re: Bama Football Tidings

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but it's also got a lot of clueless ones, nervous nellies and chicken littles. And a lot of them apparently think they have great advice for Saban & Co. on just about everything.

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Interior linebacker spot was already a concern prior to senior suffering apparent knee injury

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Nick Saban isn’t going to rule out a player until medical tests confirm an injury, but the Alabama coaching staff was almost certainly going over its options at interior linebacker on Saturday night.

With senior Joshua McMillon suffering an apparent knee injury during the first scrimmage of fall camp, Alabama is suddenly without a veteran or experienced player to pair with Dylan Moses in the middle of the defense.

All indications are that Alabama is expecting bad news when the results of McMillon’s MRI are known.

Reading between the lines from Saban’s press conference, he’s not optimistic either.

“Probably the guy that is most concerning that they have to do some research on is Josh McMillon today with a potential knee injury, so we’ll have to see what that is,” he said.

Regardless, the Crimson Tide has less than three weeks to get someone up to speed and ready for the season opener against Duke in Atlanta on Aug. 31. One tweak may be to play more nickel coverage, with an extra a defensive back in the game, but at minimum someone will still be needed in the base formation and short-yardage situations.

With an assist from our offseason position previews, here’s a look at Alabama’s five options:

1] Markail Benton: As a redshirt freshman he worked into the rotation at middle linebacker and also played significant minutes on special teams. He was credited with 14 tackles last season. With Moses held back for the scrimmage, Benton took his place with the first-team defense. At 6-2, 235 pounds, he’s definitely now looking and more playing time.

2] Jaylen Moody: A last-second addition to the recruiting Class of 2018 out of Conway High School, S.C., he was largely overlooked in recruiting but once in the fold worked his way up the depth chart to the second string. He played in 14 games and was a special-teams mainstay, plus made the key block on Jaylen Waddle’s 63-yard punt return for a touchdown against Louisiana. Moody (6-2, 227) had a pick-six during A-Day while filling in for Moses.

3] Ale Kaho: His status appeared to be up in the air at the start of spring practices, with Saban saying, “He’s got some issues that he’s dealing with,” regarding a short absence. Despite being a late addition last year he made 11 tackles on special teams, including a team-high seven on kickoff coverage, and had a fumble recovery. Kaho is listed as 6-1, 228 pounds, so he’s little smaller than some of the other contenders.

4] Shane Lee: As a 6-0, 246-pound early enrollee, Lee showed in the spring that he can be a solid interior presence. He’s also a solid tackler. The coaches may be tempted to throw him in and see how fast he can pick things up with Moses helping, but the guess here is that he’ll work closely behind Benton for now.

5] Move an outside linebacker: It’s possible, yet seems unlikely. Cameron Latu is finally getting comfortable at tight end and Eyabi Anoma was kicked out of school, so the numbers at outside linebacker aren’t great already. Alabama was already in need of someone to step up and serve as a backup to Terrell Lewis, with Ben Davis and Jarez Parks the most likely candidates.

Davis has spent some time learning the interior positions while true freshman Christian Harris is extremely versatile.

The Crimson Tide won’t be on the field Sunday. The players will go through a walkthrough Monday, followed by a practice later that evening.

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If you let the Twitter world tell it, Nick Saban entered his presser following Alabama first scrimmage of fall practice with an injury list as long as the Book of Psalms.

Panic hit the airwaves upon news of linebacker Joshua McMillon’s knee injury getting out.

The Crimson Tide will already be without five-star freshman running Trey Sanders, because of a foot injury he sustained on Thursday evening at practice. At his presser, Saban said Sanders’ foot will require surgery and McMillon’s issue was “concerning” for him.

Aside from these two, everyone else had minor bumps and bruises.

Saban even mentioned that the team chose to hold out inside linebacker Dylan Moses and offensive lineman Matt Womack from scrimmaging.

No fan wants to see any player from its favorite team get hurt; however, the case of Sanders is not as bad as what it’s being made out. The 6-foot, 214-pounder was a luxury piece this season and despite supporters of Alabama football wanting to see him, the primary duo in the backfield is Najee Harris and Brian Robinson Jr.

Along with those two, both Jerome Ford and Keilan Robinson played well per Saban.

Should the two backups provide the same type of production that Sanders would have given, the Tide is still in great shape to compete for a national title.

The same thing goes for McMillon.

He stands as the guy – opposite Moses – that knows the defense and can get players lined up properly, but a season-ending mishap to him is not a detriment. The senior has played in 18 career games (no starts) and has just 19 tackles to show for it.

This season would have been his year to be “the guy” at weakside linebacker; nonetheless, Alabama has four young guys that must be ready.

A quartet of Shane Lee, Jaylen Moody, Ale Kaho and Markail Benton got reps during the scrimmage.

According to sources, the second-team defense looked “bad” against the first-team offense but that is too be expected – especially when one is facing a prolific group.

It could be a knee strain (MCL) for McMillon, but if the research from the medical staff unveils something more serious, one of these four young guns has an opportunity that it must seize.

Hopefully, his is the last we will hear of injuries in fall practice.

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Jerome Ford (= Josh Jacobs 2.0 ?)

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