re: Bama Football Tidings

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I'm concerned about Ray.

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I don't know if it makes you feel any better, but perhaps we're really crossing our t's and dotting our lower case j's and making sure he's ready before letting him loose. Perhaps we're really err'ing on the side of caution. It'd be smart, if true.

Also, there's only one game in our first 5 that we even need the starters for, and it's SoCar. I think we could survive without Ray for that game. Honestly, we could probably live without Ray until mid October when we meet TexAM.

There's no need to rush him back.

Just watched the Pete Golding interview for the first time. I don't think I'd ever heard him talk before. He's a very bright guy that I think will do well.

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Saint, a question:

Leaving the Egboigbe thread behind but extrapolating from it, I'd like to ask you if you legitimately think there's a problem with our S&C program as it relates to our defensive line and them being too big. And if you do think that, I'd like to ask why.

It seems you may think that, and given Saban's recent comments about the fact that this team may be our best conditioned team ever coming out of the 4th quarter program, I'd like to understand why you may believe that.

I'm not asking to criticize your reply in any way. I'm only trying to gather information from all sides. Also, if any other poster is of the above opinion, I'd enjoy hearing why.

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Fair enough.

Let's look at Raekwon Davis as our subject in this experiment.

As we know, he was recently quoted saying this:

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Raekwon Davis is entering his final season at Alabama.

And the senior defensive lineman is looking to return to his playing form from two years ago.

“Basically just getting back to my old self, to that sophomore Rae, to that sophomore pass-rushing Rae,” Davis said Tuesday.

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Davis started 14 of 15 games in 2018 and recorded 28 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and six quarterback hurries and earned All-SEC second-team accolades from the Associated Press. But the Meridian, Miss., native wants to be more productive -- like he was in 2017 when he led the Crimson Tide with 8.5 sacks and registered 69 tackles, 10.0 tackles for loss and an interception.

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Why is this relevant?

Davis weighed 306 pounds in 2017. Last year, he bulked up to 316.

Now he's listed as 312 pounds and while he hasn't specifically said he dropped weight, I did find this tidbit in a TD Alabamamag story:

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He added more muscle to his frame this summer and trained to perfect his get off, footwork, hands and edge-bending abilities. Compared to what his sophomore year was and what last season resulted in, Davis had one simple answer: “It was not me last year.”

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So he added more muscle, but dropped 4 pounds overall. If he hadn't added the muscle he probably would have dropped 10 pounds overall to get back to his playing weight of 2017.

I just wish our S&C staff showed a little more foresight as opposed to hindsight. You saw the quotes from Saban, Allen, etc. They bulked them up too much and it cost them their explosiveness. Thankfully, we had DaShawn Hand and Rashan Evans to spell them in the national championship game. Those two finally put some pressure on Watson in the 4th quarter and we were able to pull it out. Our other D-Linemen were sucking wind and they acknowledged it publicly.

Again, I'm not mad at you. I never was.

Cool, and I appreciate you taking the time to lay out your opinion.

I have to say, based on the photos I've seen and the videos I've watched, our Dline group currently looks like a lean, svelt unit - to my eye anyway. I don't see a lot of bad weight, at least not bad weight that won't be lost through a grueling Fall Camp. That excludes Musika who is obviously the Samoan King Hippo.

Also, I think it's very important in Davis' case that we understand that he was asked to play a completely different position last year from 2 years ago. The position occupied by Quinnen Williams last year was occupied by Davis 2 years ago. I totally get and don't disagree with what your saying about Davis and his best playing weight, but Bama has regularly asks players to change their body types year to year to fit certain roles.

EDIT: I am wrong about Davis. He played a similar position from 2017 to 2018. Corrected in posts below.

If I'm really being honest about what I think happened to Davis last year regarding his decreased production, I think the story starts 2 years ago. Davis was quite disruptive 2 years ago, and did so almost exclusively from the 3-Tech End spot and some 1-Tech Nose. And so, in the off-season between 2017 and 2018, I think Davis Bulked up to handle the rigors of playing inside as well as being stronger versus the run. However, in Fall Camp of 2018, players emerged, most notable Q. Williams, who were more disruptive at that 3-Tech than Davis, and he got pushed out to playing mostly the 5-Tech End, where his bulked up size now served no purpose, as he's lining up on the outside eye of the offensive Tackle. I also think Davis harbored a bit of resentment for this, leading to hiim playing with less than stellar effort at times.

Granted, this is all conjecture, but there has to be a logical explanation for why Davis excelled at a position 2 years ago, bulked up, and then ended up playing a different position in 2018 where said bulk was a detriment. I think him moving to the 5-tech End was a late development, but it's just my guess. Heck, I remember this time last year expecting Davis to maybe play the Nose.

Edit: I'm not quite correct about Davis playing a lot of 5-Tech. That was mostly Buggs. Corrected in posts below.

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I could be wrong, but I think Daron Payne was the starting NT in 2017 prior to Q Williams in 2018, not Raekwon Davis.

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Williams played mostly 3-Tech (and some Nose) and lined up mostly on the outside eye of Guards in 2018, did he not? Lemme get into some film and get back on this.

EDIT: I'm not correct. See post below.

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but his effort was poor in 2018. Regardless of weight, explosion is mostly about effort.

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I agree with this 100%. I don't know what was going on with him last season, but he would take plays off and just half arse it.

Heard from AU friend that Aus defense is going to be unstoppable this year. Their dline is going to live in their opponents backfield and that not even AUs oline can stop these beasts. Going to be an epic year of defense for the fighting war plains tigermen.

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I've seen some media chatter that Auburn may have one of the best D-lines in CFB this year.

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That could certainly be true, but that just means that their Dline is on par with the best 4 or 5 Dlines in the SEC - Bama, GA, LSU, SoCar, etc. If au's oline can't block their dline, then they also can't block the top dline's on their schedule.

A good Oline finds a way to enable their offense to function against even the best dlines. They may not dominate the LOS, but enabling your offense to "function", i.e. successfully make a handoff or get off simple passes, is a pretty low bar.

SIAP. ESPN article on Iron Mike visiting the Team