SB Nation - Josh Chapman

Initial Impressions from the South Carolina Game

outsidethesidelines — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:15:23 -0000

Another weekend and another win for the Tide. A few initial impressions from the aftermath:

Ugly win last night, and I mean ugly. Any time you average 4.6 yards per passing attempt, have over 100 yards of penalties, miss a kick, and turn it over four times, your performance has all of the aesthetic appeal of a Roseanne swimsuit calendar. Thankfully, though, the defense was impenetrable as usual and Mark Ingram took over the game, carrying us to victory. Had either one of those two slipped up any last night, we would probably be lamenting our first loss of the season.
Another bad night for the offense. I know South Carolina is generally considered to have a good defense -- and in all fairness Lorenzo Ward and Ellis Johnson had them prepared -- but they are not that good. Thirteen points on the night offensively, and our previously unstoppable offensive juggernaut has put up all of two touchdowns in nine quarters.
The extremely frustrating part of our offense's overall performance was that South Carolina never really stopped us. We averaged over 6.0 yards per play, and only punted three times all night long. On six of our drives, we moved the football at least 30 yards, so again, South Carolina never really stopped us. We moved the ball well, but as usually is the case, we continued to beat ourselves. Leigh Tiffin missed a field goal, we failed to convert touchdowns in two first-half red zone opportunities, and we turned the football over four times. We only had 10 possessions in this game -- short game last night, mind you -- and when you are so inefficient that literally half of your possessions end in missed field goals and turnovers, you simply aren't going to score many points. It's just frustrating as hell... opposing teams aren't stopping us, but we continue to stop ourselves. We are our own worst enemies.
Greg McElroy was the biggest problem offensively, and his performance just gets worse and worse with each passing week. Again I know South Carolina played well defensively last night, but that still doesn't change the fact that McElroy was ungodly terrible. He couldn't hit a wide receiver if his life depended on it, and our "passing game" -- and I say "passing game" loosely because in all actuality we had no passing game whatsoever -- consisted of dump-off passes to the tailbacks. He threw two interceptions as it was, and had it not been for great wide receiver play (see next bullet), he would have probably thrown at least three more. The stat line says it all... 10-20 for 92 yards, 0 touchdowns, 2 interceptions. I do not say this lightly, but I nevertheless stand by the following statement... for all intents and purposes, we had Spencer Pennington at quarterback last night, and quite frankly Pennington rarely played worse than McElroy did last night (and in terms of QB rating, I don't know if Pennington ever had a rating this low). I don't remember the last time we had a quarterback play this poorly.

And our wide receivers played great last night, for the record. They held their own against a good South Carolina defensive backfield, and they absolutely saved this game for us by bailing out McElroy's terrible throws. Julio Jones had to commit offensive pass interference to do it, but he broke up a certain interception that was heaved into double coverage, and he also did an incredible job forcing a fumble (that we recovered) on another interception. Likewise, Marquis Maze wrestled away yet another certain interception from a South Carolina DB. Had those guys not made those three plays, we probably lose this football game. Blame someone if you want, but don't blame the receivers.

Furthermore, we should all praise Julio Jones. He's a superstar wide receiver, and yet somehow we cannot get him the football. And despite the fact that we live in an era where any wide receiver with even an ounce of talent suddenly turns into a bigger diva than Madonna, we cannot get a superstar wide receiver the football, and our superstar wide receiver never complains one bit. You know what he does? He goes out with a great attitude and works his ass off doing the dirty, blue-collar work, and he does a damn fine job of it at that. He kills DB's in run blocking, works as the scratch returner, and probably already holds the unofficial record for most interceptions broken up by a wide receiver. It's nothing short of a damn shame, and keep in mind that Julio Jones is a three-year player. His tour of duty is now officially more than half over, and in fourteen months he will be preparing for the NFL Draft, so our time with him is quickly fleeting. Harsh reality here, folks, we're wasting a once-in-a-generation player.

Mark Ingram... cannot say enough about him. I highly doubt he wins the Heisman -- and honestly I'm really torn on that subject anyway, so I'm not crying regardless -- but honestly he deserves it. Either way, enjoy him while we have him. He's another three-year player, and barring a major injury, his tour of duty is also more than half over. He has NFL tailback written all over him in every single way possible.

Marquis Johnson played the game of his life tonight, and he silenced critics left and right. Kudos to him. He's a fine young man who has worked his butt off and overcame a lot of very undeserved criticism. He played well, he's a solid player, and I'm glad to see him finally getting the recognition he rightfully deserves. He's earned every bit of it.

As good as Rolando McClain played with Dont'a Hightower alongside, he just took his game to the next level when Hightower went down.

Jerrell Harris... did not play a single snap in this game. He's eligible, but didn't play on defense nor did he play on special teams. Nico Johnson got the start and had tackles on two of the first three plays, but pretty much went incognito after that.

Josh Chapman didn't play last night. He dressed but was apparently being held out with some sort of an issue. I don't know if he was banged up slightly or what, but he didn't play. Hopefully he'll be back next week.

In Chapman's place, Kerry Murphy came into the game and played the nose, and did very well. Murphy has a bright future ahead of him.

Big hat tip goes to Tyrone King, a walk-on. With Arenas out, he played a lot as the nickel and dime corner, and he played well. It ust goes to show you what he can do at this level with a lot of dedication and hard work. He's a fifth-year walk-on getting a ton of meaningful playing time in a close conference game, and in the process he's keeping a five-star kid on the bench, plus he's also allowing us to keep a redshirt on another five-star cornerback (Burton Scott).

Safety play has really came a long way this year. We have a three-man rotation there between Woodall, Barron, and Green, and all three have played really well as of late. In particular, Barron looks to be turning into the player we thought he would be when he came out of high school as a five-star recruit.

Great night as a whole tonight for the defense, and those guys are just doing more than you could ever reasonably expect out of your defense, no matter how good of a unit you have. We continue to put them in bad situations time and time again thanks to special teams breakdowns and offensive struggles, but they answer the bell every single time. Last night they only gave up 3.8 yards per play, six points, and actually on net with Barron's pick six generated one point for our cause. Again, doing more than anyone could ever reasonably expect.

The pass rush continued to look good against the Gamecocks. Their offensive line was grabbing our rushers all night long -- not many holding penalties, though, I'm afraid -- and we still racked up five sacks on 46 passing attempts. This looks to be our best pass rush since 2002.

Special teams... just ungodly terrible, period. We cannot return kicks or punts without getting penalties, we cannot cover kicks, we are still inconsistent kicking field goals, etc. We just have one of the worst special teams unit in the country, I'm afraid.

All in all, ugly performance tonight, but sometimes you have to win ugly. We are currently beaten to a pulp right now, and we need an off week in the worst way. We have played seven weeks, with four straight conference games -- all against teams that will make bowl games -- and it is really starting to show. We've got to suck it up another week, though, and fight through against Tennessee. Those guys have had their usual week off, and they'll come to Tuscaloosa ready to play. We're now the #1 team in the country, but we're going to need a lot better performance next week or we will be in yet another nailbiter.

Initial Impressions from the North Texas Game

outsidethesidelines — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:15:09 -0000

A few initial impressions after the 53-7 route of North Texas:

Obviously a dominant performance by the Tide, and frankly one that was over before it ever really started. North Texas was never even close to being in our league and they were just outmatched from the very beginning. We effectively could have named the score today, and honestly this was probably the most dominating performance we've had over a Division 1-A team in many years. At the very least, it was the most points we scored since UTEP in Legion Field way back in 2001.
On the offensive side of the ball, you really just cannot say enough about the performance of Greg McElroy. Ever since he took off in the Virginia Tech game, he has been practically unstoppable. I think he threw about one bad ball today, but aside from that his performance was completely flawless. And the amazing thing is that he has had three touchdown passes dropped the past two weeks, which means his already gaudy statistics ought to be even more inflated. I'm sure it won't be this good all year, but you would have been hard-pressed to even script a better debut for McElroy.
Likewise, even without the presence of Julio Jones, the wide receiver corps looked great. Mike McCoy has basically done everything Julio would have done the past two weeks, and Marquis Maze, Darius Hanks, Earl Alexander, and others have all filled out the rotation nicely. Now obviously I'm not going to be so swayed by the past two games to think that we can miss a guy like Julio Jones against the stretch run of SEC teams and not see a dip in production, but it's still encouraging to see that we can get the job done against lesser opponents with #8 sitting on the sideline.
Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson may very well be the best tailback duo in the conference. Both are big, physical runners with good speed, good field vision, and both are threats to catch the football out of the backfield. There is not another duo anywhere in the country that I would trade for those two right now.
Defensively it was a great day, but honestly things were really vanilla by both the Alabama defense and the North Texas offense. For such a supposed offensive guru, it would be difficult to get much more plain jane than what Todd Dodge put on display today. It was all dink and dunk passes that came out almost immediately, mixed in with a bunch of runs out of shotgun into the interior of the line for no yardage. We were equally vanilla on defense, but there was no reason to do anything else. Terrence Cody and Josh Chapman had a field day with the UNT guards and centers and the 'Bama linebackers were free to roam all day. Our defensive backs were superior athletes anyway, and they were never legitimately tested by the Mean Green dink and dunk offense
The pass rush looked terrible on paper today, as we weren't able to get a single sack on 23 passing attempts. In reality, though, it was no major issue. North Texas was getting the ball out almost immediately on the snap and it really never gave our pass rush a chance. It took all of the edge rushers out of the game, effectively, but it's no major concern. Our pass rush didn't do anything wrong today, and we should still be in good shape moving forward.
It was nice to see Leigh Tiffin getting such great distance on kick-offs, but we still had at least one major breakdown in the kick coverage team, and Tiffin played a huge role in that. Every single kick return that has went for a long distance today has been largely assisted by Tiffin being far out of position. It has gotten so bad that it's practically an 11-on-10 match-up when we kick-off, and frankly I don't think I've ever seen someone consistently as lost on a football field as Tiffin is during kick returns. Again, he had a nice day today in terms of kick-off distance and positioning, but at this point you just have to be honest and say that if we need to rely on Tiffin in any way whatsoever to assist bringing down the returner, we're just out of luck.
And speaking further of Tiffin, the two missed extra points today were ridiculous. What can you say? Just pray that no 'Bama game this year legitimately comes down to a kick. If it does, the post-game drinking is most likely going to be rooted in depression, not celebration.
One nitpick on the Alabama pass defense: Care to guess how many interceptions we have had since the LSU game last year? One... and that one was Mark Barron's relatively meaningless interception very late last week against Florida International. All told, that is seven games and only one interception to show for it all. The pass defense has generally been good during that stretch, but the complete lack of an ability to force turnovers is very frustrating, and honestly it is something that we need to be able to do in order to truly become an elite defense. As well as our offense has performed, we can really be absolutely explosive in terms of point production if our defense can start getting turnovers for our offense.
You know whose playing time has almost been entirely eliminated? Cory Reamer. He's still a "starter," per se, I suppose, but he really has not had a lot of meaningful playing time the past couple of weeks, and honestly most of his time today came late in the game with the back-ups. For a "starter," he's probably played less than anyone with that designation in a long time.
Speaking of Reamer, I think one of the things interesting on defense is that we have largely went with a 3-3-5 look the past couple of weeks. Reamer has gone off the field, and in his place Marquis Johnson has been on the field as a fifth defensive back. And then in long-yardage, obvious passing situations, we move to a dime package with four defensive linemen -- with Rolando McClain the only linebacker on the field -- and the defensive line consists of the two "normal" defensive ends being moved inside, and Dont'a Hightower and Eryk Anders playing with their hand on the ground at defensive end. All in all it's been successful, but it's still an interesting note. We really haven't lined up very much in a traditional 3-4 look (or 4-3 look, for that matter) the past couple of weeks. These past two opponents have been spread teams trying to throw the football, so perhaps the 3-3-5 is the way we're choosing to attack spread passing teams moving forward. Given the success so far it's hard to overly complain.
With the playing time that Star Jackson saw today, there is no question whatsoever that he is indeed our back-up quarterback. We simplified things for him and kept everything short and underneath -- and he did get away with one pass that could have easily been an interception -- but he looked pretty decent. He has good physical tools and he's developing nicely. He's not ready to play right now against high level competition, in my opinion, but we knew that Jackson was a developmental project when we signed him, and to that end he seems to be developing nicely. That said, though, again, he's not really ready to play right now, and if McElroy goes down against quality competition, we're really going to see a drop in offensive production.
Very few true freshmen on the field today, even against North Texas. Trent Richardson, Rod Woodson, Dre Kirkpatrick, Michael Bowman, and Nico Johnson played, but those five players had played already, and to the best of my knowledge no new true freshmen played today. With that in mind, I imagine the general plan for just about everyone else at this point is to redshirt.
Speaking of players who didn't play today, Burton Scott was absent for the third consecutive game. He's healthy, not suspended, and he was dressed out today, but he never went in. Instead, Dre Kirkpatrick, Tyrone King, and Chris Rogers played corner in mop-up duty. I'll be honest, at this point I think you have to say that Scott is going to redshirt this year.
Fortunately, no major injuries today from what we can tell. The only other semi-serious injury was to Demetrius Goode who went down with what was later diagnosed with a hyper-extended knee. Thankfully it doesn't look to be anything overly serious, and hopefully he'll be ready to go in a week or two. Unlike what was the case against Florida International, thankfully the price of victory in terms of injuries wasn't quote so high this week.
All in all, it was just a dominating performance today by the Tide, and with no major injuries confirmed thus far, there is really nothing to complain about. Of course, on the other hand, North Texas was clearly nowhere in our league, so by the same token you shouldn't necessarily draw any hard and fast conclusions about anything from today. Nevertheless, it was a good day for the Tide, we won big and we stayed healthy in the process. Now let's just ready for Arkansas...

2009 Alabama Fall Football Roster (as of 8-5-09)

kleph — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:05:56 -0000

You know Alabama football is starting to get crackin' when the first fall roster is released. And, lo and behold, here it be... all 105 players who have officially reported for fall practice as of yesterday.

Number	Name	Pos.	Class HT.	WT.	Hometown/Last School
82	Earl Alexander	WR	Jr. 6-4	212	Phenix City, Ala./Central
32	Eryk Anders	LB	Sr. 6-2	235	San Antonio, Texas/Smithson Valley
28	Javier Arenas	DB	Sr. 5-9	195	Tampa, Fla./Robinson
49	Jonathan Atchison	LB	Fr. 6-2	220	Atlanta, Ga./Douglass
4	Mark Barron	DB	So. 6-2	214	Mobile, Ala./St. Paul's
7	Kenny Bell	WR	Fr. 6- 1	160	Rayville, La./Rayville
44	Alex Benson	LB	Sr. 6- 1	225	Trussville, Ala./Hewitt-Trussville
86	Undra Billingsley	TE	Fr. 6-2	276	Birmingham, Ala./Woodlawn
93	Chris Bonds	DL	Fr. 6-4	280	Columbia, S.C./Richland Northeast HS
67	John Michael Boswell	OL	So. 6-5	306	Northport, Ala./Tuscaloosa County
88	Michael Bowman	WR	Fr. 6-4	210	Rossville, Ga./Ridgeland
87	Drew Bullard	LB	Jr. 6-3	238	Florence, Ala./Florence
77	James Carpenter	OL	Jr. 6-5	300	Augusta, Ga./Coffeyville[Kan.] CC/Hephzibah
99	Josh Chapman	DL	So. 6-1	313	Hoover, Ala./Hoover
62	Terrence Cody	DL	Sr. 6-5	354	Fort Myers, Fla./Gulf Coast C.C,/Riverdale
57	Marcell Dareus	DL	So. 6-4	296	Huffman, Ala./Huffman
16	Thomas Darrah	QB	So. 6-5	227	Newnan, Ga./Newnan
79	Drew Davis	OL	Sr. 6-7	306	Evergreen, Ala./Sparta Academy
96	Luther Davis	DL	Jr. 6-3	275	West Monroe, La./West Monroe
95	Brandon Deaderick	DL	Sr. 6-4	306	Elizabethtown, Ky./Elizabethtown
51	Michael DeJohn	LB	Jr. 6- 1	241	Hoover, Ala./Hoover
85	Preston Dial	TE	Ir. 6-3	233	Mobile, Ala./UMS-Wright
40	DeMarcus DuBose	LB	So. 6-1	232	Montgomery, Ala./Jefferson Davis
13	Rob Ezell	WR	Jr. 5-10	170	Athens, Ala./Athens
97	P.J. Fitzgerald	P	Sr. 5-11	204	Coral Springs, Fla./Stoneman Douglas
76	D.J. Fluker	OL	Fr. 6-6	340	Foley, Ala./Foley
58	Nick Gentry	DL	So. 6-1	264	Prattville, Ala./Prattville
11	Brandon Gibson	WR	So. 6-2	192	Mobile, Ala./UMS-Wright
6	Demetrius Goode	RB	So. 5-9	191	LaGrange, Ga./Troup/Hargrave
29	Terry Grant	RB	Jr. 5-10	190	Lumberton, Miss./Lumberton
33	Hampton Gray	DB	Sr. 6- 2	196	Northport, Ala./Tuscaloosa County
23	Robby Green	DB	So. 6-0	181	New Orleans, La./John Curtis Christian
34	Jeramie Griffin	RB	So. 6-2	224	Batesville, Miss./South Panola
15	Darius Hanks	WR	So. 6-0	184	Norcross, Ga./Norcross
54	Glenn Harbin	DL	Fr. 6-5	257	Mobile, Ala./McGill-Toolen
5	Jerrell Harris	LB	So. 6-3	227	Gadsden, Ala./Gadsden City
30	Dont'a Hightower	LB	So. 6-4	255	Lewisburg, TennJMarshall County
40	Baron Huber	RB/TE	Sr. 6-4	263	Knoxville, Tenn./Powell
22	Mark Ingram	RB	So. 5-10	212	Flint, Mich./Southwestern Academy
3	Kareem Jackson	DB	Jr. 6-0	193	Macon, Ga./Westside/Fork Union
2	Star Jackson	QB	Fr. 6-3	206	Lake Worth, Fla./Lake Worth
24	Marquis Johnson	DB	Sr. 5-11	191	Sarasota, Fla./Booker
78	Mike Johnson	OL	Sr. 6-5	303	Pensacola, Fla./Pine Forest
35	Nico Johnson	LB	Fr. 6-3	225	Andalusia, Ala./Andalusia
75	Barrett Jones	OL	R-Fr. 6-4	289	Memphis, Tenn./Evangelical Christian School
8	Julio Jones	WR	So. 6-4	211	Foley, Ala./Foley
26	Phelon Jones	DB	So. 5-11	195	Mobile, Ala./LSU/McGilk-Toolen
36	Chris Jordan	LB	So. 6-3	230	Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood Academy
81	Kendall Kelly	WR	Fr. 6-3	216	Gadsden, Ala./Gadsden City
20	Tyrone King	DB	Sr. 5-11	203	Birmingham, Ala./Grambling State/Minor
21	Dre Kirkpatrick	DB	Fr. 6-3	185	Gadsden, Ala./Gadsden City
42	Eddie Lacy	RB	Fr. 6-0	210	Geismar, La./Dutchtown
37	Robert Lester	DB	Fr. 6-2	207	Foley, Ala./Foley
72	Tyler Love	0 L	R-Fr. 6-6	303	Mountain Brook, Ala,/Mountain Brook
33	Mike Marrow	RB-HB	Fr. 6-2	240	Holland, Ohio/Central Catholic
4	Marquis Maze	WR	So. 5-10	179	Birmingham, Ala./Tarrant
10	A.J. McCarron	QB	Fr. 6-4	190	Mobile, Ala./Saint Paul's Episcopal School
25	Rolando McClain	LB	Ir. 6-4	255	Decatur, Ala./Decatur
80	Mike McCoy	WR	Sr. 6-3	215	Rankin, Miss./Northwest
52	Alfred McCullough	OL	So. 6-2	305	Athens, Ala./Athens
12	Greg McElroy	QB	Jr. 6-3	220	Southlake, Texas/Southlake Carroll
56	William Ming	DL	Fr. 6-3	260	Athens, Ala./Athens
59	Brandon Moore	DL	Fr. 6-5	310	Montgomery, Ala./Carver
66	Brian Motley	OL	Jr. 6-3	291	Autaugaville, Ala./Autaugaville
64	Kerry Murphy .	DL	Fr. 6-4	323	Hoover, Ala./Hargrave/Hoover
46	Wesley Neighbors	DB	So. 6-1	210	Huntsville, Ala./Huntsville
83	Kevin Norwood	WR	Fr. 6-2	180	D'lberville, Miss./DiIberville
18	Morgan Ogilvie	QB	So. 6-0	195	Mountain Brook, Ala./Mountain Brook
2	Tana Patrick	LB	Fr. 6-3	235	Bridgeport, Ala./North Jackson
84	Colin Peek	TE	Sr. 6-6	255	Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla./Georgia Tech/Bolles
39	Kyle Pennington	DB	Jr. 5-11	188	Chatom, Ala./Washington County
68	Taylor Pharr	OL	Jr. 6-6	290	Irondale, Ala./Shades Valley
54	Russell Rains	OL	Fr. 6-2	260	Satsuma, Ala./SaWuma
13	Cory Reamer	LB	Sr. 6-4	234	Hoover, Ala./Hoover
3	Trent Richardson	RB	Fr. 5-11	220	Pensacola, Fla./Escambia
8	Chris Rogers	DB	Sr. 6-0	190	Lakeland, Fla./Evangel Christian
74	David Ross	OL	Jr. 6-3	299	Homewood, Ala./Homewood
1	B.J. Scott	DB	So. 5-11	196	Prichard, Ala./Vigor
46	Chris Scott	WR	Sr. 5-11	170	Birmingham, Ala./Ramsay
50	Brian Selman	SNP	Sr. 6-0	210	Vestavia Hills, Ala./Vestavia Hills
94	Darrington Sentimore	DL	Fr. 6-3	280	Norco, La./Destrehan
26	Ali Sharrief	DB	Sr. 5-9	200	Stevenson, Ala./North Jackson
94	Jeremy Shelley	PK	Fr. 5-10	170	Raleigh, N.C./Broughton
48	Travis Sikes	WR	Jr. 6-3	198	Nashville, Tenn./Christ Presbyterian
71	Allen Skelton	OL	So. 6-1	265	Coker, Ala./Tuscaloosa County
17	Brad Smelley	TE	So. 6-3	233	Tuscaloosa, Ala./American Christian
92	Damion Square	DL	Fr. 6-3	272	Houston, TexaslYates
61	Anthony Steen	OL-DL	Fr. 6-3	305	Lambert, Miss./Lee Academy
47	Ed Stinson	LB-DL	Fr. 6-4	240	Homestead, Fla./South Dade
90	Milton Talbert	DL	Jr. 6-4	275	Hattiesburg, Miss./Hattiesburg
99	Leigh Tiffin	PK	Sr. 6-2	212	Muscle Shoals, Ala./Muscle Shoals
51	Carson Tinker	ST	So. 6-1	220	Murfreesboro, Tenn./Riverdale
87	Chris Underwood	TE	So. 6-4	231	Birmingham, Ala./Vestavia Hills
5	Roy Upchurch	RB	Sr. 6-0	205	Tallahassee, Fla./Godby
41	Courtney Upshaw	LB	So. 6-2	249	Eufaula, Ala./Eufaula
73	William Vlachos	OL	Jr- 6-1	294	Birmingham, Ala./Mountain Brook
65	Chance Warmack	OL	Fr. 6-3	301	Atlanta, Ga./Westlake
97	Lorenzo Washington	DL	Sr. 6-5	290	Logansville, Ga./Hargrave
91	Alex Watkins	LB	So. 6-3	225	Brownsville, Tenn./Haywood
55	Chavis Williams	LB	Jr. 6-4	223	Dora, Ala./Dora
60	David Williams	OL	Fr. 6-3	272	Duncanville, Ala./Hillcrest
89	Michael Williams	TE	Fr. 6-6	266	Reform, Ala./Pickens County
9	Nick Williams	WR	Fr. 5-10	165	Fort Lauderdale, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas
27	Justin Woodall	DB	Sr. 6-2	221	Oxford, Miss./Lafayette
18	Rod Woodson	DB	Fr. 5-11	200	Olfve Branch, Miss./Olive Branch

Five Players Alabama Can't Afford to Lose to Injury: The Five That Missed the Cut

Todd — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:00:11 -0000

Previously:

#5 - James Carpenter
#4 - Justin Woodall
#3 - ~~Orlando McCain~~ Rolando McClain
#2 - Julio Jones
#1 - Greg McElroy

With any kind of list like this there are always going to be some objections about who was included and who was left out, and there were a couple of guys that I really had a hard time leaving off the list, so I thought I'd throw them in here before we move on to the "Five Players That Need to Step Up" later in the week. First up:

Mike Johnson - LG

Why is he so important? On an offensive line that lost three starters at key positions, every ounce of experience helps and Johnson has plenty of it. Starting last year at LG after spending 2007 at RT, Johnson has 27 straight starts to his credit and has played in 40 games since coming to Tuscaloosa. Though he struggled at Tackle (of both the left and right varieties), his run blocking is superb and the move to LG not only helped him earn second team All-SEC honors, but also helped the Tide ground attack become one of the best in the nation.

Why was he left out? Though he certainly has the most experience of any lineman on the roster, Guard is a position where we are pretty well stocked. Brian Motley, he of the buried on the depth chart at C and never able to take off at NG due to injury fame, filled in for Johnson during the spring and surprisingly did so to such acclaim that the coaches moved him over to RG after Johnson returned and let him start there on A-Day. Whether or not he stays there once the season starts remains to be seen, but considering he, David Ross (our top backup lineman last season), Chance Warmack, Taylor Pharr, and John Michael Boswell have all worked at guard and are all solid linemen in their own right (plus the added X-Factor of where the heck we are going to put D.J. Fluker), there is just too much depth at G to truly sweat an injury at that position.

Dont'a Hightower - LB

Why is he so important? Notice how I just put "LB" next to his name instead of "OLB" or "Will" or "Jack" ? That's becaues he's all those things, and that's why he's so important. With Brandon Fanney having transferred and our production from the Jack being woefully inadequate the past two seasons, Hightower is a kid who will be leaned upon to contribute all over the front seven this season. What makes him so important is the fact that he can be leaned upon to play all those roles, and likely better than anyone else on the roster.

Why was he left out? Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't really know. We do return two seasoned starters in Rolando McClain (who we definitely can't do without) and Corey Reamer, and there are also a couple of guys that could make a huge impact this season (Jerrell Harris, Courteney Upshaw, Chris Jordan, not to mention incoming guys like Tana Patrick, William Ming and Nico Johnson), but without anyone that can play the Jack like Hightower or switch around to so many different positions, losing Hightower actually would be a pretty big blow to the front seven.

Javier Arenas - CB/KR

Why is he so important? Under Nick Saban's tutelage, Arenas blossomed into arguably the best CB in Tuscaloosa but also one of the best in the SEC after receiving his only other scholarship offer from Florida Atlantic and generally being considered a return man only by the previous staff. Now he's a veteran who's knowledge and leadership will be key in a secondary that lost it's leader in Rashad Johnson and will be facing some high powered offenses in the coming season. Beyond that though, his skills as a return man have routinely helped set up the Tide offense in favorable field position (though his judgement in some cases is certainly open for debate) and in cases like the Tulane and Mississippi State games, helped carry the team while the offense floundered.

Why was he left out? As a corner, Arenas is physical enough to play the kind of tight press coverage Nick Saban asks of his DBs while also having the kind of recovery speed necessary to keep from being burned while being so aggressive. As a return man he has the type of vision and elusiveness in the open field to turn a negative into a huge positive. Problem is, he's not the only one on the roster. As maligned as he may be at times (and I'm guilty of it myself), Marquis Johnson was the 3rd corner last year for a reason, and if you take away the handful of glaring errors (really, no more than Arenas or Jackson committed themselves) that he gets taken to task for over and over, he was a solid DB and could fill in for Arenas without a significant drop off in production, and that's not including the development of BJ Scott, Tyrone King, Robert Lester, and Chris Rogers, all of whom will get every opportunity to shine at CB in their own time. And as far as returning kicks go, we have athletes galore that can step up there. Both Marquis Maze and Julio Jones showed during the A-Day game that they have just as much flash and speed as Arenas in the open field, while the aforementioned Scott was a hell of a return man himself in high school. As much as I would hate to lose Javy for any stretch of time this season, it wouldn't spoil the defense.

Mark Ingram - RB

Why is he so important? With Glenn Coffee in the NFL and Roy Upchurch a walking injury risk, Mark Ingram is the only real known quantity we have in the run game. Coming off of an impressive true freshman season that saw Ingram rush 143 times for 728 yards (12 TDs), Ingram is the leading returning rusher and the likeliest candidate to carry the workload for the offense this year.

Why was he left out? The aforementioned Upchurch should be healthy and ready to finally live up to his recruiting hype this season; the neck injury that held him out of the latter half of last season has been repaired and, despite not taking part in contact during the spring, he should be able to show what he can do once fall camp starts. Further, Trent Richardson is set to pull an Ingram of his own; He has roughly the same build and skill set as Ingram, but he's got better open field speed and is considered more of a "home run threat" than Ingram.

Terrence Cody - NG

Why is he so important? Last but not least, the mammoth Mt. Cody helped turn the Alabama defense into one of the top units in the country, making it almost impossible for opposing offenses to run on us and generally being a nightmare for offensive linemen to keep up with. The only team that successfully ran inside on us last season was LSU, who did so with the advantage of an ailing Cody (still recovering from a knee injury against Ole Miss) and the best offensive line we faced. Everyone else? Not so much.

Why was he left out? Though teams weren't often able to run against us with Cody in the middle, passing wasn't too much of a problem as we learned the hard way against Florida and Utah. Cody has slimmed down to try and stay on the field during passing situations this season, but he's still a long shot to be an every down NG, while Josh Chapman (the preferred backup last season), Marcel Dareus, and Kerry Murphy have shown plenty of promise as NGs on their own. None of them has the size of Cody, but they are all still fully capable of clogging the middle while also helping to generate a better pass rush this year.

How the Tennessee Volunteers can beat the Alabama Crimson Tide, from Roll Bama Roll

Joel — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:00:18 -0000

Special thanks to Todd from SB Nation Alabama blog Roll Bama Roll for the following self-scouting report. A similar post from me will be posted over at their place a bit later this morning, so be sure to check it out.

With all apologies to the Bama Sports Report, who have been doing this sort of thing for awhile now, here's my rundown on how to beat the Crimson Tide, just in case the UT coaching staff is actively searching the blogosphere for tips (and really, why wouldn't they?).

1. Challenge the defensive line and linebackers with interior runs: With Terrence Cody in the middle, the Alabama front seven has been remarkably stout against the run so far this season, and it's made the job of the linebackers that much easier. Cody, as you may know, is out this week with a sprained MCL, and there's some fretting as to whether or not Alabama can continue it's dominance against the run without him. Saban's entire run defense philosophy centers around taking away the middle and forcing everything to flow outside where the speed of the linebackers and defensive backs can keep everything contained. So far it's worked because no one has really challenged the middle after Clemson failed so spectacularly, and by calling runs to the outside to try and keep Cody and the line from gobbling them up in the backfield, opposing offenses have played right into Saban's hands. None of this is to say that the interior runs are going to be suddenly effective in Cody's absence. Josh Chapman is a fine NG (and the strongest player on the team) and he's seen plenty of time this season as well, and when Ole Miss attempted to run right at us after Cody's departure from the game last weekend they gained a grand total of 16 yards on 10 carries. So why should UT try and hammer away at us after no one else has had success with it? Because showing a commitment to running between the tackles will force the middle linebackers to stay at home instead of flowing to the outside in anticipation of a counter/sweep/whatever, opening up the cutback lanes and allowing those outside runs to become effective later on in the game.

2. Double moves: The Alabama secondary is going to play tight press coverage 90% of the time, and for the most part Kareem Jackson, Javier Arenas, and Marquis Johnson (who comes in at CB while Arenas moves over to NB in the nickel package, which you will see a lot) have shown plenty of ability to blanket their men and challenge any and every pass thrown their way. We have, however, shown a tendency to be too aggressive in coverage, and if a receiver can get them to break the wrong way on a route it's going to be there more times than not. Considering we were burned several times with "fade-stop" routes against Ole Miss, it's something to think about.

3. Don't turn the ball over, especially in the second half: This one is pretty much common sense, but the Tide is at +5 in TO margin and most of them couldn't have come at a better time, killing promising drives and setting up Alabama scores. Considering the second half doldrums that Alabama has faced so far, if Tennessee can be at least efficient on offense and protect the ball in the second half they have a pretty good chance of keeping things within reach.

4. If Coffee has the ball, go for it: I hate calling Coffee out like this since, by all accounts, he's a good kid that's worked hard to earn so much playing time and is a huge reason we've been so effective in the running game, but his ball security issues are becoming a problem and, even though at least two of them were just bad luck on his part, he's been careless at times in the way he carries the ball. Kentucky stayed in the game for far longer than they had any right to because of a Coffee fumble that killed a likely scoring drive. We've been lucky so far that turnovers haven't beaten us, but luck only lasts so long, and if UT can win out in TO margin, they have a better than average shot at winning outright.

5. Play physical in the secondary: Alabama is going to run right at you, no doubt about it, but John Parker Wilson isn't the fluky, turnover prone QB we've seen the past two years anymore and he can beat you through the air. Ole Miss shut down our run pretty well last weekend, and Wilson came through with some big throws to keep the offense moving, but their secondary isn't terribly good, rating dead last in the league in pass and pass eff. defense. Kentucky kept the passing game contained with very physical press coverage and last time I checked Berry and Morley are more than capable of blanketing receivers in man coverage. Sell out on the run and trust your DBs to keep things covered over the top.

6. Pull out all the stops: Let's face it, UT has everything to gain while Alabama has everything to lose with this game, so throw everything you've got at us. Eric Berry on offense? Why not! Triple reverses and fake kicks? Run 'em on first down! Throw any and everything you can think of at us and keep the 'Bama staff guessing. If it's a miserable failure, at least you tried in a game not many expect you to even be in, and if you win? Well, I don't want to think about that...

Q&A with Roll 'Bama Roll

Truzenzuzex — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:37:47 -0000

Todd at the outstanding SB Nation blog Roll 'Bama Roll traded questions with me over the email this week, and this morning is a fine time to put it up for all to see. The Kentucky at Alabama game is easily one of the more interesting games of this weekend in the SEC along with Auburn @ Vanderbilt (can you believe a Vandy game is "interesting?" Amazing job so far by the 'Dores) and ... well, nothing. Actually, I am looking forward to seeing South Carolina at Mississippi -- if the Gamecocks can win this game, my estimation of them would go up significantly.

But with regards to Alabama, I think you will find Todd's answers to be most illuminating. I consider Alabama football fans to be the only fans in the SEC that match the intensity and passion of Kentucky basketball fans, and you can see why below or just visit Roll 'Bama Roll anytime during football season and it will jump right out at you why I think the way I do. By the way, you can find my answers to Todd's questions over at Roll 'Bama Roll at approximately 9:00 AM or so today.

So without further gilding the lily and with no more ado, I give you Todd of Roll 'Bama Roll. My questions are in boldface, and Todd's answers are just below:

1. Knowing that 'Bama fans are as rabid about football as Kentucky is about basketball, I wonder if you could describe what being in the national conversation (and in a good way) again means to Alabama fans.

It's a wonderful, glorious feeling. Alabama fans have clearly been on tough times the past decade or so, and for the kids that don't really know or remember the glory days before the post-Stallings era began I can only imagine what this must be like. But for those of us old enough to remember them, it's been tough times and to be perfectly honest, it's nice feeling smug about it again. I'm sure I'm jinxing us into a three game skid by just saying that, but after hearing nothing but the constant chattering from our rivals about everything from "Alabama's time is past" to "Nick Saban is overrated" to "BEAR IZ DED WOOOOO!!!111", it's more than a little satisfying to look back at the last five weeks and think "eat it, haters."

2. People look at Nick Saban's salary and think, "There is no way he could be worth that much," but if Alabama continues to play this kind of football, that thinking may become obsolete. How much the sudden rise of the Tide changed the way Alabama looks at Saban through the lens of his salary?

We thought it was a bargain to begin with, actually. He's a proven commodity as a college head coach, he built an LSU program that had been wallowing in mediocrity for decades to two SEC Titles and a National Title, and he's known as one of the best recruiters to ever walk through a five star prospect's door. If he wasn't worth the money, he wouldn't have been offered it in the first place, and all he's done so far is earn every penny of it.

3. John Parker Wilson has been variously reviled and revered by Crimson Tide fans. Is Wilson consistent enough now to take the Tide back to the promised land? If not, in what area does he come up short?

Before last weekend I would have made the comment that he isn't hitting the deep ball well yet and there are still some concerns about how he'll handle an elite SEC defense, but so far the Georgia win was his best game. We only threw the ball 16 times (he hit 13 of them for 205 yds and a TD) in that game, but new OC Jim McElwain, who flew under the radar when he was hired because of the much ballyhooed switch to the high octane spread offenses of Dave Clawson and Tony Franklin at UT and Auburn, has really turned Wilson into a savvy game manager and concocted an offensive philosophy and approach that prizes brutal efficiency over gaudy stats and the idea of "explosive" plays. Considering that, Wilson is the guy to run it, and he's improved by leaps and bounds over his very up and down career now that he finds himself in a position where he can trust everyone around him to do their jobs as opposed to having to take responsibility for the offense all on his own shoulders. The o-line is blocking for him now, the running game is effective, all of his receivers are running clean routes and looking for the ball instead of slacking off is they don't think he's coming their way, and he's got a guy calling plays that he knows Wilson can make. The only knock we can put on him so far is that we don't know how he'll handle any real adversity considering the Tide hasn't trailed yet, and at some point we're going to find ourselves in a hole needing a scoring drive, and then we'll really know what we have in John Parker Wilson. From what I've seen so far this year, it doesn't concern me at all that he'll be the guy leading that drive.

4. Which player on the Alabama offense who doesn't get a lot of press clippings should we worry about? On defense?

That's actually a tough question considering the hype that has surrouned Alabama so far. I don't know if I can name one person on offense, but I will say that, aside from Julio Jones who has shown that he deserves every ounce of hype he's gotten so far, the receiving corps has really kind of flown under the radar with all the focus being on how well Alabama is running the ball. We have a ton of talent at that position, and those runs wouldn't be quite as effective if they weren't doing the stuff you really don't think of when talking about receivers (i.e. run blocking). Mike McCoy will likely sit this game (he tweaked his hamstring early against Georgia), and it's kind of a toss up as to who will fill in for him. Nikita Stover and Will Oakley are both seniors that are likely to get some increased snap with McCoy out, but there really isn't a significant drop off between McCoy and the next three or four guys. Our biggest strength there is, as mentioned before, they all play every down like the ball is coming to them and when you have three (and at times four) guys out there that are a threat to break something it really gives defenses something to think about.

On defense, our defensive ends have played a huge role but are understandably lost in the all the talk over Terrance Cody. Cody is the biggest reason (literally and figuratively) that the defense is doing so well, especially against the run. Saban's 3-4 is designed to take away the inside runs and force everything outside where the speed of the linebackers and defensive backs can shut down the cutback lanes, but until Cody arrived we didn't have the size inside to actually do that. But also key in this are the ends, who don't function like rush ends in a typical 4-3, but instead act more like tackles and are more responsible for occupying blockers and clogging up gaps. To that end, guys like Bobby Greenwood, Lorenzo Washington, Brandon Deaderick, and Luther Davis all struggled last year because they didn't have anyone in the middle taking up multiple blockers and it made their jobs almost impossible, but now that Cody (and backup Josh Chapman, who is a great NT in his own right and usually comes in on passing downs) is freeing them up more, they have become a very disruptive force and are getting a great push into the pocket.

5. Kentucky is currently sporting one of the top defenses in the country. The only common opponent between Kentucky and Alabama is Western Kentucky, whom Kentucky held to 157 total yards and Alabama held to 158, but 'Bama allowed more passing yards and UK more running yards. What, if anything, can we learn about the defenses from this common opponent that might indicate how the game will go on Saturday?

Not a whole lot, really. The Hilltoppers aren't a particularly good team, and any respectable defense should shut them down. The key part of that, though, would probably be that if they could rush against Kentucky, Alabama should definitely be able to rush aganst Kentucky. On the flip side, though, the Hilltoppers do run a spread offense that likes to throw a lot of quick passes, and the Tide's passing D has left something to be desired at times, so if Kentucky can get that part of their offense going they could have some success moving the ball with a steady dink and dunk approach.

6. Which Kentucky offensive player most impresses you, and why? Which defensive player and why?

On offense, I'm going with Dicky Lyons. There was some concern before the start of the season that he wouldn't be able to function as well being the primary go to guy, but he's put up solid numbers so far and is a great punt returner. For a team that's kick coverage has been very disappointing so far this year, he's someone that really concerns me.

On defense, first instinct is Micah Johnson, a very solid linebacker that could start anywhere in the SEC, but since he's likely out for the game I'll show some respect to Mr. Braxton Kelly, another great linebacker that looks like a beast of a pass rusher off the edge.

7. Kentucky has been perceived historically been little more than an automatic win for Alabama. Has this perception really changed at all in light of Kentucky's recent success?

Definitely, I know several folks have made the comment "thank God we didn't have to play them last year." Nothing is really a gimme in the SEC anymore, and there are plenty of people down here nervous about the prospects of a letdown game. We remember the upset of LSU last year, and we remember some close games the last time our teams met. In fact, last time we were in Lexington a lucky break on a busted punt (Bo Freeland was forced to kick again after an offisides and the second time he pulled the ball down and ran for the first after a UK defender broke free) was what finally got the team going and turned a very uncomfortable game into a convincing win. So yeah, we aren't taking the Wildcats for granted in football anymore.

8. Give me the 3 things that you think have contributed most to Alabama's sudden turnaround from last year.

First and foremost has to be the development of the upper classmen. There was the expectation that we were going to be starting true freshman any and everywhere on the field, but a lot of the battles for starting positions once the freshmen reported never materialized. Drew Davis grabbed RT and never looked back, Corey Reamer solidified his hold on the outside linebacker position that most thought was Jerrell Harris's the minute he walked through the door, Justin Woodall finally emerged as a solid playmaker at strong safety after struggling to learn the defense last year, Javier Arenas has turned into a shutdown corner when everyone thought Alonzo Lawrence would be starting opposite Kareem Jackson, and etc.

Second, we've been able to get production out of both the true freshman and the older guys where we have lacked depth the past few years, and even though some of our key backups are true freshman, just the overall upgrade in talent is huge. Last season there was a significant dropoff from starter to backup and, especially on defense, Saban rotates so many guys that you could almost consider the second team players as more co-starters than second team. Now that we are able to rotate guys without that dropoff it's really helped keep everyone fresh and is a big reason we are able to play such a physical brand of both offense and defense for the full 60 minutes.

Third, the production we've gotten from the true freshman starters has been key. Alabama really needed two things on offense coming into this season, and those were a big play threat at receiver and a tough, between the tackles runner in the backfield. Julio Jones has lived up to his hype by being both a downfield threat and a guy that can turn short passes into big plays, while Mark Ingram has become our red zone back because he's a tough yardage kid with a great burst once he gets to the second level, always falls forward, is just hell to bring down, and he's already shown that he is a complete back (has great hands out of the backfield as well and has also shown he understands the protections and pass blocks like a veteran).

9. What is the one most important thing on offense Alabama must do to win? On defense?

I can handle both of those with one answer; continue the physical line play. The biggest reason we are dominating opponents on offense is the fact that this is the best offensive line Alabama has fielded since 1999. We've had some great run blocking lines since then, don't get me wrong, but these guys are both run and pass blocking like a veteran line with two future first round draft picks (LT Andre Smith and C Antoine Caldwell) on it should. If you look back at the only game in which Alabama didn't completely dominate, vs Tulane, the biggest key there was that both Smith and Marlon Davis (RG) were out and the guys filling in for them were playing out of position. Tulane was able to get more pressure on Wilson than any other team, and once those two players returned against WKU, the Alabama offense was back to being as brutally efficient as it was against Clemson. So long as we can continue to control the line of scrimmage, the offense will be firing on all cylinders.

As for defense, I've already talked a little bit about how Cody has completely changed the way the line functions, and that has made things so much easier on the rest of the defense. Last year we were having to bring way too many guys to try and get pressure in the backfield, and our pass D suffered tremendously because of it because, well, we didn't have as many guys in pass coverage and we also just weren't getting any pressure on the QB. Now, if you look at the first half of the UGA game, you can see how Saban's defense is supposed to work. By being able to both shutdown the run and disrupt the pocket with essentially only the three down linemen and one linebacker (typically the Jack, the DE/OLB hybrid unique to the 3-4, but it can come from anywhere which is why this defense makes me happy in ways that it shouldn't), it gives the coaches all kinds of options as far as mixing up their coverages and blitz packages to keep the opposing offense off balance. All of that, though, is predicated on the d-line being able to do so much with so little, so as long as we can keep that up we should still be able to play very effectively on that side of the ball.

I want to thank Todd and all the denizens of Roll 'Bama Roll for linking and visiting us here at A Sea of Blue, and generally being great sports during the run-up to this game. I have gained a ton of respect for the Tide just over the past few days, and they have earned it with their knowledgeable discussion, passion, and sportsmanship. If the game goes as well as the pre-game blogging, we should all be in for a treat.