re: Spring Football News & Info

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Someone on 247 stated that DJ Dale has stood out,"getting noticed in practice". I could not read the whole post. Not sure how reliable that is but it's great if so.

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He's a dancing bear, you know he's got good feet when he moonlighted as a RB in HS.

Could the linebackers be shut down for the spring?

LINK ]Freshman defensive lineman impressing, other Alabama spring practice notes By Matt Zenitz | mzenitz@al.com

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Alabama is through six of its 15 spring practices. Here are a few quick notes based on what I’ve been hearing about spring ball thus far:
— It’s still early, but don’t be surprised if freshman defensive lineman D.J. Dale ends up playing a decent amount for the Crimson Tide this season. Word is that the 6-foot-3, 315-pound Clay-Chalkville graduate has been very impressive. “I feel like he’s a great person to come in and learn the ropes, learn the process,” former Alabama star defensive lineman Quinnen Williams said in January. “He’s a very humble person and he’s from where I’m from, so we’ve got that same trait, that same mindset, myself and him. But he’s (much) bigger coming in. He’s way bigger than me coming in.”

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— Another young guy that seems to be doing well thus far this spring for the Tide: Sophomore cornerback Josh Jobe. With Trevon Diggs working at nickel back, Jobe has been in with the first-team defense at the cornerback spot opposite Patrick Surtain and it sounds like he’s been holding his own against Alabama’s talented group of wide receivers. “We’ve got confidence in Josh Jobe,” Tide coach Nick Saban said. “He’s made a lot of improvement. ... We thought he made a lot of progress last year. I think he’s much more confident even this year.”

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— It sounds like Alabama’s two position experiments are going well —Chadarius Townsend at running back and Cameron Latu at tight end. Townsend, a redshirt sophomore who ran a 4.4 40 during the Tide’s spring testing, is one of the faster players on the team and brings a different skill set to the table than Alabama’s other running backs as a smaller but faster and quicker guy who could help the Tide in the passing game from that running back spot. Latu, a redshirt freshman who spent last season at outside linebacker, seems to be progressing at tight end and it sounds like there’s a decent chance the former four-star recruit could end up staying at that position.

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— Former Alabama defensive back Kyriq McDonald, who left the Tide in February, is looking at Cincinnati as a potential transfer destination, per a source. McDonald may visit Cincinnati this week.

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2019 Alabama Crimson Tide Spring Football — Meet the revamped Alabama defensive coaching staff ‘Bama’s rebuilt coaching staff has some familiar faces on this side of the ball. By Erik Evans Updated Mar 27, 2019

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The task ahead In a nutshell?
The defense was simply not that good by the lofty standards of Alabama defenses, and nowhere was it more apparent than in the passing game. Once Alabama lost Trevon Diggs, who was heading for an All-SEC-type season, the Alabama secondary had to return to recently-benched Saivion Smith to man the other corner, pressing freshman Patrick Surtain II in a starting role. Thus, while one was learning how to play the game, the other was inconsistent and often shying away from contact in run support. Thrown in with an entirely revamped coaching staff, a first-time defensive coordinator learning to game-plan — a DC who had zero experience coaching the secondary, and in retrospect the results should have been predictable.

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The secondary was viewed as the weak point, at least going into the Clemson game. Five of the top six performers in 2017 did not return. The number of peripheral stats reflected that. The 22 touchdown passes surrendered in 2018 were the most in at least a decade. The number of “long” plays allowed by the Bama defense (167 of at least 10 yards) were the most since 2014 -- almost one in five plays (17 percent) went for 10+ yards against the Tide last season. That was an overall increase of 36 such plays from 2017 -- an average of 2.4 per game.

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Explosive plays surrendered and the loss of Diggs were by no means the only issues that plagued Alabama down the stretch. Indeed, you can make the case that Diggs’ was not even the most critical injury that hit the Tide when it mattered most. Following a cheap chop by Citadel on Quinnen Williams, and an equally cheap cut by Auburn on Isaiah Buggs, the defensive line never regained the form it had going into November. The lack of a consistently healthy pass rush did those corners no favors. Deionte Thompson’s performance slipped in the Tide’s more crucial post-season games. And poor Dylan Moses, playing out of position, was a walking mismatch for opposing offenses in the underneath passing game.

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Now the entire starting defensive line, the best player in the nation, an All-American safety, and a second team all-SEC inside linebacker must be replaced. So too, does the Tide see the exit of several defensive coaches, including Tosh Lupoi — both rightly and wrongly viewed as one of the goats in the Santa Clara Calamity. But, in their place are some old familiar faces to go with the new. The rebuilt staff on this side of the ball isn’t quite as extensive on the offense, but it is daunting. So, let’s meet the new staff responsible for helping to right the ship. If you missed the companion piece, on an entirely new Alabama offensive coaching staff, we’ve got you covered right here.

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2019 Alabama Crimson Tide Spring Football — Meet the revamped Alabama defensive coaching staff ‘Bama’s rebuilt coaching staff has some familiar faces on this side of the ball...Continued...By Erik Evans Updated Mar 27, 2019 Safeties: Charles Kelly

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Charles Kelly is an interesting addition to the staff. Most know him as the hyperkinetic madman from Ozark on the Seminoles 2013 National Championship coaching staff. But, when Jimbo took his road show to College Station, Kelly left to join Jeremy Pruitt’s staff at Tennessee, where he coached the special teams and safeties. As part of that staff, the Vols passing down S&P+ improved to 36th, and the overall passing defense “improved” to 83rd from 96th (baby steps.) Perhaps the better comparison to draw — at a program with comparable talent, is the work Kelly’s secondary did with the ‘Noles defense. In the 2013 season, Kelly’s DBs finished 1st in passing down S&P+, 1st in standard down passing S&P+, and 4th overall in passing defense. When paired with the improvements at Tennessee, even in a switch to a different scheme, it’s apparent that he knows his business. Kelly was an active recruiter at FSU, however at Tennessee and Alabama, his role has been that of a hands-on teacher. Honestly, given some of the issues on the back-end last season, that’s just as well. At certain positions, this team could stand to have a few coaches whose sole function is to develop the blue-chippers on the roster. Kelly was almost certainly added to the secondary coaching crew so as to free up Karl Scott for what he has proven to do the best: recruit.
(Seriously, though, watch Kelly on the sideline this season: He makes Scott Cochran seem the very portrait of sedate composure.)

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2019 Alabama Crimson Tide Spring Football — Meet the revamped Alabama defensive coaching staff ‘Bama’s rebuilt coaching staff has some familiar faces on this side of the ball...Continued... By Erik Evans Updated Mar 27, 2019 Defensive Coordinator/ILB: Pete Golding
(Outgoing: Tosh Lupoi)

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As much attention as OC Steve Sarkisian will receive, nothing compares to the scrutiny that Pete Golding will face. Last season was a bit of a mess — Golding was never intended to be doing the game-planning for his boss. He was listed as the Co-DC, but it was meant to be Tosh’s time to shine. He had paid his due. Still, by the middle of the year and it was apparent that Tosh didn’t quite have the chops just yet, that’s what had happened. But, when the ball kicked off, it was up to Lupoi to make the in-game adjustments. And you know Nick Saban had to have spent far more time coaching his defensive coaches than managing the team. So, the less said about all of the cooks in the kitchen, the better. This season should prove to be far more stable. After fending off bids by Oklahoma and Ole Miss, the Tide retained the young Golding to be the undisputed head of the defense. Last season may not be the best indicator of what Golding, whose background is coaching DBs, can do calling the plays. Instead, we’ll look to what he did as defensive coordinator of the UTSA Roadrunners in 2016 and 2017. We covered Golding’s philosophy and results extensively with UTSA beat writer Jared Calmus. You’ll definitely want to read that in full:

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UTSA played most snaps in a 4-2-5 alignment throughout Golding’s tenure. However, I always had the impression that the long-term goal was to move to an odd-man front. When Golding came to UTSA he quickly found out that the personnel was not in place along the defensive line to run with an odd-man front, as the previous staff hadn’t recruited many guys big enough and quick enough to play defensive end in such a scheme. If Golding would have stuck at UTSA for another two years then I think UTSA would have moved to a pure 3-4 or 3-3-5, as UTSA’s recruiting strategy really pointed towards that being the long-term plan.
As for scheming, Golding is an extremely aggressive playcaller, arguably too aggressive. Never afraid to blitz his inebackers or secondary players, UTSA played a high number of their snaps in cover 0 or cover 1 this season. It was a risky move that paid off because the Roadrunners had a lot of talent on the defensive side of the ball.

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And did it ever pay off for the Roadrunners where CPG was nothing short of a miracle worker. After coming over from Southern Miss as the Eagles’ DB coach, Golding effected a transformation in the defense that eventually led UTSA to its first bowl game. But, more startling is the tremendous leap their defense made every year under his supervision. Look at these results: The year before he arrived, his two years in San Antonio, and after he departed:
Pre-Golding 2015:
Total D / Rushing D / Passing D
111th / 45th / 112th
Golding Year One 2016:
Total D / Rushing D / Passing D
95th / 43rd / 88th
Golding Year Two 2017:
Total D / Rushing D / Passing D
34th / 40th / 43rd
Post-Golding 2018:
Total D / Rushing D / Passing D
103rd / 61st / 107th
Golding is, simply put, the next hot thing on the defensive coaching circuit, and at just 35 years old, he is poised to have a tremendous career. One of the least-discussed recruiting jobs of this offseason was Alabama securing him for a three-year deal, keeping both his aggressive, transformative Xs and Os, and his outstanding recruiting. (His recruiting haul this year alone included Shane Lee, Byron Young, and Ishmael Sopsher.)

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Insider Report on Alabama Crimson Tide football: Spring practice No. 7 Tony Tsoukalas • BamaInsider.com @Tony_Tsoukalas

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama worked outside Thursday as it held its seventh practice of spring camp. Players were dressed in full pads and practiced under sunny, 73-degree weather. Thursday marked Alabama’s final practice before the team’s first scrimmage Saturday inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. Here are some notes from the media viewing period:
— Alabama’s defense appeared to be working on hurry-up drills at the beginning of the workout. The team provided a rare look with the entire base defense working together. During one set, defensive coordinator Pete Golding yelled out “ones all out.” That group looked like this:
Defensive line: LaBryan Ray, Phidarian Mathis, Raekwon Davis.
Linebackers: Eyabi Anoma, Joshua McMillon, Dylan Moses, Kevin Harris II.
Cornerbacks: Patrick Surtain II, Trevon Diggs
Safeties: Xavier McKinney, Jared Mayden
— During positional drills, the outside linebackers worked in pairs.
Anfernee Jennings and Christopher Allen were first up followed by Harris and Anoma.
Jarez Parks worked with walk-on Williams Cooper in the third unit. Continue reading - behind a pay wall

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Other notes found on a trip around the interwebs:
Lewis and Womack limited at practice; Ben Davis not seen at practice.

LINK ]Xavian Marks has been granted another year by NCAA, he is set to grad in May, '19 and has entered his name in the Transfer Portal as Grad Transfer.
more to come

Touchdown Alabama Magazine - WATCH: Alabama Spring Practice 03-28-19 6:37
QBs start
1:10 Golding and ILB's
2:06 Saban and CB's
2:56 Sal and OLB's *even though his voice is the background from most all the video
4:07 RB's
4:56 OL
5:44 DL

LINK ]WATCH: Tide works in full pads on Thursday By Travis Reier 5:09
Go inside Thursday's practice and watch Crimson Tide defensive linemen until 2:57, outside linebackers until 3:39 then offensive linemen until 4:42 and back to OLB's