re: Bama Football Tidings

Saban updates trio of injuries for Alabama; two players will return soon
By Stephen M. Smith Posted on August 3, 2019

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Can this year’s team just stay healthy?

A question that Alabama fans ask themselves each season, especially one in which the coaching staff is elite and the program is in revenge mode.

After addressing how pleased he is with the staff and the relationships the coaches are establishing with players, Nick Saban updated reporters on a trio of injuries the Crimson Tide has to start fall practice.

According to reports, Miller Forristall (foot) and LaBryan Ray (ankle) both sustained medical mishaps in the summer and underwent surgery.

Forristall, a junior, took a medical redshirt in 2017(knee) after playing just three games.

Ray, a junior, is anticipating a monster year.

The 6-foot-5, 292-pounder has waited his time and now it’s his turn to be a beast at defensive end under first-year coach, Brian Baker.

A former five-star in the 2017 class, Ray saw action in all 15 games last season – including one start. He totaled 39 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, two pass breakups and two quarterback pressures.

According to an interview that yours truly of Touchdown Alabama Magazine had with former Tide standout Rudy Griffin, Griffin said Ray has the “quick-twitched edge rushing ability of NFL star Terrell Suggs.”

Per Saban, both guys will be returning soon.

“Miller Forristall will likely be back in a few days. LaBryan Ray will likely be back in a week or so,” Saban said.

The lone concern that Saban has is for Nigel Knott.

A redshirt junior cornerback from Mississippi, he played in 10 games in 2018 but recorded just one tackle.

Knott enrolled as a four-star in the 2016 recruiting class and redshirted his initial freshman year, due to a serious knee injury he sustained as a senior in high school.

“Nigel Knott has some medical issues that we are trying to work through,” Saban said. “It’s really a little bit undetermined on when he’ll be able to get back on the field.”

Hopefully, it’s nothing too serious with Knott.

Stay tuned to tdalabamamag.com for all updates and analysis from Fan Day and on Alabama football in general.

Stephen M. Smith is the managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.

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Terrell Lewis at 'a level higher' than before he was injured BOL - By Charlie Potter

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Terrell Lewis said he is 100-percent healthy.

That is welcome news for Alabama fans wanting to see the freak linebacker on the field this fall after the Washington D.C. product has only appeared in a combined four games the last two years.

But what will have them overjoyed is what Nick Saban said about the redshirt junior Saturday.

“We’ll probably try to manage his reps to some degree, but he practiced all day yesterday, made a lot of plays, did a really good job,” Saban said. “He’s worked hard all summer. We keep these catapult numbers on guys, in terms of what their explosive movements are and how much they can duplicate it, and he’s back to a level higher than he was before he got hurt two years ago.

“So, we’re really pleased with the work that he’s done and how he’s recovered. I think we want to try to manage him so he can be productive and getting him through this season is important. He’s a good leader on our team.”

Lewis was held back in the spring and didn’t participate in the annual A-Day Game because of swelling in his knee. But now that he has been through an entire offseason, that doesn’t occur anymore.

Lewis only sported a sleeve on his right leg at Friday’s first preseason practice. He was second through individual drills behind fifth-year senior Anfernee Jennings, and with Christian Miller now a member of the Carolina Panthers, a now-healthy Lewis is set to start at Sam linebacker.

“I’m good. I’m 100 percent, I would say,” Lewis said Saturday. “There’s nothing that’s holding me back from doing anything. I feel real good now. As far as the spring, strength-wise, I wasn’t where I wanted to be as far as being able to hold the point of attack and go against 300-pound linemen. But now, staying focused with rehab and stuff like that got me right. And getting stronger and then just getting more comfortable with being back on the field, that helped me a lot.”

Lewis said he and redshirt sophomore Christopher Allen, who also missed the 2018 season with a knee injury, leaned on each other during the rehab process, just like he and Miller did in 2017.

Jennings, Lewis and Allen enter fall camp as Alabama’s top-three outside linebackers, and per their head coach, the trio that has dealt with past injuries are doing well at the start of the preseason.

“We have three guys there right now who, I think, can be very productive players,” Saban said. “Anfernee Jennings has done a really, really good job around here. He’s a good leader and very productive player. And Chris didn’t get to play much last year because he was injured, but we had big plans for him last year, too. So, hopefully, we can stay healthy at that position. That will be a real plus for our team.

“And I think we’ve got some young newcomers that might be able to contribute at the position, as well.”

UPDATING OTHER INJURIES

Saban confirmed tight end Miller Forristall and LaBryan Ray are limited to open camp because of injuries they sustained over the summer, but he also announced an injury to cornerback Nigel Knott.

“We do have a couple players that will be out for, not an extended period of time, but Miller Forristall had a foot injury, which slowed him down a little bit for the summer. He will likely be back in a few days,” Saban said. “LaBryan Ray had an ankle injury also in the summer, and he will probably be back in a week or so. Nigel Knott has some medical issues that we’re trying to work through, and it’s a little bit undetermined as to when he’ll be able to get out on the field and go to work.”

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Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports' personal messaging or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter)

For folks going to fan day at the stadium.

There is supposed to be a funeral at Evergreen Cemetery behind the stadium for former Tuscaloosa Mayor Al DuPont. He is a WWII veteran so there will be a 21 gun salute and fly over.

Steve Sarkisian Has Long Relationship With Tua Tagovailoa - BOL - By Kirk McNair Continued from above...

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Although Sarkisian was not actively involved in Tagovailoa’s recruitment to Alabama, he gave a snapshot of the process. “I give Coach Saban a lot of credit,” he sai,d. “He is not one who chases stars by any means, by how many stars a guy has determines how good he is. We pride ourselves in doing our own evaluations, trusting our evaluations, the process, and trying to find the best players that fit Alabama and what it entails to play at Alabama. I think when you go back and look at that class – Tua, the wide receivers in Jerry Juedy and Henry Ruggs and DeVonta Smith; Najee Harris and Brian Robinson the running backs; the offensive linemen you’ve seen what Alex Leatherwood and Jedrick Wills have done, and those types of guys.

“I think all-in-all that class was evaluated really well. We thought they could come in and contribute and at that point then it’s the development of the player. That’s something we talk about here quite a bit – developing the players on and off the field. I think you have to give the players credit too, their work ethic, their commitment to working. They got some opportunities to play early in their careers. I think they asian advantage of it and have continued to grow year to year.”

As for Tagovailoa, Sark said, “After watching him play college football, studying the tape, being attentive in spring ball. He’s a very instintive player. He has a natural feel for passing the football and the passing game. Just on that note, I think those two things stand out to me – hiability to stay accurate regardless of the elements and his quick release, and then the instincts he plays with.”

There has been off-season discussion of Tagovailoa’s next step in development being improvement in full field reads, looking at all the receiving targets. Tide Head Coach Nick Saban refers to it as patience.

Sarkisian said, “Every year after the season you try to evaluate big picture, how you can improve as a football team, and us, specifically, offensively. We really felt if we could continue to grow in that area of full progression reads…our feeling is the more things you do well, the harder you are to defend. We thought that was an area we thought we could improve in.

“I think Tua has bought into that. He’s worked extemely hard. He’s shown drastic improvement. I think the receivers see it as well.

“So now it’s hard to play the play action pass because you’re running the football well. We’re committed to running the ball. You’re defending the RPOs (run-pass options). You’re defending the drop back pass scheme of full progression. I think one of the misnomers is we’re shifting to a drop back team. No. We’re trying to add to an offense that was very prolific a year ago and how can we be more prolific and stay ahead of defenses and what they are trying to stop.”

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pour vous Cobra

Steve Sarkisian talks Alabama offense, returning to Tide
(Mike Kittrell/AL.com)
By Matt Zenitz | mzenitz@al.com

Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian had a press conference Saturday morning. For those not wishing to or who do not have capabilities of watching the video:

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Here’s a rundown of what he said:

— Sarkisian: “It’s great to be back at Alabama. I think back to a couple of years ago, headed to Atlanta, and that was obviously a really tough decision, but I felt like it was an opportunity at that time I couldn’t turn down. When this opportunity came back up from Coach Saban to come back here to Alabama, it was one that I jumped on.”

— On the 2017 Alabama recruiting class: "I think when you go back and look at that class of Tua, the wide receivers in Jeudy and Ruggs and Smitty, Najee obviously and B-Rob at the running back spot, the offensive linemen, you’ve seen what Leatherwood and Wills have done and those types of guys — I just think all-in-all that class was evaluated really well. We felt like they could come in and contribute. ... They got some opportunities to play early in their career and I think they took advantage of it and they’ve continued to grow from year to year.”

— On taking over an offense with Tagovailoa at QB and with so many weapons: "It’s very similar to when I went to Atlanta and they were just coming off going to the Super Bowl, and Matt Ryan was MVP and Julio Jones, so I’m a little bit accustomed to stepping into this role of taking over an offense. I even go back to 2005 when I had been with the Oakland Raiders and I came back to USC the year after Matt Leinart had won the Heisman and they had won the national championship beating Oklahoma. This isn’t as foreign to me.

“I think what it is is you come in and you try to evaluate the whole thing and you say, ‘OK, how can I help this team continue to get better? How can I help these players improve and put them in the best position to have success, not only short term but long term?’ ... That’s kind of my mindset when it comes to that – what I can do to help and do my part to put us in the best position to be successful."

— On sophomore wide receiver Jaylen Waddle: "He’s a very dynamic player. He’s the type of guy that if he gets the ball in space, he can score a touchdown at almost any moment. I think he’s a young man who works extremely hard, he has a high football IQ, he loves the game of football, he works at it, he wants to be as good as he can be, which are obviously all great qualities to have. He’s definitely a dynamic player who we have to continue to try to find ways to get the ball in his hands.”

— On using more four wide receiver sets this season because of the talent that Alabama has at wide receiver: "The NFL is a match-up league and how do you find those match-ups and create those match-ups that are advantageous to you, so hopefully we can bring some of those things back here now that I’m back at Alabama. ... Obviously the four wide receivers and a running back (formation) is something we’ll definitely incorporate into what we’re doing. I’d be remiss to keep those four wide receivers not on the field when it presents itself to be an advantageous situation. Too many times, if they’re standing next to us on the sidelines, something’s wrong or we feel good about something else that’s happening. ... We’ve got to continue to try and develop that package to make sure when we use it we’re not just throwing four wide receivers on the field but there’s a rhyme and a reason why we’re doing what we’re doing.”

— His offensive philosophy “starts in running the football.” “In my opinion, every year I’ve called plays in college football I’ve always had a 1,000-yard rusher,” he said. "So, A, you have to have the ability to run the football, and when you can run the football you can play-action pass. The play-action pass game is a quarterback’s best friend to where defenses are trying to stop the run and now you can create throwing lanes down the field for explosive plays. And then an efficient passing game, high percentage completion-type passing game where you get the ball in your playmaker’s hands in space to go create plays.”

— On the running backs as pass-catchers: “I thought Najee and Brian did a really nice job this spring in catching the ball out of the backfield. Early on what I’ve seen from Trey and Keilan, they provide those same type of things. That is something in this system that especially with me the running backs and receivers out of the backfield are a big benefit for us, especially when we know there’s going to be so much attention on the four wide receivers. I think we can create some good matchups with our running backs.”

— On five-star freshman running back Trey Sanders: “I think Trey is an extremely hard-working young man. He’s serious about football. I think the majority of players who choose to come to the University of Alabama are serious about football and want to be great. Everything I’ve seen out of him is that he wants to be a great player. He wants to work extremely hard. We have a long way to go. Obviously we’re only one practice in, but just early thoughts on him are that he’s a hard-working guy, serious about what he does.”

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Matt Zenitz is an Alabama and Auburn reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mzenitz.

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pour vous Cobra

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Merci beaucoup monsieur

Hate to have a very talented guy who would have made major contributions this year leave the team... HOWEVER, whatever he was doing to get himself suspended and then removed from the University would most likely have become a cancer to the team.
More interesting in his future will be how the NCAA treats this and if he applies for a waiver to be allowed to transfer and play this year. If, as was originally considered and discussed, he was going home (most likely transfer to Maryland) to be be close to his seriously ill GrandFather, the fact that he was suspended when he left and more importantly, he had be removed from school.. that is a whole nubber level

WATCH: Tide works out at Bryant-Denny on Fan Day (BamaOnLine | video)



Photos: Day 2 of Alabama's fall camp (BOL)

A few tweets from Clint Lamb who is covering the practice

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Two true freshman DL out there with the first-team defense: DJ Dale and Justin Eboigbe.

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Note: Presence of Landon Dickerson hasn’t changed anything for Evan Neal. I’ve only seen the true frosh working at LG. That could change if Dickerson can provide more depth on the interior. Either way, Neal should be a tackle long term.

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True frosh Brandon Turnage is doing a great job staying in phase downfield. He’s had two impressive PBU that I’ve seen today. Versatile, rangy guy with size (6-1, 185) and can play CB or S.

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5-star frosh RB Trey Sanders has made several impressive catches out of the backfield today. Someone needs to step up to fill that void left behind by Josh Jacobs.

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Having a 6-6 Tyrell Shavers with speed and leaping ability running seam routes from the slot is almost unfair.

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