re: Boz, will you be at today’s scrimmage? (Redux)

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someone's a turnover machine and sure isn't Tua

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They need to start Hurts to avoid turnovers.

Did he fumble though? I guarantee you he took care of the ball until he released it. Outside of the scrimmage there will be no pressure for him to throw the ball. Plus I'm sure he threw those INTs with great leadership. I'm guessing he may have won the team with those turnovers today.

There's another theory out there in sports medicine that we are reaching the limits of the human body with modern training, strength and conditioning, nutrition, etc. The theory uses data on record breaking performances and the data points show on a graph plot that records are flattening out. There are fewer records being broken and the ones that are being broken are being broken by smaller and smaller improvements. Shattering a record by a significant amount just isn't happening much anymore.

A corollary to this theory is that by maxing out the improvable parts of the body i.e. the bone structure and the muscle, we are overstressing the non-improvable parts like ligaments, tendons and cartilage. They are doing well to take the force of a 300+lb lineman going full speed, planting a foot and violently cutting the other way. Now imagine that lineman being hit from the other direction during that cut. It's a wonder the joint doesn't just shred.

I agree. Jalen made those guys a lot of money. Much respect to him. It will be sad if he can't hold on to the job. Tua is good though. This QB competition is killing me.

Any word on the what, why, and what of it from Jalen’s dad and Saban chat?

LINK ]Both QBs played well in Alabama's second preseason scrimmage (BamaOnLine)

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Alabama’s defense made a lot of plays in the first scrimmage last week.

This week, however, went to the offense.

Following the roughly 130-play, two-hour scrimmage inside Bryant-Denny Stadium, head coach Nick Saban said his Crimson Tide team showed improvement between Scrimmages 1 and 2.

“We made a lot more explosive plays today, were a lot more consistent on offense, took care of the ball pretty well,” Saban said Saturday afternoon. “Both quarterbacks played well. … We had a couple two-minute situations at the end of the game that we were successful at.”

No official statistics were released following the game-like practice, but by all accounts, Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa both performed well in the muggy conditions in the Druid City.

The junior and sophomore have battled for the starting job behind center throughout the preseason, and following a strong performance in last week’s first scrimmage, Tagovailoa appeared to have the upper hand in the competition. The southpaw was the first quarterback out with the first-team offense and after some forced throws, settled down to finish strong, per a source.

But Tagovailoa and Hurts alternated possessions with the ones, and Hurts had a much better day than the first outing in the home stadium this fall camp, rounding out was a solid day for both signal callers with two weeks until the opener, according to those in attendance.

So, the quarterback battle will continue throughout the remaining days of camp and into UA’s first game week of the season, when it begins preparing for Louisville. And asked where he has seen improvement specifically from Tagovailoa, Saban praised both quarterbacks.

“Look, everybody has improved,” Saban said.

“Jalen has made a lot of improvement. Tua has made a lot of improvement. I think he has a better understanding of the offense, he’s got a lot more reps. I think he’s always been a very instinctive player. But I think he would tell you that his knowledge and experience has certainly benefited him in having greater confidence and understanding for what he’s doing.”

And prior to Saturday’s second scrimmage, Saban still did not rule out using both players.

“We have two guys who are great competitors, who are both really good players,” Saban said. “They both have had good fall camps, so I don’t expect (the decision) to be easy. I want them to continue to compete and work hard and do well. Our coaches are working hard to help each one of those guys to be the best player that they can be, and we're going to continue to do that.

“Like I said before, if both guys can contribute to our team, we’ll certainly utilize that the best way we can.”

Alabama will have Sunday off and return to the practice field Monday, Aug. 20, at 2:30 p.m.

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Wow, what a stressful bunch of posts... Much respect to Boz for the insightful info as always. Your contributions are always greatly appreciated...
When will "we" get to see the DC? would hope for a sooner than later, but if HCNS wishes to withhold until day of the game... Cool

LINK ]State of Alabama's outside linebackers after Allen's injury (BOL | embedded video)


OLBs Eyabi Anoma (left) and Cameron Latu.

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Alabama is down yet another linebacker as sophomore Christopher Allen is “probably out for the season,” Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban announced after Saturday’s fall scrimmage.

That makes two outside linebackers out for the foreseeable future with injuries as Allen joined junior Terrell Lewis (ACL) on the sideline. Alabama also lost two inside linebackers with Keith Holcombe choosing to play baseball and VanDarius Cowan being dismissed.

“That’s unfortunate that we have two of those now at the same position, both guys that have made a contribution to our team,” Saban said at Bryant-Denny Stadium. “We don’t have enough depth, especially on defense to be able to afford to lose those kind of players.”

Here, BamaOnLine breaks down Alabama’s outside linebacker position after another injury.

Starters: Anfernee Jennings, Christian Miller

Jennings and Miller were poised to start before any of these injuries occurred, but the setbacks only solidified that notion. After dealing with injuries of their own last season -- Jennings (knee) and Miller (biceps) -- the veteran pass-rushers are now healthy and have led the position group this preseason. They were the first two outside ‘backers in base on Saturday afternoon.

“We basically have Anfernee and Christian Miller, who have been starters around here,” Saban said. “Past that, we have Ben Davis and (three) freshmen. That’s basically what we have. If we had more inside linebackers -- Joshua McMillon could play the position, but I’m not sure we could afford to move him. So, we’re very thin at those two positions right now.”

Still, Jennings and Miller give UA a veteran duo to apply pressure on quarterbacks off the edge.

Returning reserves: Jamey Mosley, Ben Davis

Saban mentioned Davis in his post-scrimmage comments Saturday, but the former 5-star recruit has only seen the field in one game entering his redshirt sophomore season. As for Mosley, when Miller and Lewis both suffered serious injuries in Week 1 of last season, it was the former walk-on that was forced into duty for much of the season, starting opposite of Jennings.

The redshirt senior has been limited by a separated shoulder of late, but the good news for him and Alabama is he will likely return to action next week -- the week of the 2018 preseason.

“Jamey Mosley has been practicing some but no contact,” Saban said. “His position is not really one that you can play without contact, so he didn’t scrimmage today. But we feel like he’ll be back on the field and able to do some things next week.”

Newcomers: Jarez Parks, Eyabi Anoma, Cameron Latu

With the injuries, Alabama could be in a similar situation to last year where a freshman had to fill role as a key reserve. Luckily, UA has three promising first-year players on its current roster.

After a grayshirt year, Parks joined the program prior to the College Football Playoff and has a few more reps already under his belt than his fellow newcomers. Anoma and Latu joined the team this summer, and all three of the newcomers look the part from a physical standpoint. And according to an Alabama veteran, all of the young linebackers have caught on quickly.

“The biggest thing I’ve seen from them is their willingness to learn because obviously, those guys are all talented,” Miller said. “They wouldn’t be here if they weren’t. I’ve seen tremendous physical traits from them, but the thing I like about all those guys is they all want to learn.

“They’re texting me, coming up to me, asking me, ‘Can we get extra film?’ every day. That’s something that I think is awesome, and I’m more than willing to help them. Those guys have been doing a really good job. I just told them, ‘Y’all are probably the most advanced group of freshman that I’ve seen here since I’ve been here, and I’ve been here a while.’”

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LINK ]Alabama Coach Nick Saban Gets Some Satisfaction From Scrimmage (BamaOnLine)

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That’s a wrap on preseason full scrimmage practice days. Going into Saturday’s second and final scrimmage of Alabama fall football camp (though with another week to go before Bama starts game preparation for Louisville), Crimson Tide Coach Nick Saban had previewed the general hopes he had for the Bryant-Denny Stadium work.

Those were it being “game-like” insofar as smooth substitution patterns and special teams work and having coaches handling communications from the press box. But he also wanted to “let the players play,” and for them to do things when the coaches weren’t right beside them telling them what to do.

And, of course, it was the last scrimmage with the season-opener against Louisville in Orlando on Sept. 1, two weeks away, and perhaps the last chance for some players to make an impression.

That’s important because, as Saban has said in the past, at some point decisions have to be made on which players will get preparation for the opening game.

Saturday’s scrimmage was a bit late starting because of a downpour, but as older Alabama fans from the Paul Bryant Era will testify, it doesn’t rain on the Crimson Tide.

As is usual, there were few specifics revealed by Saban following the scrimmage. Don’t look for statistics. (And, yes, there were plenty of unofficial reports, some verified by Bama’s head coach. Although the scrimmage, as always, was advertised as closed there were a number of followers there, including former players and Red Elephant Club members.)

Just jumping to Saban’s summation, he said, “Overall, I'm pleased with the improvement we made. I'm far from satisfied with where our team is. We've got a lot of work to do."

About as specific as it gets, he said, “The No. 1 thing, which was the focus after the last scrimmage, was to be able to make some significant improvement from week one to week two.

“I certainly saw a lot of areas where we were able to do that.

“We made a lot more explosive plays today, were a lot more consistent on offense. Took care of the ball pretty well, both quarterbacks (Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts) played well.”

On the other hand, he said, “I thought the tackling was not as crisp as it needs to be on defense, and we continue to make probably more mental errors than we're going to be able to tolerate. We're continuing to work with guys. Working together and communicating is going to be really, really important.

"We had a couple two-minute situations at the end of the game that we were successful at. I thought the specialists did fairly well today. Each of them had maybe one play they wished they had back. I was really pleased with that as well.

"I think the big message is, the things that we focused on and the things that we worked on, we made improvement on. The things that we don't pay attention to detail on, people trying to get the ball out, breaking the ball out, ball security, those types of things that we really make a great emphasis on, we need continue to create more turnovers on defense. I thought we did a pretty good job of taking care of the ball today on offense.”

That, of course, is one of the conundrums of a team working against itself. It cannot look good on offense if it turns the ball over, although that makes the defense look good. And if the offense has good ball security, the defensive side is criticized for not getting takeaways.

Saban didn’t point any fingers at individuals, but said the secondary “didn’t play well today. They gave up a lot of big plays and made a lot of mental errors. We need to do better, play better as a group.

“We have some individuals that are playing well and some guys that need to play with a lot more discipline, eye control, and understand what they do.”

Alabama lost six regulars from the secondary from last year’s national championship team, and even before the Tide started fall camp Saban had said that young players had to be counted on for depth in the defensive backfield.

“They are young players,” Saban said. “I believe in them. I have a lot of confidence that we can get them where they need to be, but they need to realize they have a lot of things to work on.

“I think sometimes when things go fast out there, it's hard for them to figure it out and then they don't play with a lot of confidence and focus. That just goes with being a young player.

“We'll keep working with those guys and go from there."

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What's the point in posting this? It's just shitting up the scrimmage thread.

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It’s ok, if this thread gets injured, Saban will just shite out another thread.