Aug 4, 2013; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide wide receiver Amari Cooper (9) during practice at Bryant Denny Stadium. Kevin Liles-USA TODAY Sports
Alabama once again returned to the practice fields on a cloudy, humid day after Monday’s two-a-day. They were again back in full pads.
The biggest news is that wide receiver Amari Cooper, who didn’t participate in drills yesterday, is now wearing a black non-contact jersey. During the media viewing period Cooper worked primarily with Alabama’s trainer doing conditioning drills rather than doing receiver drills.
Saban said that the injury was a “strained foot” and it is going to cause him to miss the next few practices. Saban said that after a few days Cooper will be “day to day,” but that he didn’t expect him to miss any significant time.
“I don’t think he’s going to be out for a long time,” Saban said.
As we reported earlier, Trey DePriest has been suspended from the team by Nick Saban for “violation of team rules.”
“He will be eligible to return to the team if he does what he’s supposed to in relatively short order,” Saban said of the suspension. “If he does those things, he’ll be back with us in as soon as week.”
Saban did not go into detail on what rule DePriest broke, except to say that “it wasn’t a very smart thing to do.”
When asked if it he was disappointed to have to suspend a veteran like DePriest, Saban responded by saying:
“I don’t have to suspend any players. I don’t like suspending players, but if we’re going to punish any players or suspend any players, it’s going to be in their best interest to change their behavior so they have a better opportunity to be successful. If it’s not going to do that, I don’t see any reason to do it. It’s almost like raising your kids. If you’re going to spank them and it doesn’t change their behavior, why spank them? If you can take their computer or their cell phone away from them and it changes their behavior, then I’d say that’s the thing to do. We would only do it in the best interest of the player.”
Other notes from practice:
Tight end Malcolm Faciane is back with the team and he practiced for the first time today after being suspended from practices at the onset of fall camp. He wore shorts, jersey and helmet per NCAA rules for a first practice.
Cornerback Deion Belue, who has a hamstring injury, worked out in individual drills, but when they moved to working on team nickel defense he went to the sideline. Saban said that his workload would increase each day because they don’t want him to have another setback. He said that the injury originally occurred in the summer and he healed up, but it started bothering him again at the beginning of camp.
Austin Shepherd is working at left guard with Arie Kouandjio at right tackle again pretty much swapping positions. Saban said that Arie had originally been moved to guard because of a “lack of mobility” due to his knee surgeries, but that his knees are better and his mobility is returning leading to the move back to tackle.
Offensive tackle Brandon Greene again worked with the tight ends today. Saban name-dropped former Tide tight end Michael Williams while discussing the experiments at tight end, saying that Williams was a hard guy to replace because of his power. Saban gave that as the reason behind players like Greene and LaMichale Fanning getting looks at tight end.
Former Heisman winner and Tennessee Titans running back Eddie George watched practice today. He is covering practice for SiriusXM.
Saban said that Alabama will begin dedicating one period in each practice to an opponent this season starting this week before full preparation for Virginia Tech begins.
Tomorrow will be the fourth and final two-a-day of fall camp.