re: Alabama FB -- 2018 FALL CAMP Thread -- Garbage Dump Edition

LINK ]WATCH: Tide quarterbacks and receivers at work on Saturday (BamaOnLine)

Disclaimer: this is the first scrimmage of camp, and the only practice I’ve seen. But from what I watched today, I’ll be shocked if Tua isn’t day 1 starter, and it isn’t close. Don’t expect an announcement prior to opening kickoff tho - Will Lowery

OT, but UL WR providing bulletin board material on this fine Saturday afternoon:

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Notes from UofL Media Day (a thread): @dezfitz8 on @AlabamaFTBL's secondary: "Every receiver in our receiver core can honestly beat every one of their DB's in 1on1 coverage"....

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More from @dezfitz8: "When we watch film and other players play Bama, it's not like Bama's beating them. It's like they're beating themselves" because of the mystique of playing the Crimson Tide.

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How would he even know? They've barely played

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Saban said outside linebacker Jamey Mosley has a separated shoulder and Daniel Wright also has a shoulder issue. Regarding Wright, a prognosis has not been determined and is being discussed. Saban added that he was hopeful Wright could play this season.

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Al.com
The news concerning Wright doesn't make me feel very good. Damn. Let's hope it isn't that serious

I hope Wright gets well, however I think Mayden will step in just fine.

LINK ]re: ATTN CrimsonBoz, will you be at the scrimmage today?

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Hey folks, 

Ok I’ll make it brief. 

QBs- Tua is really good, and it’s not really that close at this point. I don’t want to talk bad about Jalen but he had 3 picks and if it was a prize it would have been stopped early Tua had 4 touchdowns a great run, a sack juke miss type thing, it was borderline unbelievable. I’m not sure how Desean Watson or Cam looked when they were this age but we may have something brewing in the Legend category. I’ll go on record now and say All 1 team reps should be shifted to Tua and he should start again LV game 1. 

OL- looked pretty good actually, I didn’t see a glaring issue 

DL- solid crew here, buggs, Kwon, Jennings Williams etc all look good 

ILB- same solid starting two, depth may be an issue 

Secondary- can tell they are a little raw but they are a scrappy bunch and great speed. I feel fine here 

WR- Top are 5 are outstanding as you already knew, Juedy, Ruggs, Smith are elite 

TE- didn’t see any real issues here, seem pretty steady 

Kicker/Punter- Delong isn’t JK but he kicks the ball well and is consistent 

Bul looked pretty good 

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ETA: Boz answered Qs in the thread (link above).

LINK ]Nick Saban details how freshman Ale Kaho ended up at Alabama (BamaOnLine)

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A new former 5-star recruit made his Alabama debut on Saturday, as Ale Kaho practiced with the inside linebackers in pre-scrimmage drills at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

The former 5-star linebacker from Reno, Nev., was released from his national letter of intent with Washington on Monday, and Kaho chose Alabama as his next landing spot Wednesday. The No. 1 inside linebacker in the 2018 class according to the 247Sports rankings, Kaho landed on campus Friday afternoon and was on the field for the Crimson Tide’s Saturday scrimmage.

Initially, the Huskies had edged Alabama to land Kaho as a 5-star recruit during the 2018 cycle, but he was not able to enroll. And according to head coach Nick Saban, the primary reason why the Tide was able to land Kaho now was due to academic issues at Washington.

“There are circumstances -- and I don’t know all the circumstances -- where a guy doesn’t get admitted to the school that he signed to go to, that he gets an opportunity to go somewhere else and he gets a release or he can choose to try to get eligible over time but not be able to enroll in school,” Saban said. “So, I think, as I understand it, he was unable to get into school for academic reasons because of their institutional policies, not because of NCAA rules.

“He could get into school at most other institutions. So, he had opportunities to go other places. He didn’t want to sit out and continue to take other classes so he could go to the school he signed at and we were one of the people that recruited him. It came down to the wire in terms of whether we got him or not. When he got his release, we let him know that he had an opportunity to come here. We’re glad to have him. We’ll think he’ll be a good player.”

The 6-foot-1, 218-pound prospect was a longtime BYU commit during the recruiting process before flipping his commitment to the Huskies just prior to the early signing period last December. He signed with Washington last year and arrived in Seattle this summer, but he never enrolled while wrapping up required coursework. Huskies head coach Chris Petersen cited “personal reasons” for the release of the program’s highest-rated incoming freshman.

The Crimson Tide was heavily involved in Kaho’s recruitment last year and were considered to have finished in a runner-up position. While committed to BYU, Kaho traveled to Tuscaloosa to camp with Alabama and promptly landed a scholarship offer from Saban. Kaho returned to town for an official visit to campus the weekend of Nov. 4 and saw UA earn a victory over LSU.

Wearing No. 10 on Saturday, Kaho’s journey ended in Tuscaloosa. He is immediately eligible to play, but the true freshman was the only active player not in full pads because of NCAA rules for acclimation. But just how long does Saban think it will take Kaho to get up to speed?

“I can’t answer that,” he said. “We’re going to do the best we can every day, aight. I don’t know how hard it’s going to be. It depends on how fast he learns, it depends on a lot of things -- what kind of condition is he in? How much can we do with him? Lot of questions, and they’re not bad questions. We’re glad to have the guy here and we’re looking forward to the opportunity to help him be successful as a person, as a student and as a player.

“But how long it’s going to take? I don't know. (Reaches for the Coke bottle on the podium). Wish this was a magic wand that I could just sort of (waves it). It’s not the Wizard of Oz.”

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LINK ]Nick Saban: Scrimmage 1 won't decide quarterback competition (BamaOnLine)

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Alabama held its first scrimmage of the preseason Saturday, but coach Nick Saban did not change his message regarding the Crimson Tide’s quarterback battle.

“We’re going to evaluate the quarterback situation,” Saban said. “We’re going to keep looking at the guys. What somebody did today or didn’t do today is not going to win or lose him the job, aight. It’s going to be a cumulative effect and the consistency that they practice with and play with the whole time. And that’s in fairness to both players, who are really good competitors and really working hard and really doing a good job. So, we don’t have much more to say than that.”

No stats were released, quarterback or otherwise, following the two-hour scrimmage at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Prior to the game-like practice, it was business as usual for the signal callers, as Jalen Hurts led the group through individual drills with Tua Tagovailoa, Mac Jones, walk-on Kyle Edwards and freshmen Layne Hatcher and Braxton Barker behind him.

But the few that watched Saturday’s scrimmage provided some convincing takeaways. Former Alabama defensive back Will Lowery took to Twitter to share a touchdown pass from Tagovailoa to redshirt freshman wide receiver Tyrell Shavers, as well as this bold prediction:

“Disclaimer: this is the first scrimmage of camp, and the only practice I’ve seen,” Lowery tweeted. “But from what I watched today, I’ll be shocked if Tua isn’t day 1 starter, and it isn’t close. Don’t expect an announcement prior to opening kickoff tho..”

For now, Hurts and Tagovailoa will continue to compete for the Tide’s starting quarterback job in preseason camp. And neither the tweets spewing from the first of two scrimmages nor Hurts’ viral comments about his frustrations with the quarterback situation will affect the battle.

But it will be interesting to see what happens in the days to come, especially scrimmage No. 2, with the most-discussed position competition in the country as Game 1 inches ever closer.

“The rhetoric will not have anything to do with who’s the quarterback,” Saban said. “That will obviously be decided on the field by how people execute, how they do their job. The same parameters that we talked about before in terms of who wins the team.

“And winning the team goes along with execution, leadership, players having confidence and belief, and that’s not really going to change. So, I don’t really have any more to say about it than that. I don’t think it’s anything that has affected our team one way or the other.”

Alabama will return to practice Monday, Aug. 13, for its ninth practice session of the preseason.

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Calvin Ridley, an absolute stud, didn’t catch for 1,000 yds in his last 2 seasons at Alabama. That tells you all you need to know about Jalen Hurts throwing ability.