Bama Game: Pre Camp notes from their side

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Nuggets:

Bryce Young has dominated the first-team reps, and it’s clear that Alabama is getting him ready to start the fast-approaching 2021 season behind center. He threw three touchdowns and one interception in Saturday’s scrimmage as he continued to lead the ones and will look to build on that throughout the week and in scrimmage No. 2 this weekend.

Head coach Nick Saban has been steadfast in how pleased he has been with Young since the start of the spring. It’s the rest of the offense that he wants to see more from, which is not a huge shock given how much Alabama has to replace from last year’s team.

“I think we have to play well around Bryce,” Saban said Saturday. “At times today, I didn’t think maybe we did as good a job as we need to. It’s all 11 guys. It’s the offensive line, it’s the receivers, it’s all 11 guys so that he’ll have more opportunities to make plays.

Similar to the quarterback position, there hasn’t been a lot of mystery surrounding the first-team offensive line. The one position that appeared to be still in the air was at right tackle, but veteran Kendall Randolph routinely occupied that spot on the line throughout the offseason. However, he did suffer a sprained ankle in Saturday’s scrimmage, and the severity of the injury is unclear.

Linebacker Henry To’o To’o joined the program earlier this summer, and it didn’t take long for the Tennessee transfer to begin making an impact. Defensive coordinator Pete Golding was the first to mention it but his new Alabama teammates echoed that To’o To’o has quickly stepped into a leadership role.

“We brought in a transfer that I think, from a leadership standpoint right now, is above and beyond -- obviously from a transfer standpoint -- that I’ve ever had,” Golding said of To’o To’o.

The defensive side of the ball, more often than not, is usually ahead of the offense, and that is the case this year in Tuscaloosa. Alabama, after all, returns nine starters and 23 lettermen from its title-winning 2020 team.

Saban said UA’s defensive line could feature as many as eight or nine players in its rotation this upcoming season.
 
I think they are going to go against tendency and line up in a lot of 12 formation / two tight end sets. That would be a good way to force us to keep our weakest position group on the field and out of nickel and dime packages. They can also attack our small lbs by pounding the run game and hitting the TEs in the pass game. There is no 3rd WR this year who is an experienced playmaker. Its not like last year where that would mean taking Waddle off the field.
 
I cant remember the last time Saban showcased any TE in their offense even when they had a stud in OJ Howard. Is Bill O'Brien's offense big on using the TEs? I dont remember seeing that much with the Texans. I do know he uses the RBs ALOT out of the backfield as pass catchers so I expect to see alot of that so Frierson and KSmith will have a busy afternoon.
And OJ Howard was relatively lightly used until the National Championship game
 
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I think the changes that they have on offense give us a chance....having said that if they can just lean on us and get 5 yards a pop it won't matter. We will know pretty early how it will go IMO.
 
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Nuggets from Bama 2nd scrimmage today:

- Quarterback Bryce Young threw for roughly 195 yards and a pair of touchdowns as he guided the first-team offense. One of the touchdowns was an 80-yard pass and catch to receiver John Metchie, while the other was a short pass to tailback Jase McClellan (4 yards).

-- Quarterback Paul Tyson threw for roughly 125 yards and a touchdown while he again led the second-team offense. The touchdown was a 60-yard throw to wideout Jameson Williams, who head coach Nick Saban said is a player that has made “a big impact” this preseason. Tyson’s touchdown throw came during his brief time working with the first-team offense.

-- RB Brian Robinson and Roydell Williams found the end zone on Saturday from five and three yards out, respectively. McClellan and Trey Sanders both saw a lot of work out of the backfield, with Sanders continuing to put together a solid preseason.

-- In terms of turnovers, each of the quarterbacks tossed at least one interception in the game. Cornerback Marcus Banks picked off Young, while linebacker Dallas Turner intercepted Tyson. Cornerback Josh Jobe had at least one interception against freshman Jalen Milroe.

-- Linebacker Christopher Allen didn’t scrimmage, but like the others, it doesn’t sound serious. But Will Anderson was present, and he remains a problem for opposing offenses. This quote from Saban says it all: “He’s been really good. Will’s probably the guy that creates more havoc for our defense in terms of his ability to pass rush. He’s a more complete player now.”

--Like last week, a couple of offensive line starters were held out of the scrimmage -- this time it was right guard Emil Ekiyor and right tackle Kendall Randolph, who is sidelined by a sprained ankle. That meant the first-team O-line was Evan Neal at left tackle, Javion Cohen at left guard, Chris Owens at center, Tommy Brown at right guard and JC Latham at right tackle.

-- Closing things out with special teams, James Burnip and Ty Perine handled punts, with Burnip having the better day. Will Reichard and Jack Martin both attempted field goals and kickoffs. In the return game, freshman JoJo Earle was the primary punt returner, while several players were back deep on kickoff returns. Earle has also had a good preseason at receiver.
 
To put the above nuggets into perspective - someone who attended Bama's scrimmage today wrote some notes on what he saw:

-Young started with the first offense vs the second defense for the first 2 possessions. Led a nice TD drive on the first possession capped off by maybe his best throw of the day: short TD while rolling to his right and throwing back across his body after being flushed from the pocket. It was a nice play by BY and reminded me of the pass he threw last year against Missouri (I think) for a TD. Interesting note was JM started at RB. BY's second series was with the first offense again against the second defense. This ended in an 80-yeard TD pass to Metchie. It was an ugly looking pass, but was on the money. So, things looked pretty sharp to start for first offense against the second defense.

So Young's stats are primarily against the 2nd team defense.


Third and fourth possessions for BY were with the first offense vs the second defense as well, but these didn't go so smoothly. Result both times were punts. In both cases, BY made open receivers try to make difficult catches. The ball was a little behind this receiver, or high to that receiver. Rarely on these drives were receivers hit in stride, if at all. In one case, a quick wr screen required the wr to climb the ladder to catch the ball and by then there was no place to run. RBs rotated for the 1st offense as did the receivers. And, there was lots of work on the ground game. This wasn't an all-out passing game drill like we have seen in some past scrimmages.


Eventually, we got to see first offense vs. first defense. There were some short completions, a missed open receiver or 2, a pre-snap penalty, a 30ish yd completion all mixed together. The possession ended without a score, but it was scripted as they looked to be working on some things and wanted to change personnel groups.

In 2-minute
, BY led the first offense to a FG vs the first defense. Again, the drive was a mixed bag. Sanders had a good run of ~ 15 yards (he had a good day -- it was good to see him look pretty healthy). There were some completions, but some were more difficult than they should have been. There was a missed slant open over the middle. in one case, the receiver went in and BY threw it out. I have no idea whose fault that was. The first defense got some pressure, but it was manageable for the most part. On the second possession in this segment, BY threw his lone pick on a deep sideline pattern. I thought it was Jobe with the pick.

**DL Latham made a few good plays. I saw DL Burroughs come off injured and then left the field for the locker room holding his left arm/shoulder. He was visibly upset (slammed his helmet to the ground on the sideline), so I hope its nothing serious. But, I didn't see him return.

--Punting is still very inconsistent. Perine and the Aussie punter would boom one and then follow that up with a shank. Coach Saban seemed frustrated with the inconsistency.

--Latu had a nice catch. There may have been another TE catch or two, but overall the TEs were not a major emphasis in the passing game.
 
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Sounds like a team replacing experience with new , inexperienced players.

They have a bunch of guys nicked up, too.....
prayer GIF
 
I think To’o’to going to them instead of us is a dividing line (not that he was considering us), because he would almost singlehandedly narrow the gap between the defenses, imo.

My honest assessment of this game is that we have a good to very good team, going up against a historically elite program. I would feel better about playing literally any team in the country, given Saban’s track record in opening games and their absurd consistency year over year. It isn’t a reflection of Miami that I think we will lose and likely lose convincingly. I would expect almost any team in the country to perform like that. If we were going against any other SEC team I’d be much more confident, I’m not scared of that conference, these guys just tend to max out their performance - especially week 1.

All that being said, we could win. I think this team has a new ceiling on their performance, and I expect the year to be much more satisfying than any in the last decade. I’m just not going to panic if we lose by 21 to Alabama, or claim that Manny doesn’t have his team prepared (unless it’s clear he doesn’t).
Can we just play the game? All the titles, all da hype isn't gonna help them when we play them.
 
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