A-Day Isn’t Likely To Live Up To Fans Expectations

So you’re Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban and you’ve just hired Lane Kiffin as your new offensive coordinator to replace the departed Doug Nussmeier. Some people see the hiring as a reach with Kiffin’s USC offense struggling badly during his final season there. Others think he could potentially cause problems behind the scene with his bombastic personality.

You have a perfect opportunity to prove all your naysayers wrong with your upcoming annual A-day scrimmage. You could unleash Kiffin’s new offensive attack and have TJ Yeldon and Derrick Henry lining up in the same backfield to create nightmares and mismatches galore for the Alabama’s starting defense. You could have Blake Sims or Alec Morris throwing screen passes and deep fly patterns or talented wide out Chris Black lining up opposite Yeldon in the backfield and taking a quick toss on a sweep after Yeldon sells a fake into the line of scrimmage catching the defenses linebackers inside.

Imagine one of those two back sets with Cooper and White lined up wide. While the defense is busy trying to pick their poison with A, B or C, tight end OJ Howard is able to pick apart the mismatches he’s left with across the middle of the field.

What are we most likely to see first? Most likely it will be D. None of the above.

Alabama fans will pack Bryant Denny Stadium with something close to one hundred thousand rabid fans to watch the only public scrimmage of the year for the Crimson Tide. Coming off two less than inspiring efforts to mar an otherwise perfect season, those fans will be looking for signs that the lackadaisical conservative approach to play calling, particularly in the fourth quarter of games, is a thing of the past.

Their line of thinking, and rightfully so, is that with all the talent available to the Alabama offensive brain trust, there is absolutely no reason for the Tide to have to sit on fourth quarter leads. Fans easily tire of watching their defense wear down as their supremely talented offense runs one dive play after another before punting and asking the defense to hold the lead again.

Problem is they’re unlikely to see nothing more on April 19th than they saw all of last year. They may see a formation or two that the Alabama offense weren’t apt to use under Coach Nuss. Most of what Lane Kiffin installs this spring however will be kept under wraps. There is after all, no reason to give early season opponents a preview of what’s coming.

It’s not as if there’s going to be wholesale changes to what the Tide has been doing under Saban in the past. It’s still the same basic offensive scheme used by the Patriots. The same one Perkins used with the New York Giants for all intensive purposes. It’s not flashy but with the right personnel and play calling it can be highly effective. Yes, every new play caller brings his own wrinkles and tendencies and there have been mentions of some hurry up involved as well as hints of putting more playmakers on the field at the same time. Something fans have been begging for ever since the embarrassment of offensive skill players Saban has regularly accumulated, arrived on campus.

The potential is there for a bright play caller like Kiffin to be able to create the kinds of mismatches that give opposing defensive coordinators stomach ulcers and alcohol problems. The Alabama receiving corps alone should be enough to rattle most defensive minds. Add in running backs like Yeldon and Henry and the potential for a rout is on.

Perhaps the most underutilized of all weapons on the Crimson Tide offense last season was ultra talented tight end OJ Howard. Ever since he split coverage against a very talented LSU defense and outraced their secondary for a long passing score he’s been on the minds of opposing defenses. After all when corners and safeties struggle to catch a tight end, what hopes does a linebacker have?

Tide fans were then flummoxed when he seemed to disappear for the remainder of their season. The hiring of Kiffin should have excited Howard and the remainder of the other tight ends on the Alabama roster more than any other position on the team. He made great use of the position at both Tennessee and Southern California. Alabama fans should be able to expect a monster year from Howard.

Provided of course the Alabama coaching staff is able to do two things.

They have to replace two starters on their offensive line, including their starting left tackle. Then they have to replace starter AJ McCarron under center. Two potentially very tall orders. The talent is there to fill the roles but how long it takes to find the right pieces, and then how long it takes those players to gel at their new positions, could be the key to the Alabama season.

Written by: Douglas Webb
Can be reached at: drweb@live.com or on Twitter at: @drweb66