re: ***Official WE TALKIN' BOUT PRACTICE Thread***

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I'm maintaining right now that our best 5 will be C-Rob, Jackson, Grant Hill, Leon Brown, and Kelly. Other than Kelly at Center and C-Rob at LT, the other three could mix and match anywhere

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why would you maintain that a player who is not even on campus yet is one of the best 5 over a player who who started a whole season already and has been in the program 5 years?

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Sort of. I said our best five "will be". Dom Jackson has more talent than Shep. Experience matters, but at this point, Shep had way more negatives than positives. If he starts, good for him, but hopefully it's because he's the best man for the job and not because he started last year

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jackson certainly looks more promising, but everyone looks promising in highlight videos. I just don't see a guy coming in and winning the starting right tackle job in the fall. We will play experience over raw potential every time, doesn't matter how strong or physical you are if you don't know what you are supposed to be doing. I kinda hope he takes a redshirt and really learns the offense this year, then has 2 years to bookend with Robinson (assuming he has 3 to play 2)

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jackson certainly looks more promising, but everyone looks promising in highlight videos. I just don't see a guy coming in and winning the starting right tackle job in the fall. We will play experience over raw potential every time, doesn't matter how strong or physical you are if you don't know what you are supposed to be doing. I kinda hope he takes a redshirt and really learns the offense this year, then has 2 years to bookend with Robinson (assuming he has 3 to play 2)

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Definitely possible. All of that is true.

Also, like someone else said, Dom Jackson could compete at Guard.

The only potential problem out of the OL and Blake Sims together though...

Sims is 6'0", maybe.

C-Rob 6'6"
Dom Jackson 6'7"
Grant Hill 6'6"
Ryan Kelly 6'5"
Leon Brown 6'6"
Arie Kouandjio 6'5"
Austin Shepherd 6'5"
Brandon Hill 6'6"
Alphonse Taylor 6'5"
Brandon Greene 6'6"

Those are probably the 10 guys to look at. 5 of them will be starting, the other five will be the two deep. The only thing is there is no Center there besides Kelly, other than Grant Hill possibly seeing time at Center.

Sims gonna have some trouble throwing over those guys.

Dom Jackson please take over at LG. Arie was atrocious last season.

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Sims gonna have some trouble throwing over those guys.

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Meh, plenty of 6 foot tall qbs have success in this era playing behind giant Olines.

Info from Drew D's website. Written by a NC high school coach who was at the coaching clinic/scrimmage

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These excellent observations are from the eyes of a former long-time North Carolina HS coach who attended this weekend’s UA coaching clinic

By: Randy Murphy (AlabamaINTEL member: jr61699)

Just got home, gonna write this up on the fly. Might not be as structured as Redfish’s notes, but here goes….
First off, I had to remind myself that this is a work in progress and with that comes a word that we’ve all heard mentioned….consistency. While there may be several things that need work, the aspect of consistency was what struck me as the biggest need after Friday & Saturday
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DLine – there has been discussion here about quickness versus body type with regards to guys getting too big. With the exception of Ivory & Lake, that big, slow bulk isn’t there. Guys are noticeably quicker but there is a tradeoff with rush defense at the POA. They aren’t getting gutted, but it’s not a wall like it has been at times in the past. Reed, Pettway, Liner will all contribute, heck even Kirven made a play or two on Saturday. Ball at times reminds one of a DL of the recent past with a motor. Robinson & Allen continue to put forth play like they did at times last year. The thing with this bunch is with a new coach & his emphasis on using hands and leverage the entire group is somewhat starting over. Me thinks that might be what CNS is alluding to when he mentions that the DL needs improvement.

LBs – Trey DePriest & Ragland were steady, not lights out, but consistent. I was actually rather impressed with Ragland, he did more than I expected to see out of him being on the field more than what I had seen him in the past. What Fish said about SDH is true, you can tell the kid will be able to play SEC ball, he just needs to get…consistent. Reuben still overruns the play at times, but he’s gotten better. The stinger thing is a concern however, kept him out of the second half of the scrimmage. Tim Williams showed some noticeable speed in a pass rush mode. Lee needs to get his mess together off field, cause he can play on it.

Secondary – The play that was gotten from Sylve & Cyrus Jones last year is what I saw again…serviceable at times, out-manned at times, and coverage busts at times. They could be the models for the “Improve Consistency” billboard. Tony Brown and Anthony Averette got most of the reps with the 2nd team and just from my perspective, they played just as well as the ones. Landon and Nick Perry had two of the more consistent days I saw. Over time I think the new alignment of coaches will aid the consistency of the play of the secondary. Sorry, was not impressed with Greg Brown from the get-go.

Special Teams – Two words on the punting…don’t watch. It’s scary how bad it is right now. Griffith on FG attempts missed from 52, 47, 38 and made from 47, 38, 40 and 44 on a simulated last play. His KOs were all right at the GL on Saturday with one about 6 yds deep. On Friday they were all in the EZ.

Redfish has kept y’all up to date on the OL but I will add this, the lineups you get from the press about their viewing periods….they are a lot more mixed up in practice. I saw the following groupings Friday during team periods (and these are just while I was paying attention to the OL):
Greene-Bozeman-GHill-Shank-Shepherd
Greene-Arie-Bozeman-Shank-GHill
Robinson-Arie-Kelly-Brown-Shepherd
Robinson-Luatua-Bozeman-Shank-GHill
The biggest problem I saw with Grant Hill and CamRob is that in pass pro they sometimes get out of balance over their toes reaching for the rusher. While eating dinner afterward I was seated next to a current player, his dad and gf. Yes, I eavesdropped. The dad asked how the “HS All-American lineman” was coming along. The reply was that he’ll be good eventually, but like any kid who was in HS last fall, he’s lost at times, that it’s a big step up.

TEs – OJ, Freitag and Faciane all got targeted Saturday, about three or four times apiece.

WRs & RBs – Reason for few rushing stats on Yeldon & Henry from Saturday is that when they were in – there were very few runs called. The receivers are probably the most consistent group there is at the moment.

QBs – Blake Sims’s improvement is noticeable, but….yes he needs to be more consistent. Same can be said for Bateman, he’s improved from where he was a year ago. Other than Sims, Bateman had the most team reps at QB over the course of Friday & Saturday; his biggest drawback to me (more than being off-target at times) is that he has a tendency to lock in on one target and telegraph where he is going with the ball, but even so, he stuck some nice passes in some tight windows (this is also called throwing into coverage).

Misc notes….
** Friday practice, Blake Sims threw one from the pocket 70 yds and barely overthrew the receiver

** Kiffin coaches the team period in practice from the side rather than from behind the QB; he also called the plays Saturday from the booth with the other offensive coaches on the headphones onfield

**McCarron is a more consistent blocker than Fowler, he doesn’t bring as big a load, but he doesn’t whiff

**Art Briles note 1: the HUNH thing was not mentioned, not even alluded to…but he did have a rather humorous comment or two. He told a story about when he was at Houston and they came to play in Tuscaloosa in 2007 as it being his only prior history with Alabama. He recalled how they stayed in Birmingham and bussed in on game day and it was a pretty day and there were lots of people moving around on the ride in. Then he talked of being on the field in warm-up and Coach Bryant being on the big screen “…and then Lynyrd Skynyrd starts playing Sweet Home Alabama and there’s 75 year old lades in the crowd banging their heads and singing the words and I thought to myself ‘this here’s a different place’”.
**Art Briles note 2: “I just met with Nick and now I’m decompressing after getting past the palace guards….the man needs to relax. Here’s a guy with so many rings he can’t move his hand and he’s working his arse off to get better and he’s asking me what can he do better – and I said ‘well, if it’s that bad, let’s switch.’ Bottom line is happy teams get beat.”

**Kiffin/offense: lots of naked boots, lots of slants/fades, lots of 3-step, lots of bunch routes. more on the QB pre-snap/less on the center, will teach the pass routes conceptually to all receivers (that means can run the same play with 3 wide-outs or with 3 TEs)

Saban: “Most people only want to survive, not to be as good as they can be. Don’t assume because they have the talent that they want to be the best. The human condition is not to be special, it’s not to be a good teammate, not to get an education and go to class. Some of our guys still haven’t bought into being as good as they can be.”

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LINK

TL;DR Our special teams play is atrocious, and the rest of our team needs to work on consistency.

Good stuff there.

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Blake Sims threw one from the pocket 70 yds

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"that boy got a cannon"

Kiffin likes a version of the zone read that would be killer with our personnel. Fowler at FB leading play left. McCarron at HB lined up left but crossing over to kick out back side (OLB or DE). RB (Drake would be best option at RB for this) follows FB and reads hole/blocks QB follows HB and reads hole/blocks. The play can hit any of 5 holes and is set-up for cutback lanes once the ball carrier breaks the line of scrimmage.

Greg Schiano taking in some Alabama football practice today. LINK /