re: Bama Football Tidings

ALABAMA RB NAJEE HARRIS STIFF ARMS & HURDLES SOUTH CAROLINA DEFENDERS FOR SPECTACULAR TD
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RAY foot was banged up will get MRI see whats up..

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Bummer. Didnt he have a foot injury last year too?

On the day Harris recorded five receptions for 87-yards with two touchdown receptions and also ran for seven attempts for 36-yards.
LINK ]Alabama RB Najee Harris explains highlight hurdle against South Carolina Tony Tsoukalas • BamaInsider @Tony_Tsoukalas

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — Najee Harris is going to want to see this one again. The starting running back provided the most memorable moment of Alabama’s 47-23 victory over South Carolina on Saturday when he scored a 42-yard touchdown reception on fourth-and-2 during the second quarter.

The play saw Harris shrug off one defender at the 31-yard line before jumping over another at the 17-yard line on his way to the end zone.

"I haven't seen it yet, I've got to see it," Harris said. "I try not to hurdle actually. But I guess watching film, I just know what I'm going against player-wise, so I guess that was the time to do it."

Harris might not have seen the highlight yet, but his teammates sure did. Following the game, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa smiled while telling reporters he’s used to seeing the five-star back make those kinds of plays by now.

“That’s just Najee,” Tagovailoa said. “You look at something like that, he’s been doing that since high school. Since our freshman year, he’s been jumping over guys and running guys over. So that’s nothing new.”

That might be Najee, but it isn’t Tua — and it won’t be anytime soon.

“Oh no, not me,” the quarterback assured reporters. “I think coaches will take me out if I start doing stuff like that.”

Harris’ hurdles aren’t exactly popular with Nick Saban. However, as long as they keep on working and the star back stays off the injury table, he has no complaints.

“He did a great job,” Saban said of the play. “He made one guy miss. He broke another tackle, he jumped over another guy. Pretty good.

“I always tell him not to do that. I just think it could be dangerous. But he’s got a good feel for it.”

Harris finished the day with 123 yards of total offense, tallying 87 yards and two touchdowns on five receptions while adding 36 yards on seven carries. His first touchdown came on a wheel route as he caught a 24-yard pass from Tagovailoa on Alabama’s opening drive.

“He’s a great weapon,” receiver Henry Ruggs said. “He’s going to do what he has to do. He’ll block if he needs to, and obviously he has hands and his run after catch is incredible.”

Despite Harris’ big day, Alabama again struggled to sustain success on the ground. The Crimson Tide was held to a season-low 76 yards, averaging just three yards per carry on the afternoon.

Alabama’s lack of production was negated by a career day from Tagovailoa, who threw for 444 yards and five touchdowns. However, the fast-flying aerial attack kept the Crimson Tide’s defense on the field for 86 plays — something Saban feels could cost his team in future games.

“We’ve got to control the ball on offense. And I know we got lots of yards, but we only had 76 yards rushing, so we’ve got to be able to run the ball better,” Saban said. “Not that we ran it poorly, we just didn’t run it enough. A lot of the plays that we ran today are called runs or RPOs. We end up passing because they’re playing six guys in the box. So, it’s not the play-calling as much as it is the design of what we’re doing.”

Through three games, Harris has 156 yards and a touchdown on 31 carries, an average of 5.03 yards per attempt. He’ll get his next opportunity to add to those totals next week as Alabama faces Southern Miss on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.

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Alabama DB Xavier McKinney | South Carolina Postgame
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Charlie Potter (BOL)
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Alabama LB Terrell Lewis | South Carolina Postgame
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Charlie Potter (BOL)
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9/14/19 Bama vs USCe
Photo Gallery of this week's Bama Football game

Football vs. South Carolina Postgame NotesContinued from above...

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TAGOVAILOA HAS CAREER GAME IN PASSING YARDAGE: Tagovailoa's 444 yards against South Carolina moves him to third on the Alabama most passing yards in a game all-time record. While going 28-36, Tagovailoa passed David Smith, who went 312 yards in the Sun Bowl on Dec. 24, 1988.

TAGOVAILOA NOTCHES CRIMSON TIDE FIRST: After throwing for a career-high 444 yards and five touchdowns against South Carolina, Tagovailoa became the first quarterback in Alabama history with 400-plus passing yards and five touchdowns through the air in the same game.

TUA'S TOUCHDOWN RESPONSIBILITY: Junior Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa set an Alabama single-season record for touchdown responsibility in 2018 with 48 scores (43 passing/five rushing). Tagovailoa surpassed the previous record of 36 set by Jalen Hurts in 2016 (23/13). Following his five-touchdown passes against South Carolina, Tagovailoa passed Hurts on the UA career touchdown responsibility list with 74 scores. Hurts finished his Crimson Tide career with 71 (48 passing, 23 rushing) touchdowns. Tagovailoa sits at second with 66 career scoring tosses and eight rushing scores in 27 games, an average of 2.66 touchdowns per game for his career. Alabama's all-time leader is AJ McCarron who recorded 80 (77 passing, 3 rushing) from 2010-13.

CAREER GAME FOR HARRIS: Junior running back Najee Harris recorded the most receiving yards (87) for a running back since Shaun Alexander had 110 receiving yards against Mississippi State on Nov. 14, 1998.

Defensive Notes
TURNOVERS, TURNOVERS, TURNOVERS: The Crimson Tide has forced at least one turnover in 57 of its last 62 contests dating back to the start of the 2015 season. During the current run, the Crimson Tide has forced 101 turnovers (67 interceptions, 34 fumbles) and returned 22 of those miscues for touchdowns.

Special Teams Notes
PUNT DEFENSE CONTINUES IMPRESSIVE PLAY IN 2019: Alabama's punt return defense remains stout this season, allowing zero returns against South Carolina and just two returns for four total yards this year. Last season Alabama gave up just nine punt returns in 42 attempts for 24 yards to rank fifth in the Football Bowl Subdivision in punt return defense at 2.67 yards per return.

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eventho today's only punt travels less distance than the normal person walks to the John at work...

RollTide.Com Stats - Full Page PDF - Participation Chart
NOT ALWAYS THE MOST DEPENDABLE? But it's something if you want to know who actually played (I have 56 played this week, but have not rewatched game yet)
2019 Alabama Football
Alabama Games Played (GP) with Starts (GS) noted (as of Sep 14, 2019)
All games
## PLAYER GP/GS
1 Ben Davis 2/-
2 Keilan Robinson 3/-
2 Patrick Surtain 3/3
3 Daniel Wright 3/-
4 C. Allen 3/-
4 Jerry Jeudy 3/3
5 Shyheim Carter 3/1
5 Ta. Tagovailoa 1/-
6 DeVonta Smith 3/2
7 Trevon Diggs 3/3
8 C. Harris 3/3
8 John Metchie 3/-
9 Jordan Battle 3/1
9 Xavier Williams 1/-
10 Ale Kaho 3/-
10 Mac Jones 3/-
11 Henry Ruggs III 3/3
11 Scooby Carter 2/-
12 C. Townsend 1/-
12 Skyler DeLong 2/-
13 Tua Tagovailoa 3/3
14 Tyrell Shavers 3/-
15 Xavier McKinney 3/3
16 Will Reichard 3/-
17 Jaylen Waddle 3/1
18 Slade Bolden 3/-
19 J. Billingsley 1/-
21 Jared Mayden 3/3
22 J. Armour-Davis 3/-
22 Najee Harris 3/2
23 Jarez Parks 1/-
24 B. Robinson Jr. 3/-
24 Terrell Lewis 3/-
25 Eddie Smith 1/-
26 Marcus Banks 2/-
27 Jerome Ford 2/1
28 Josh Jobe 3/1
29 D. Hellams 3/-
30 King Mwikuta 2/-
33 A. Jennings 3/3
35 Shane Lee 3/3
36 Markail Benton 3/-
40 Giles Amos 3/-
42 Jaylen Moody 3/-
45 Thomas Fletcher3/-
47 Byron Young 3/-
48 P. Mathis 3/-
51 Tanner Bowles 1/-
55 Emil Ekiyor Jr. 2/-
58 C. Barmore 2/-
60 K. Randolph 3/-
69 L. Dickerson 3/3
70 A. Leatherwood 3/3
71 D. Dalcourt 3/-
72 Pierce Quick 2/-
73 Evan Neal 3/3
74 J. Wills Jr. 3/3
75 Tommy Brown 3/-
76 Scott Lashley 3/-
77 Matt Womack 3/1
79 Chris Owens 2/2
81 Cameron Latu 3/-
87 M. Forristall 3/3
88 Major Tennison 3/-
89 LaBryan Ray 3/3
90 S. Wynn Jr. 3/-
91 Tevita Musika 1/-
92 Justin Eboigbe 1/-
94 DJ Dale 3/3
97 Joseph Bulovas 1/-
99 Raekwon Davis 3/3

(Photo: Streeter Lecka, Getty)
LINK ]Alabama's defense 'ran out of gas' in win over South Carolina By Charlie PotterBOL

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COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Alabama’s goal at South Carolina was to play for 60 minutes.

Head coach Nick Saban was very pleased with the Crimson Tide’s offense. But...

“We ran out of gas a little bit on defense,” Saban said after the 47-23 win over the Gamecocks. “But we played 86 plays on defense, which is a lot, especially in conditions like this.”

It’s true. The Gamecocks ran 86 plays, which was 22 more than Alabama on Saturday, and was able to produce 459 yards of offense, primarily from quarterback Ryan Hilinski (324 yards).

Although Alabama won the first game of SEC play by 24 points, the amount of time the defense spent on the field can’t continue if the Tide wants to achieve its ultimate goal, Saban said.

“We don’t have enough players to get through the season if we play 86 plays of defense every week,” Saban said. “But the defense has to get off the field. We had opportunities to get off the field on third down. There were way too many penalties in the game. We stopped ourselves with penalties, and we helped them with penalties on defense by jumping offsides on 3rd and 10, and then on 3rd and 5, they scored a touchdown. Third and 10 is a lot different to play defense than 3rd and 5.

“So, there’s a lot of fixing to do, there’s a lot of things that we can improve. I like the chemistry of our team, I like the character of our guys. I just hope we can stay healthy enough to persevere.”

Leading the team in tackles once again, safety Xavier McKinney added: “It was tough. It was tough, I’m not going to lie. But the way we practice, we’re used to it. Even after practice, we condition. It was tough today, though. But I feel like we’ll get better with being more conditioned.”

South Carolina picked up 31 first downs and was 8-of-18 on third-down attempts. The hosting Gamecocks were also 2-of-3 in red-zone scoring with an 11-yard touchdown and 28-yard field goal.

But that area of the field was actually were Saban was most pleased with his defense.

“They did a great job of stopping them in the red zone when they needed to,” Saban said. “But it was a little disappointing that we didn’t execute better between what after they got there to get them there.

“There was a lot of adjusting to do. The young players had a lot of problems adjusting to the quads and to the empty formation in the boundary, which we had worked on, but it was a lot for the linebackers. So, we had to stay pretty simple in terms of what we were doing, afraid that we would not do things correctly. So, when the field shrunk, we were able to get them stopped, and I think the players showed a lot of resiliency in doing that.”

One young player that Saban chose to give a breather in order for him to play under control was freshman inside linebacker Christian Harris. The three-game starter was replaced by Ale Kaho, a sophomore, at weakside linebacker, and Saban explained why he made that substitution.

“There was a lot of confusion with the young guys, with the formations and the motions and some of the things that they were doing,” Saban said. “We tried to get 8 (Harris) settled down by taking him out of the game and put Kaho in for a series. And then we put him back in the game, and then we decided to play Kaho a little bit because he’s a good football player and he needs to get some experience, himself.”

Alabama’s defense wasn’t at its best Saturday night.

It was evident that two true freshmen were manning the middle of the field and a veteran player like Dylan Moses was not. The amount of plays and how many of them were explosive -- 20 plays of 10 yards or more -- were a “wake-up call for us,” said outside linebacker Terrell Lewis.

But in its first true test of the 2019 season, the defense bent but didn’t break against what looks to be a Carolina offense that won’t miss a beat with Hilinski behind center the rest of the way.

“They played the same plays (as last week), for the most part,” Lewis said. “Just had a faster tempo, trying to make sure that we were kind of was on our toes and couldn’t align right and trying to basically keep up frantic. Then also, adding in the hand clap so they could throw us off-balance with jumping offsides and jumping off the ball.

“But I think, really, everything that we did, we gave them as far as a defense. We’ve just got to take practice more seriously and kind of attack it.”

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

LINK ]Alabama Football: Some thoughts on Alfano and the Tide D-line by Ronald Evans Follow @revansbama

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With former 5-Star Antonio Alfano looking to transfer, what options are available to Nick Saban for depth in the Alabama football defensive line.

A not-deep Alabama football defensive line is looking thinner with Friday’s news Antonio Alfano will pursue transfer options. Despite huge early expectations for the former 5-Star recruit, his fall camp performance indicated he would see limited action in 2019.

That does not mean Alfano has any less potential than when he arrived in Tuscaloosa in January. He can become an outstanding player. Unfortunately, it appears it will not be as a member of the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Alabama football fans can bemoan the current transfer rules. Nick Saban correctly predicted the result would be free agency in college football and that is what has happened. More angst can be engaged by considering other transfers and defensive line recruiting misses over the past couple of seasons.

Rest assured the Alabama football staff is instead focusing on what it can control. Not the vagaries of teenage minds or for that matter whatever poaching tactics other schools use against the Crimson Tide.

All that matters now is how many defensive linemen can make meaningful contributions in 2019. And, how many can be signed in the 2020 and 2021 classes.

Alabama football fans should take comfort in the fact two other true freshmen, Justin Eboigbe and Byron Young, were ahead of Alfano on the depth chart. They have been ahead of Alfano for weeks, long before his recent disappearance.

Even without Alfano, the Crimson Tide has nine guys who can contribute this season. It could be more if Ishmael Sopsher gets into playing shape. Braylen Ingraham is another player with considerable potential who could develop into a contributor. Neither Sopsher or Ingraham have played this season.

Without Sopsher and Ingraham, the nine d-line Tiders are Raekwon Davis, LaBryan Ray, D.J. Dale, Phidarian Mathis, Justin Eboigbe, Byron Young, Stephon Wynn, Christian Barmore and Tevita Musika. Mathis and Young have seen the most action. Eboigbe has been slowed by injury but is expected to play against South Carolina.

A nine-man rotation is adequate without any serious injury problems. As a hedge against possible future injuries, Nick Saban might consider a position change for another big body. Redshirt sophomore Kendall Randolph came to Tuscaloosa prepared to play on either side of the line. He might help as an interior defensive lineman if Sopsher ends up needing a redshirt season.

For those who did not see the tweet, Alfano’s father had good things to say about the support given his son by the University of Alabama. The family is going through a difficult time with Antonio’s grandmother seriously ill.

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