014) and Lincoln Riley (Oklahoma, 2015).
