Alabama Crimson Tide Wednesday (11/20) Practice and Press Conference Notes
Nov 16, 2013; Starkville, MS, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban runs off the field following the Tide
Alabama coach Nick Saban held his final press conference of the week this afternoon following practice and he talked about having pride in games like the one upcoming against Chattanooga, and mentioned that every team is banged up a bit this time of year.
Saban mentioned that some players haven’t showed the type of focus in practice thus far this week.
Both Brian Vogler and T.J. Yeldon will be game time decisions this weekend, and neither of them are 100 percent as of right now.
Saban was very complimentary of Florida State and head coach Jimbo Fisher, who was a coach under Saban at LSU, even calling them “arguably the best team in the country.”
Saban was asked today about AJ McCarron’s appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week and he responded, “you think I sit around looking at magazines all week?” Whoever the reporter was drew the ire of Saban, though in a jokingly manner (a little), saying that he asks him something irrelevant every single week.
Practice Notes
Back on the practice field Alabama continues preparation for Chattanooga this weekend. For the first time this week tight end Brian Vogler lost the black, non-contact jersey and was wearing his usual practice jersey as he recovers from a sprained ankle. Vogler was participating but did not seem to be participating in blocking drills, and Tuesday during player interviews guard Anthony Steen hinted that Vogler wasn’t likely to play this weekend.
Tailback T.J. Yeldon wasn’t participating in drills again as he also deals with a sprained ankle.
Cornerback Deion Belue was also not participating in drills while watching his teammates go through them. This may be just a precautionary measure to keep him healthy heading into the Auburn game by limiting his work load in practice.
Jalston Fowler was practicing with both the h-back/tight ends and running backs during the media viewing period, which is different as he has spent the entire media viewing periods so far this year with the running backs despite playing h-back in games. This may suggest his role at h-back could be increased with Vogler possibly out and O.J. Howard also a little dinged. Howard was said to have been moving around very well today and was working in most drills.
Former Alabama receiver Brandon Gibson was watching practice today as were officials from Alabama High School Athletics Association. Bryant-Denny Stadium hosts the Super Six Playoffs next week. Scouts from the Jacksonville Jaguars and Pittsburgh Steelers were also in attendance.
Other Notes
Today Nick Saban was named a semifinalist for the Maxwell Club’s Coach of the Year Award, an award he has never won before. Saban is among the 16 semifinalists of the award including two other SEC coaches, Auburn’s Guz Malzahn and Missouri’s Gary Pinkel.
Alabama officially added Southern Miss to the 2014 schedule which completes the schedule for next year. Southern Miss (09/13) joins West Virginia (08/30), Florida-Atlantic (09/06), and Western Carolina (11/22) as Alabama’s out of conference opponents. Florida (09/20) and Tennessee (10/25) are the SEC East opponents for Alabama while the usual SEC West opponents appear obviously: Ole Miss (10/04), Arkansas (10/11), Texas A&M (10/18), LSU (11/08), Mississippi State (11/15), and Auburn (11/29).