There are still several preseason practices left in advance of the first game week, but here are some of my top takeaways from fall camp.
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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.