re: Bama Football Tidings

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Alabama will open its 2019 season this Saturday. Five days ahead of kickoff, Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban provided the latest on injuries. And the good news for Alabama is the injury report was not extensive.

“Justin (Eboigbe) has a foot injury that is not a long-term injury,” Saban said in a press conference on Monday. “He’s kind of day-to-day. I would say he’s questionable for this particular game, so we just have to wait and see how he responds and how he goes from there.”

Eboigbe has missed the last two days of practice. The true freshman enrolled early at Alabama in the spring and registered four tackles and one sack in April’s A-Day Game. The nation’s No. 62 overall prospect during the 2019 recruiting cycle, according to the 247Sports Composite, Eboigbe worked with the first-team defensive line while LaBryan Ray (ankle) was sidelined.

Other than Joshua McMillon (knee) and Trey Sanders (foot) who are both out indefinitely, Saban was optimistic about the rest of his team as the season approaches. He did, however, provide updates on a couple of offensive linemen that have been limited.

“Hunter Brannon is still not able to participate. Deonte Brown, who is suspended for four games, will be able to participate probably in the next couple of days,” Saban said. “I don’t think there’s anybody else. I mean, you guys know the guys that are out. Other than that, everybody else we expect to be able to practice and see how they respond and develop through the course of the week if they are coming off injuries.”

Alabama’s 2019 season kicks off on Saturday, Aug. 31, in Atlanta against the Duke Blue Devils (2:30 p.m. CT on ABC). The Crimson Tide will hit the practice field later this afternoon after 4 p.m.

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JJ wins the Biletnikoff and he's not a clear #1?

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David Cutcliffe didn’t play football at Alabama. He didn’t coach at Alabama. But as a student at The Capstone in the mid-1970s he was dedicated to learning the craft.

Cutcliffe, a native of Birmingham, had played football for legendary Coach George “Shorty” White. White had joined the staff at Bama as running backs coach and Cutcliffe – though not a player – joined White in Tuscaloosa as a young man who wanted to learn everything he could about coaching football. And Alabama assistant coaches were pleased to help him.

Obviously, it took.

Cutcliffe went from Alabama to his high school alma mater as an assistant coach in 1976, became the head coach there in 1980, and then was hired as an assistant coach at Tennessee in 1982. After coaching tight end and running backs, He became quarterbacks coach in 1990, passing game coordinator in 1992, offensive coordinator in 1993, and assistant head coach in 1995.

In 1998 he was named head coach at Ole Miss, where he had seven years leading the Rebels. After a year off, he went back to Tennessee for a couple of years in those assistant head coach-offensive coordinator-quarterback coach positions.

Cutcliffe earned his reputation as a quarterbacks coach primarily on the successes of Peyton Manning at Tennessee and Eli Manning at Ole Miss.

He has been head coach at Duke since 2008, and this year had his 2018 quarterback, Daniel Jones, taken early in the first round of the NFL draft.

Alabama will take on Cutcliffe’s Duke team in the season-opening game for both teams at 3:30 p.m. EDT (2:30 central time) Saturday at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. ABC will televise the game.

Undoubtedly, Cutcliffe would like to be an ungrateful alumnus this week.

Crimson Tide Coach Nick Saban has high praise for Cutcliffe.

Cutcliffe, Saban said, “in my opinion is one of the best coaches in the country.” He pointed out that he had played against Cutcliffe teams at Ole Miss and in a game at Durham in 2010, a 62-13 Bama win.

He pointed out that Duke won eight games last year and have 15 starters back, eight on defense, four on offense. “They have a much, much better team,” Saban said of Saturday’s opponent.

Although Cutcliffe is known primarily for his success in developing quarterbacks, Saban pointed out that it goes beyond that.

“I’ve always thought that he’s one of the best quarterback coaches in the country and obviously his track record has proven that,” Saban said. “But I also think that their system on offense is well conceived. It also gives the players at all positions on offense to have a chance to be successful. But it makes the quarterback’s efficiency -- always have the consistency that everyone always looks for in a quarterback -- because the system allows them to make quick decisions and get the ball out of their hands, and it’s very sound and they’re very well coached in being able to do that. I think all those things contribute to the success of the quarterback as well as their offense.

“There’re lots of challenges that they present as a team,” Saban said.

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Alabama released its depth chart for the 2019 football season with several young players in starting roles and a new role for one starter.

True freshman kicker Will Reichard took over the starting job with Joseph Bulovas, last year’s starter, second on the depth chart. Reichard is also listed as starting punter with Skyler DeLong.

Starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will also be the starting holder.

“I’ve actually been practicing my holder more than I have been my throwing,” Tagovailoa joked. “Holding is actually a really hard thing. I literally think it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. To match with the center and put the ball down and the laces facing forward – that’s not an easy task.”

On defense, freshman D.J. Dale is the listed starter at nose guard with fellow freshman Stephon Wynn as the backup.

Christian Harris, another true freshman, is the starter at the Will linebacker spot. Jordan Battle is a backup at free safety, DeMarcco Hellams is second on list at strong safety and Marcus Banks is a backup at cornerback. All are freshmen.

Taulia Tagovailoa is third on the depth chart at quarterback behind brother Tua and Mac Jones. Freshman Jerome Ford is third on the list at running back. On offense, Darrin Dalcourt is the backup center.

At receiver, John Metchie is behind starter Henry Ruggs.

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Unseasonably cool and rainy outside, Alabama was indoors again for Monday’s practice. With the opener inside on turf, that’s to be expected the rest of the week.

A rundown of observations from the media viewing window at practice:

-- There were three offensive line positions with co-starters listed. It looked like the first group in our viewing (a limited time) had Matt Womack at right guard, Chris Owens at center and Evan Neal at right guard.

-- It’s interesting looking at the different sized players competing for the same spots on the line. Chris Owens is three inches shorter at 6-foot-3 than Landon Dickerson, who is the co-starter at center. Dickerson is 17 pounds lighter (at 308) than Womack, the co-No. 1 at right guard. Most notably, the co-starters at left guard are Emil Ekiyor Jr. (6-3, 327) and Neal (6-7, 360 pounds.

-- It’s also worth noting from the depth chart, Ekiyor was not among the three names listed at center after he was running with the first group early in camp. More on the depth chart here.

-- Third-string running back Jerome Ford was looking fresh and moving well after spraining his ankle at the scrimmage a week and a half ago.
-- Defensive lineman Justin Eboigbe was not spotted again. Saban said earlier the freshman was questionable for the Duke game with a foot injury. He was listed as a co-backup with Byron Young at defensive end behind LaBryan Ray.

-- Watching the receivers, the vertical leap of DeVonta Smith was notable going up for a fade in the corner of the end zone. The co-hero of the Georgia national title game battled injuries last year as the other young receivers stepped up. He’ll be worth watching this year after getting less attention in 2018.

-- Three black SUVs were parked outside the facility for UA president Stuart Bell and his team. Bell was watching the opening of practice from the sideline. LINK ]
Video Tweeted By Michael Casagrande Footwork drills in slow motion can be mesmerizing. 0:43 5:18 PM - Aug 26, 2019

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Crimson Tide working in full pads inside on Monday

**Alabama practiced inside in full pads Monday.

There was some serious rotating in the interior offensive line during the observation periods.

Everyone except freshman Evan Neal at left guard was lining up with both the first team and second team just hours after Alabama released its first depth chart. All three spots had a slash with two names listed.

“Well, if we have a slash there, that means that we feel both guys are very much in competition for the position and both guys have an opportunity to play at that position,” Nick Saban said. “And we’ll make a determination at some point in time as to who actually starts the game. But that’s not something that we’re uncomfortable saying right now.”

Absent was among the defensive linemen was true freshman Justin Eboigbe, who is questionable for Duke on Saturday. Redshirt freshman Stephon Wynn true freshman end Antoine Alfano appeared to be going through drills.

Reporters got a good look at a nickel package.

The first unit consisted of cornerbacks Trevon Diggs and Josh Jobe, safeties Xavier McKinney and Jared Mayden, with Patrick Surtain II at star.

During the observation period the unit went through a drill designed to show all the different looks Duke might show.

Reserve center Hunter Brannon is still out.

Injury rundown

• Redshirt junior cornerback Nigel Knott: Out indefinitely with what Nick Saban has only described as a medical issue.

• Senior interior linebacker Josh McMillon: Out indefinitely with a knee injury.

• Freshman running back Trey Sanders: Out indefinitely with a left foot injury.**

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