Alabama football conducted its second scrimmage of the spring Friday in Bryant- Denny stadium. Let’s review the highlights and Nick Saban’s post-scrimmage observations.
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.
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: April 15
Inside information is a precious jewel inside the Saban concocted cocoon that is Alabama football. Nowhere else in college football do so many analyze so little in an effort to divine something of value.
Before we continue with the exercise of summing up how much we know and don’t know, let’s take a respite. Enjoy, compliments of The University.
Really grinding. Scrimmage #2 in the books. #OutworkYesterday #RollTide pic.twitter.com/oRedMoCZbJ
— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) April 15, 2017
Yes, the paragraph before the tweet read “The University” – rather than the University of Alabama. It is an old habit, not easily jettisoned. Some of us remember a time when “The University” was understood by everyone, not just Crimson Tide fans, as the University of Alabama. As in, “where did you go to college”? Saying more than “I went to the University” was unnecessary.
Sorry for the digression. We will now get to the meat of the matter. Let’s start with this.
Alabama Football Completes Second Scrimmage of the Spring https://t.co/z3q6uzxjTy
— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) April 15, 2017
We mean no disrespect to anyone, but we meant the “meat of the matter” literally. The mammoth body clad in white in the above photo is Deonte Brown. He is in the mix as Alabama football’s starting right guard. As we have previously reported, Brown’s chance at starting comes as a surprise. A surprise, because as others have reported and the photo shows, Deonte Brown has a challenge of something known as bad weight.
In fairness, not many humans carry 350 pounds (and maybe more) without some bad weight. Insiders have reported Brown is beginning the process of reshaping his body. Notwithstanding the worthiness of the task, is it fair to ask why a redshirt freshman has not already ‘reshaped’ his body?
Alabama Crimson Tide Football
No, that is not intended to be a rhetorical question. Insiders give assurance that Brown is VERY powerful and can “get movement” at the point of attack. Saban said earlier in the week that the offensive line gotta do a better job up front getting movement on people.
Perhaps Deonte Brown is a player that can do just that. Saban said after the Friday scrimmage that Lester Cotton had done a really good job at guard so he was being tried at tackle as well.
Maybe Cotton wins the starting slot at right tackle. If so, that leads back to Brown or who can deliver at right guard. We cannot help but wonder. How is it that probably the most talented roster in the college football needs a potential starter to reshape his body?
Moving on, Friday’s scrimmage observers stated Jalen and Tua were throwing long-range darts – again. So much so that Saban was not pleased with the secondary – again.
As reported by rolltide.com Saban complained:
"“I wasn’t pleased with the way we played on the back end today. I thought we missed some 50-50 balls we should have made plays on and they turned out to be not great big plays but plays that could have been big plays for the defense but ended up being big plays for the offense. Your ability to make plays on 50-50 balls is really big and we can’t give those up, whether it’s technique or keeping a guy cut off or whatever it might be.”"
Spring scrimmage results to date: Daboll 2 – Pruitt 0. For those of us who believe Alabama football will have another dominant defense in 2017, we should be very encouraged by the development of the offense.
Alabama fans, do you have a favorite “Big Ugly” up front? If so, let us hear from you. Check in with us on Facebook or Twitter