Aug 4, 2013; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide linebacker C.J. Mosley (32) during practice at Bryant Denny Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Liles-USA TODAY Sports
Today Alabama held its first scrimmage of fall camp inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. It rained a bit during parts of the scrimmage today.
The only players in black, no contact jerseys were the quarterbacks so everyone is relatively healthy for the first scrimmage.
Safety Jarrick Williams is wearing a sleeve on his right knee, in which he tore his ACL last year, but no big brace and is moving well.
The walk-on who has replaced fellow walk-on Tyler Bass, who had ankle surgery earlier this week, is wide receiver Jeremy Watson. He is now wearing full pads and doing all the regular drills with the rest of the receivers.
Nick Saban said he felt both the first team offense and defense did very well in the scrimmage making good plays and showing a lot of toughness. He said the veterans have more mental toughness at this point, which is to be expected, while some of the younger players played a bit sloppy. The young players made some good plays but also made some mental mistakes.
Saban said again that he isn’t disappointed at where the team is right now but that they will “just keep on keeping on.”
Saban said McCarron had a good scrimmage but he got his foot stepped on during it which resulted in a bruise. It’s not serious and won’t be a problem but he did sit out the two minute drill at the end of the scrimmage. He reiterated that the injury wasn’t serious and that McCarron wouldn’t even miss any practice time next week.
Amari Cooper had a good scrimmage catching four passes, three of which for touchdowns. He had 182 yards receiving, that’s 45.5 yards per catch for those counting at home.
Saban was impressed with the running backs and Jalston Fowler did really well in the passing game. Saban said that Fowler would play both tailback and h-back this year like he did in 2012 as expected. TJ Yeldon didn’t get a lot of carries but did well with the carries he did get. Saban said that both Derrick Henry and Altee Tenpenny ran well.
Yeldon carried the ball 6 times for 35 yards while Blake Sims led all runners with 4 carries for 53 yards and a TD. Derrick Henry added 11 carries for 38 yards and a TD. Sims has spent all camp at QB so it’s unclear if those stats come from him playing the read option or if he also played tailback. Saban didn’t feel the offensive line got enough push up front which is something they have to work on going forward.
Cornerback Deion Belue sat out the scrimmage due to a pulled hamstring, the same injury that resulted in him having his leg wrapped during the week. Saban said that “you can’t really play corner at 3/4 speed” so they wanted to hold him out and not risk further injuring it.
Redshirt freshman linebacker Reuben Foster suffered a stinger today, no word on how long he’ll be out if at all. He hurt his hand earlier this week as well so it’s been a rough week for the young backer.
He said the offensive line didn’t play with enough power and there’s room to improve there.
Saban didn’t seem all too impressed with the defense in the scrimmage and said that “this scrimmage tells us who we should be working with (going forward).” He said the first team defense looked good and the first team defensive line and secondary “did pretty good,” but past that needs work. Defensively CJ Mosley had four tackles and an interception while HaHa Clinton-Dix also recorded an interception. He said the younger corners really have to work on technique more so than anything.
There hasn’t been a lot of info on special teams thus far in camp but today Saban said he was really impressed with the way special teams played. He said that “we made some long ones” referring to some field goals made (but didn’t say who made them) and said that punter Cody Mandell has had a really good camp so far.
Alabama did 11-on-11 game situations, 2 minute drill, situational drills, red zone drills, and goal line drills during the scrimmage.
Alabama only released select statistics for the game (which is usual) and those stats are below.
PASSING
AJ McCarron: 13-21, 267 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT
RUSHING
Blake Sims: 4 carries, 53 yards, 1 TD
Derrick Henry: 11 carries, 38 yards, 1 TD
Tyren Jones: 5 carries, 38 yards
TJ Yeldon: 6 carries, 35 yards
RECEIVING
Amari Cooper: 4 catches, 182 yards, 3 TD
Jalston Fowler: 3 catches, 38 yards
DEFENSE
CJ Mosley: 4 tackles, 1 INT, 1 PBU
Jarrick Williams: 4 tackles
HaHa Clinton-Dix: 3 tackles, 1 INT, 1 PBU
Ed Stinson: 3 tackles, 1.0 sack
Vinnie Sunseri: 3 tackles, 1 fumble recovery
Tomorrow is the players’ first day off in camp, and they will return to practice on Monday.