Alabama Football: Practice Notebook, Sept. 26

September 22, 2012; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide tight end Michael Williams (89) stiff arms Florida Atlantic Owls defensive back Christian Milstead (18) during the second half at Bryant Denny Stadium. Alabama defeated Florida Atlantic 40-7. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-US PRESSWIRE

Many things contributed to the legacy that Tim Tebow built for himself as a Florida Gator. Many will point to his devout religious beliefs, his willingness to pass up the NFL for his senior season or finding a way to win two national championships and hoist a Heisman trophy in just four years.

Certainly, a great deal of it had to do with The Speech that is now engraved on Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

What inspired Tebow’s speech, however, is forgotten: a letdown loss at home to …. Ole Miss.

Alabama will be trying to avoid the same situation this Saturday in the Tide’s first home game in SEC play.

“I saw a video a couple of weeks ago of Tim Tebow’s famous speech after they were undefeated the last year and won the national championship and were going undefeated the next year,” head coach Nick Saban said. “They had won 20-something games in a row, and then, guess what? Guess who? Guess when?”

Saban hopes to avoid the loss that got that particular Florida team to wake up and focus on its goals.

“Does somebody have to give that speech for you to do what you need to do?” Saban asked.

Saban and his staff have made sure that the team is aware of that incident in the Swamp.

“We watched that during our workouts,” cornerback Dee Milliner said. “They’d have it playing, and we’d watch it in certain groups. We’re trying to not let that be us.”

Stealing in the summer

How players use the summer can make a huge difference in a player’s performance to the point that it almost changes the trajectory of their careers entirely. Alabama punter Cody Mandell proved just that with his drastic improvement from 2011 to 2012 and senior tight end Michael Williams is hoping to do the same.

“This summer, I watched (New Orleans Saints tight end) Jimmy Graham and (New England Patriots tight end) Rob Gronkowski just to see how the tight end position works at that level, to see the moves they make and how they break their routes,” Williams said. “I try to make that into my game. I’m not their type of player, but I’ll try to take a little bit at a time to become a great player.”

Williams mostly focused on how the two, often deemed the two best tight ends in the league, changed direction in their pass routes effectively.

“It’s tough, being 6-foot-6 (and 269 pounds) to break out of a route like a wide receiver,” Williams said. “You have to work on it everyday, go in the weight room and do squats and wall sits and stuff like that to loosen your hips.”

Injury update

Saban said backup nose tackle Brandon Ivory remains questionable and will likely be downgraded to doubtful if he is unable to practice on Thursday as the staff expects.

In a situation similar to this one in the week two game against Western Kentucky, true freshman Darren Lake burned what the coaching staff was hoping would be a redshirt to help replace Jesse Williams.

The staff is not as sure who it will turn to this time.

“If he handles the increase in responsibility, he’ll play. If he doesn’t handle it, we’ll play somebody else,” Saban said. “We’ve played a lot of players at nose before and we certainly have to keep the defensive line fresh. There will be a lot of guys that get a lot of opportunities to play.”