Alabama Football: Daily Insider Mar 29

Alabama football fans have a big appetite for information and we’ll be serving up healthy portions of hot food for thought with a side of seasonal inside information every morning this Spring.

There was a time when getting to the Waysider early on a weekday morning was the best way to learn what was really going on with Alabama football.

In the compact dining area, all you had to do was listen. Most conversations included tidbits of information about the University and the football program.

These days there is more to be gleaned by surveying the digital landscape of multitudinous sources. The problem with this wondrous abundance of information is in separating the sense from the nonsense.

Alabama Crimson Tide Football

That’s where we come in. This column will endeavor to guide that process of discernment.

We’ll peruse message boards, podcasts, tweets, talk radio and numerous digital communication platforms. We’ll ferret out the most worthwhile information and offer our take on what it means.

The Daily Insider: March 29

Alabama football was outside on Tuesday for the fourth practice of the spring schedule. Tuesday was the first day this spring the Tide worked in pads.

Below are comments and the current outlook for key players given by Nick Saban at the post-practice media briefing. The complete video is provided for your viewing at rolltide.com.

• “We really have limited the quarterback runs in practice. We’re really trying to develop the passing game.”- this reinforces our perspective that Saban is looking for a more balanced offense in 2017 Run Daboll or Air Daboll?

• On Robert Foster, “I think he is playing better than he did a year ago and hopefully, he will continue to improve … we need him to have a role on this team. Calvin Ridley has had a good spring so far. Jerry Jeudy is doing well.” Alabama football is loaded at wide receiver and it appears Robert Foster will finally have a meaningful role. Check out our profile on Jerry Jeudy. All three wide-outs have 4.4 speed.

• “We felt like Ben Davis, athletically, might have a better chance to contribute at outside linebacker. I’m very pleased with his progress.” Just like the receivers, Alabama football is loaded at linebacker. Having to find a spot for a former 5-Star recruit like Ben Davis is a statement on the Tide’s depth.

• “Bo’s doing more and more every day, he did quite a bit today at practice, non-contact stuff, but he’s sort of gaining confidence. And our goal for Bo is that by the end of spring he’s fully confident that he can do everything that he needs to do. Whether he scrimmages or not is really not something that we’re that concerned about.”

Based upon the rep groups (we discussed those in Daily Insider Mar 26) the O-Line is currently LT, Jonah Willaims; LG, Ross Pierschbacher; C, Bradley Bozeman; RG, Lester Cotton; RT, Matt Womack.

The rep chart shows currently the secondary is Averitt and Fitzpatrick at corners; Harrison and Jones at safeties; and Tony Brown at Star.

Next: The Fifty Best Players in Crimson Tide Football History

The Tide will practice again on Thursday afternoon. There are four more practice sessions before the first scrimmage on April 8. Alabama fans let us hear from you. Check in with us on Facebook or Twitter.