Morning Kickoff: Crimson Tide News 9/4
By Chris Hale
Get your day started with the Morning Kickoff. All of your Crimson Tide news in one place.
"At Alabama, the phrase “game manager” is back to being embraced. If Blake Sims can only manage the game and take care of the football, then the Crimson Tide might be capable of reaching the inaugural College Football Playoff. Like McCarron’s first season starting, he won’t be asked to do it all. Despite hopes to the contrary, he probably won’t throw the ball deep very much. We’ll all do well to remember that 43 quarterbacks had more passes of 20-plus yards than McCarron in 2011.With two stellar running backs to lean on, the offense should be fine either way. You think the duo of T.J. Yeldon and Derrick Henry isn’t comparable to Trent Richardson and Eddie Lacy? Like Richardson, Yeldon is a junior with an established resume. Like Lacy, Henry is an emerging sophomore with talent to burn."
I was pleased with the way Blake Sims played on Saturday against West Virginia. He wasn’t extremely flashy and he didn’t make big plays. On the other hand, he did what the coaches asked him to do and controlled the game. There is a reason Jake Coker didn’t get much playing time on Saturday and neither you or I know that reason. Alabama has one of the best coaching staffs in the country and if they saw a reason for it, it’s good enough for me. From Coach Saban’s press conferences, it sounds like Coker will get a change this weekend to show what he has got.
"Five months and one day since he tore his ACL during a spring scrimmage, Alabama cornerback Eddie Jackson will play “some kind of way” Saturday in the Crimson Tide’s home opener against Florida Atlantic.Nick Saban said Monday that the team would start “investing reps” into Jackson after a season opener in which Alabama surrendered 365 passing yards to West Virginia. Jackson was spotted Tuesday working with the first-team nickel defense at the cornerback spot previously occupied by junior Bradley Sylve, who was on the wrong end of a number of big Mountaineers’ plays."
It’s no secret that the Tide’s secondary had some issues in the Georgia Dome. Lots of times, cornerbacks were in position to make a play but just didn’t do that. We all figured there would be a few changes this week, and it looks like Cyrus Jones and Eddie Jackson will get the start at cornerback. Hopefully with Eddie Jackson back at full strength and coming for the starting job, it will push everyone to want to improve.
"After last season’s opener, the offensive linemen were down on themselves for helping to open the way for just 206 total yards, 96 of them rushing, against Virginia Tech.Last week, they were proud of their effort against West Virginia. Alabama gained 538 total yards, 288 on the ground, all with first-year staring quarterback Blake Sims and new offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin.“Last year, it didn’t feel very good,” offensive tackle Austin Shepherd said. “We didn’t click as an offensive line. Fall camp, we harped on being one. We tried to get a lot closer. And it helped we were out there communicating.”"
The offensive line was a bright spot for me against West Virginia in a position that I was more worried about than others. As the article said, 288 yards on the ground as well as keeping your quarterback off of the turf is a good day. I was really impressed with freshman Cameron Robinson. He was the first true freshman to get the start in an opener since 2008 with Julio Jones and the first true freshman to get a start at left tackle since Andre Smith in 2006.
"“This week is, what we’re trying to get across to the players, is how important it is to establish a routine,” Saban said. “You probably saw Coach Smith talk about on “Hard Knocks” how it’s so important for players to establish a routine so they can sustain through the season. Well I think that’s very true for college players. Whether it’s to hydrate, eat right, sleep right, prepare for the game right, mental preparation, go to practice every day and learn in the meetings; all these things in establishing a routine takes a lot of maturity and I think that’s very important to players improving, so they can go from the meeting room to the walk through to the practice and then take that to the game and be able to execute it in the game and feel comfortable and confident in their communication and playing together as a unit.“That’s certainly been the emphasis this week on trying to develop the kind of practice habits and routine that will help us improve as a team.”"
"Replace a player who’s started 26 games with two players who’ve made zero combined starts and there’s bound to be some mistakes.That’s what Alabama did in its season-opening win Saturday against West Virginia, plugging linebackers Reggie Ragland and Reuben Foster in for senior Trey DePriest, who was suspended for what Tide head coach Nick Saban has called a minor NCAA infraction.Saban said DePriest will play in the Tide’s home opener against Florida Atlantic on Saturday, and that should provide a boost to Alabama’s defense."
Getting Trey DePriest back on the field is huge for the Tide. Like Saban said in a press conference this week, DePriest is the quarterback on the defense and gets everyone in position for the plays. In an interview last night, Nick Perry said he thought that defense played pretty well on Saturday but he did acknowledge that they made some errors and had trouble with communication. Perry also said to expect a difference in how the defense played from week one to week two.
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