re: Bama Football Tidings

BOL:

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-- After missing the last three days of practice because of a family matter, freshman defensive lineman Antonio Alfano was back on the field Thursday and participating in drills.

-- Freshman linebacker Christian Harris was out of the knee brace and moving well in drills. Wearing a sleeve on his left knee, Harris was the second inside ‘backer through footwork drills and worked alongside Dylan Moses with the first group.

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Alabama practice report: Injured RB, D-lineman back Posted Aug 22, 4:40 PM By Michael Casagrande | mcasagrande@al.com

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The calendar says Thursday but Alabama practiced this afternoon like it was a Monday. The early start on game week took the Crimson Tide to the far field.

A few notes from the abbreviated media viewing period:

-- Defensive lineman Antonio Alfano was back on the practice field after missing the previous three workouts this week.

-- Spotted with the running backs was Jerome Ford, the redshirt freshman who went down with what Nick Saban called a sprained ankle in Saturday’s scrimmage.

-- It also looked like freshman middle linebacker Christian Harris was moving well after a few days of limited action. This was the first time getting an up-close look at the newcomer who was not enrolled in the spring. The Baton Rouge product has impressive size for his age at 6-foot-2, 244 pounds. He has the look of a college player from the outset, a lot like Dylan Moses when he arrived from Baton Rouge two years ago.

-- The second grouping with the middle linebackers included freshman Shane Lee and sophomore Jaylen Moody.

-- Instead of full gear, Alabama players wore helmets and shoulder pads.

-- Saban will meet with the press after the practice around 6 p.m.

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Michael Casagrande is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.

Interior linebacker Christian Harris returns to drills by Christopher Walsh

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Crimson Tide begins to turn attention to season opener against Duke

Alabama practiced outside in shorts and shoulder pads. For the first time in weeks the heat index was under 100. Conditions were sunny, 90 degrees and 98 heat index.

Freshman Christian Harris (knee) was back next to Dylan Moses for drills.

Junior Landon Dickerson was at right guard alongside starting tackle Jedrick Wills Jr.

Redshirt freshman defensive lineman Stephon Wynn (ankle) was again seen in a black jersey for stretching and then left the field.

Injury rundown

• Redshirt junior cornerback Nigel Knott: The only player yet to practice, he’s out indefinitely with what Nick Saban has only described as a medical issue.

• Senior interior linebacker Josh McMillon: Out indefinitely with a knee injury, could miss entire season.

• Freshman running back Trey Sanders: Out indefinitely with a left foot injury, could miss entire season. He’s been riding an exercise bike in Alabama’s weight room during practices.

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Alabama Crimson Tide on 247Sports was live.
about an hour ago ·
Instant Analysis: Thursday Travis Reier
24:37

Pretty cool: UA FR fill in Script A (thread)

Two injured Alabama players showing progress as season nears (BamaOnLine)

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In his final press conference before Alabama’s first game week of the 2019 season, coach Nick Saban provided updates on a couple of injured Crimson Tide players.

The first was redshirt freshman Jerome Ford, who suffered an ankle injury in Alabama’s second of two preseason scrimmages this past weekend. Ford was back on the practice field Thursday.

“We’re going to work him in and see what he can do and try to do more and more each day and try to see if we can get him back to 100-percent,” Saban said in a press conference. “He’s done really well before he was injured, so we planned on him playing in the game, and if he’s healthy enough and the doctors clear him and we feel like he’s 100-percent, we’ll play him in this game. If not, we’ll have to wait and kind of see how he progresses. So, it’s going to be more day-to-day at this point to try to make that judgment.”

A week after being Alabama’s leading rusher in its first scrimmage at Bryant-Denny Stadium, Ford suffered ankle sprain early on in the Tide’s second and final game-like practice of fall camp. Last season, he rushed seven times for 37 yards across his four games of action. Thanks to the new redshirt rule, he was able to maintain a year of eligibility by only playing in those four games. 

The other player Saban updated was freshman defensive tackle DJ Dale, who has been dealing with a sprained knee. Dale has been at practice and nearly a full participant in recent sessions. If completely healthy, the true freshman is expected to start at defensive tackle for the Tide.

“He was doing really well until he got hurt,” Saban said. “So, he missed maybe a week, 10 days. He’s probably getting back to pretty normal. But we’ve been really pleased with his initial quickness. He plays with power. He’s very conscientious, smart player. Learns well, executes well, doesn’t really act like a freshman at all. We’ve been very pleased with him. We just want to get him back in shape now. Hopefully, through the reps he gets between now and then he’ll be able to play more in the first game.”

Also on Thursday, freshman inside linebacker Christian Harris appeared to fully take part in drills during the one media viewing period. At Monday’s practice, Harris seemed to tweak his left knee and had been wearing a brace in the last two practices, but the brace was not present on Thursday.

The only two players missing from practice are defensive lineman Stephon Wynn (ankle) and cornerback Nigel Knott (“medical issues”). Wynn is expected to return to practice next week.

Alabama kicks off its 2019 football season on Saturday, Aug. 31, against Duke in Atlanta.

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A BOL poster remarked that perhaps Benton's horse collar tackle of Jerome Ford, resulting in Ford's injury might've had something to do with Benton being in the back of the drills line. He didn't have any inside info that it's true. He just mentioned it as a possibility. However, guys moving around in drill lines or groupings doesn't always reflect where they are in the depth chart pecking order.

I agree that it probably wasn't on purpose. But if it appeared that he could've avoided it or that he finished the tackle instead of letting go, then I could see getting put in the back of the drills line for a few days to emphasize that he must be more careful to follow practice safety protocol.

I mentioned this before but he has a maturity issue. It’s flared up from time to time and my sauce from his HS said he wasn’t ready. So I guess a combo of things.