re: Bama Football Tidings

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Greg Byrne @Greg_Byrne · 8m We even have color capabilities- perhaps Crimson after we score? ?? #RollTide

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Two days following its first scrimmage of the fall, the University of Alabama football team had a variety of changes in terms of where players were lining up on Monday night.

At interior linebacker, junior Dylan Moses was back in his usual spot after being held out a couple of days. With senior Joshua McMillion (knee) out indefinitely, he appeared to be working with redshirt sophomore Markail Benton during individual drills.

The two also participated as the first- and second-team linebackers in a dime drill (more on that in a moment).
Sophomore Ale Kaho and freshman Shane Lee were also paired together, along with freshman Christian Harris and sophomore Jaylen Moody.

The first-team offensive line had a different look. With senior Matt Womack still out (although he was dressed for practice and watched during the media viewing period) graduate transfer Landon Dickerson was at right guard, with freshman Even Neal at left guard and redshirt freshman Emil Ekiyor Jr. at center.

On the defensive line, junior LaBryan Ray, who is coming off ankle surgery returned to practice, but didn't participate in any team drills. He was in shorts. Freshman nose tackle DJ Dale is still not practicing.

(Added note: The defensive linemen had nine players practicing. The other absentee was Stephon Wynn Jr.)

With freshman Trey Sanders (foot) out, Chadarius Townsend was back practicing with the running backs

As for the dime package, the five defensive backs making up the first unit included sophomore Patrick Surtain II , senior Shyheim Carter, senior Trevon Diggs and senior Jaren Mayden.

The second unit featured redshirt freshman Jalyn Armour-Davis, freshman DeMarcco Hellams, freshman Jordan Battle, redshirt sophomore Daniel Wright and freshman Marcus Banks.

Surtain was at star, with McKinney at money for the first team, Armour-Davis and Hellams worked behind them, respectively.

Cornerback Nigel Knott remains sidelined.

The team was in full pads. The temperature was 91 degrees with a heat index of 99 when the practice began just before the sun set.

Alabama is set to practice Tuesday afternoon when the high is expected to be 99 and the heat index 109.

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Alabama returned to the field Monday and held its second evening practice of the preseason.

The team was in full pads with the temperature 88 degrees in Tuscaloosa.

Here are some observations from the limited period of access provided to the media:

— Dylan Moses was back participating after being held out multiple days because of an unspecified medical issue. He was seen leading the inside linebacker drills and was the sole linebacker when the defense was going through the steps in its Dime package.

— Even though Alabama is thin at inside linebacker with the recent knee injury to Josh McMillon further depleting the corps, Ben Davis remained with the edge rushers. Shane Lee, Jaylen Moody, Markail Benton, Ale Kaho and Christian Harris continued to work behind Moses.

— Defensive end LaBryan Ray (ankle) made his first appearance of the preseason. Unlike the rest of his teammates, however, he was in shorts as he follows the NCAA-mandated acclimatization protocol.

— Chadarius Townsend, the receiver who spent time with the running backs during the spring, was back with that position group — joining Najee Harris, Brian Robinson and Co. in individual drills.

— With Matt Womack standing off to the side with his helmet off, Alabama ran one offensive line combination that consisted of Alex Leatherwood at left tackle, Evan Neal at left guard, Emil Ekiyor at center, Landon Dickerson at right guard and Jedrick Wills Jr. at right tackle.

— Defensive lineman Stephon Wynn was not spotted. He was injured Saturday during the team’s first scrimmage and then posted Sunday on his Instagram account that he underwent surgery.

— Alabama’s Dime package consisted of Xavier McKinney at Money and Shyheim Carter and Jared Mayden at safety. The cornerbacks were Patrick Surtain II, Trevon Diggs and Josh Jobe.

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Everyone in college football should take note of something Tua Tagovailoa said Monday

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It probably sounded to many like a throwaway line during an interview, but was actually what Alabama fans should have been waiting to hear prior to the start of the 2019 season.

Crimson Tide junior quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was talking to reporters about full-progression reads, and the idea of finding the best option on a given play, when he made a statement that could have far-reaching implications.

“I’m just taking what the defense gives me now,” he said on Monday afternoon. “If they are going to give me the first read, I’m not going to pass it up.

“Never go broke taking a profit.”

Granted, some will shrug what he said off as being cliché, and to a certain extent it is, but new offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian might have done a cartwheel when he heard that line.

Specific to Tagovailoa’s development, there were two main offseason themes that would tell a lot about not only the quarterback’s progress, but the Crimson Tide’s offensive success in 2019.

The first was his health. Avoiding things like taking unnecessary hits from defenders while trying to get extra yards has become a priority. We won’t know how well he’s improved in that regard until the season starts, but his weight and offseason training, both at Alabama and with his father, are both favorable signs.

The other point of emphasis has been getting Tagovailoa to not try and do too much on his own. It’s when he started to press that things like interceptions occurred last season and the offense really stalled.

Take what the defense gives you. Ask anyone successful quarterback and he’ll tell you it’s crucial in today’s game. It also goes hand-in-hand with preparing, and winning.

But winning doesn’t always correlate to improving.

Alabama has had to learn this the hard way.

Go back to November, near the end of the 2018 season, and the Crimson Tide offense had already peeked. Tagovailoa wasn’t in the habit of going through his progressions, primarily because he didn’t need to through the first two months
When his initial targets were taken away he had a tendency to either hold on to the ball or try and force things. It’s a major reason why the offense had so many problems against LSU, Mississippi State, Georgia and Clemson.

“Coach [Mike] Locksley tried to simplify it because we were pretty good at the RPO and so we kinda just stuck with that,” Tagovailoa said.

Alabama may have re-written the Alabama record book, but it didn’t continue to evolve as an offense. The don’t fix it unless its broken approach was still enough to get the Crimson Tide to the National Championship Game, but it didn’t play near to its potential down the stretch.

This, the starting point for Sarkisian.

“Every year after the season you try to evaluate big picture, how you can improve as a football team, and us, specifically, offensively,” he said. “We really felt if we could continue to grow in that area of full progression reads so that people … you know, when you become one-dimensional in some capacity, you do a few things well… our feeling is the more things you do well, the harder you are to defend.

“We thought that was an area we thought we could improve in. I think Tua has bought into that. He’s worked extremely hard. He’s shown drastic improvement. I think the receivers see it as well.”

Alabama’s offensive potential this season isn’t just enormous, it’s jaw-dropping.

The offensive line will be bigger, and has depth.

The lead running back has spent two years waiting for his chance to be primary ball carrier.

There are four outstanding wide receivers who will occasionally all be on the field together.
“It definitely opens things up,” said Tagovailoa, the runner-up for the 2018 Heisman Trophy. “I mean when you have four fast guys out there. When you have Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs, Jaylen Waddle, DeVonta Smith, these guys aren’t going to play man they are going to play zone. If they play man against these guys, we gotta go out and torch the defense.
“If they are going to play zone, it opens up a lot of the run game. Then, when they end up stepping into the box, then that’s time for RPO’s, play actions. It just opens up everything.”

For those who have been focused on one aspect of the offense, like the power running game or Tagovailoa getting the ball out quicker, those are all important elements, but they’re not the key to what Alabama wants to do this season.

It’s all of those things put together. The more options the offense has the tougher it is to stop, and Alabama is going to be very, very difficult to stop if Tagovailoa keeps developing.

Thus, the importance of what Tagovailoa said.

At SEC media days, he was still talking about taking his shots downfield.

Two weeks ago during Alabama’s media day he talked about more about his body, not binge-eating at night and having the approach to be physically ready.

This was different.

This was the first noticeable thing from working with his new offensive coordinator.
At the end of his media session at the Naylor Stone Media Room, Tagovailoa took a final question about his improvement from a year ago. The intent by the reporter was to get a response about his leadership, and how he’s better able to direct players to where they need before the ball is snapped.

Tagovailoa went another direction with his reply, about trying to improve every time he’s on the field.

“I am just looking at improving myself everyday as best as I can,” he said. “Just always having that little whisper in the back of my head, gotta keep pushing, gotta keep fighting, and then just take what they give me and just play a play at a time.”

Here’s hoping Sarkisian didn’t hurt himself with that response.

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