Saban Supports Changing Redshirt Rules
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama - University of Alabama head football coach Nick Saban has never been shy about his beliefs in the direction college football needs to steer, for both the good of the players and that of the game itself. In comments made on the SEC Spring Football Teleconference on Monday, Saban said that he is in favor of changing the redshirt rules that would allow a student-athlete to participate in four games without losing a year of eligibility. However, he doesn't appear to be in favor of a proposal to allow all players five years of eligibility to play four seasons and just do away with redshirting altogether.
Saban said, "Our philosophy is we want to make sure that we get as many players as we can take. I think it’s 22 this year, or whatever. We want to get 22 players who have good character, who want to commit to the same kinds of things that we do at Alabama to be successful as people, students and as players. I think evaluation is important and the sooner you have to make decisions on these guys the greater the opportunity you have to make mistakes."
The American Football Coaches Association is considering the four-game redshirt idea, which would, in turn, eliminate medical redshirts which Saban says he "would absolutely be in favor of that."
Saban continued, "The number one thing is that it would tremendously help the development of some young players on your team, to be able to look forward to being able to play in some games but not lose the year, and eliminate some of these things where a guy plays for five plays in a game and you have to try and appeal to get his year back because you made a mistake and put him in a game or you thought he would play more and he didn’t. It really, probably, would be a good thing."
The AFCA is proposing that the four games could be during any part of the football season. As of now a player can’t redshirt if he plays in any game, however he can receive a medical redshirt if he’s competed in less than 30 percent of the games in a season or three games, whichever is greater.
Concerning the AFCA's five-year proposal under consideration, Coach Saban says he prefers the four-game proposal, but hasn’t given the idea a lot of thought.
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Alabama Men's Golf In Third Place After
First Day Of Competition In NCAA Washington Regional
Sixth-seeded Alabama was led yesterday by junior Steven Setterstrom, completing his opening round by carding a 3-under par 68 at Aldarra. Setterstrom recorded three birdies, an eagle and two bogeys on the day. It was the second-best 18-hole score of the year for the Mobile, Alabama native. Setterstrom sits just four strokes of leader Sean Crocker of USC, who finished his day with a 7-under 64, while Florida State's Josh Lee (67) is in second place.
Sitting in a tie for 14th after day one of competition are Tide juniors Lee Hodges and Jonathan Hardee both carded rounds of even par 71. Bama sophomore Davis Riley had rally back from a double bogey on the opening hole to finish his day in a tie for 27th with a 2-over par 73, while redshirt freshman Josh Sedeno completed his day in a tie for 45th with a 4-over 75.
Coming in tied up for fourth place after day one is Kent State, ranked No. 12, and 13th-ranked fellow-SEC team rep Texas A&M at 3-over par 287. Rounding out the top 10 is No. 37 San Diego State (290), No. 49 Penn State (290), Marquette (291), Michigan (292) and No. 30 Washington (295), respectively.
The top five teams from each of the six regional sites and the top individual finisher not on an advancing team will move on to the NCAA Men's Golf National Championship, which will be played at Rich Harvest Farms course in Sugar Grove, Illinois on May 26-31. The national championship competition will feature a total of 30 teams and six individuals.
The Crimson Tide is set for a 10:20 a.m. CT tee time off Hole No. 10, and grouped with the tournament host Washington as well as the current tournament leader Florida State.
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| Alabama Men's Golfer Steven Setterstrom Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
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Crimson Tide Track & Field Rankings
The national team rankings are compiled by a mathematical formula based on national descending order lists and data taken from previous seasons. The purpose and methodology of the rankings is to create an index that showcases the teams that have the best potential of achieving the top spots in the national team race. Ranking points do not equate with NCAA Championships team points.
The next scheduled meet for the Crimson Tide will be the NCAA East Regional set for May 25-27 at the University of Kentucky.
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In-State Prospect Places Alabama Football In Top 12
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| Harold Joiner Twitter Photo/Graphic |
Four-star running back Harold Joiner out of Mountain Brook, Alabama has narrowed his choices on where and for whom he would like to continue his education and football career. Releasing his top 12, the 6' 3", 218-pounder has decided he likes the looks of Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Tennessee, LSU, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Michigan State, TCU, UCLA, Texas and Baylor (in no particular order). No date has yet been set by the 2018 prospect.
Joiner is rated at the No. 3 running back in the nation, and the No. 56 overall prospect regardless of position according to 247Sports.
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ESPN Predicts Alabama's Chances Of Winning
All 2017 Football Games
ESPN has again this year projected the number of wins for every college football team based on its Power Football Index (FPI). Here is a look at how ESPN views Alabama's chances of winning each of its 12 regular season games this for the 2017 college football season:
ALABAMA Crimson Tide vs Florida State - 54.8 percent
ALABAMA Crimson Tide vs Fresno State - 99.4 percent
ALABAMA Crimson Tide vs Colorado State - 97.3 percent
ALABAMA Crimson Tide vs Vanderbilt - 91.1 percent
ALABAMA Crimson Tide vs Ole MIss - 92.3 percent
ALABAMA Crimson Tide vs Texas A&M - 81. 7 percent
ALABAMA Crimson Tide vs Arkansas - 93.4 percent
ALABAMA Crimson Tide vs Tennessee - 86.5 percent
ALABAMA Crimson Tide vs LSU - 75 percent
ALABAMA Crimson Tide vs Mississippi State - 87.2 percent
ALABAMA Crimson Tide vs Mercer - 99.8 percent
ALABAMA Crimson Tide vs Auburn - 55.5 percent
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – University of Alabama soccer head coach Wes Hart enters his third season as the Crimson Tide head coach. Hart says the UA soccer team will be playing a 20-game schedule for the 2017 season, and includes 12 home matches at the Alabama Soccer Complex as well as eight road games. Hart made the announcement on Monday.
Hart said, "I am very excited about the 2017 schedule. It's a challenging one for sure. It's definitely the toughest schedule we've had in my three years here. This will be a great way to measure ourselves against some of the top teams in the country."
Kicking off the 2017 season will be five-consecutive home meets in the month of August, followed with three matches on the road to start the month of September.
Bama will welcome Middle Tennessee State (August 10), Jacksonville State (August 18), Samford (August 20), South Florida (August 24) and Florida State (August 27) to The Capstone.
The Tide will begin the month of September hitting the road to Mobile, Alabama to battle South Alabama (September 1), Troy (September 3) and then to Kennesaw, Georgia to face Kennesaw State. Bama will then return home for deal with Tennessee Tech (September 10).
Alabama will kick off Southeastern Conference play on the road against a team that was the top-ranked seed in last year's NCAA tournament and finished in the Elite Eight, the South Carolina Gamecocks (September 15). Then on September 17th the Tide will complete its non-conference portion of the schedule at home hosting UT-Chattanooga (September 17).
Hart commented, "We play all five SEC teams that made the NCAA Tournament last season, with four of those being on the road. We will also play three non-conference opponents that made it to the NCAA Tournament, including Florida State."
Following the Southeastern Conference game with South Carolina and the lone non-conference game with UT-Chatt, Bama moves on to host fellow SEC schools LSU (September 21), Tennessee (September 28/29), Auburn (October 8), Mississippi State (October 13) and Missouri (October 22). In addition to playing at South Carolina, Bama travels for conference contests against the Florida Gators (September 24), Texas A&M Aggies (October 5), Arkansas Razorbacks (October 19) and Ole Miss Rebels (October 26).
"It's going to be a fun challenge playing against FSU at home," said Hart. "They have been at the pinnacle of College Soccer over the last decade. It's also great to get Auburn back on the schedule after not playing them last year." Alabama's SEC slate is definitely not an easy one. Last season South Carolina, Florida, Arkansas, Auburn and Florida State all finished in the top-25.
The Southeastern Conference Soccer Tournament will be held this year October 30-November 5 in Orange Beach, Alabama at the Orange Beach Sportsplex.
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Alabama Soccer Releases 2017 Schedule
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
Hart said, "I am very excited about the 2017 schedule. It's a challenging one for sure. It's definitely the toughest schedule we've had in my three years here. This will be a great way to measure ourselves against some of the top teams in the country."
Kicking off the 2017 season will be five-consecutive home meets in the month of August, followed with three matches on the road to start the month of September.
Bama will welcome Middle Tennessee State (August 10), Jacksonville State (August 18), Samford (August 20), South Florida (August 24) and Florida State (August 27) to The Capstone.
The Tide will begin the month of September hitting the road to Mobile, Alabama to battle South Alabama (September 1), Troy (September 3) and then to Kennesaw, Georgia to face Kennesaw State. Bama will then return home for deal with Tennessee Tech (September 10).
Alabama will kick off Southeastern Conference play on the road against a team that was the top-ranked seed in last year's NCAA tournament and finished in the Elite Eight, the South Carolina Gamecocks (September 15). Then on September 17th the Tide will complete its non-conference portion of the schedule at home hosting UT-Chattanooga (September 17).
Hart commented, "We play all five SEC teams that made the NCAA Tournament last season, with four of those being on the road. We will also play three non-conference opponents that made it to the NCAA Tournament, including Florida State."
Following the Southeastern Conference game with South Carolina and the lone non-conference game with UT-Chatt, Bama moves on to host fellow SEC schools LSU (September 21), Tennessee (September 28/29), Auburn (October 8), Mississippi State (October 13) and Missouri (October 22). In addition to playing at South Carolina, Bama travels for conference contests against the Florida Gators (September 24), Texas A&M Aggies (October 5), Arkansas Razorbacks (October 19) and Ole Miss Rebels (October 26).
"It's going to be a fun challenge playing against FSU at home," said Hart. "They have been at the pinnacle of College Soccer over the last decade. It's also great to get Auburn back on the schedule after not playing them last year." Alabama's SEC slate is definitely not an easy one. Last season South Carolina, Florida, Arkansas, Auburn and Florida State all finished in the top-25.
The Southeastern Conference Soccer Tournament will be held this year October 30-November 5 in Orange Beach, Alabama at the Orange Beach Sportsplex.
