Alabama Football: Saban update and Saturday scrimmage tidbits

Alabama football conducted its first fall camp scrimmage Saturday and afterward, Nick Saban gave an update including injury news.

It has been serious business for Alabama football since the start of fall camp. It got even more serious on Saturday inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. Alabama football conducted the first full-contact scrimmage of camp.

Alabama football camp and practices are hard as Nick Saban acknowledged Saturday afternoon. They are supposed to be hard. As Saban also said, life is hard, but that does not make it bad. The scrimmage situation is especially hard for young, less experienced players because coaches are not on the field making calls for them. So on a warm afternoon in Bryant-Denny, everyone outside the first units went through growing pains.

The couple of sessions of hard hitting before Saturday already led to some player injuries. True freshman Stephon Wynn is probably out for a few weeks with a ligament problem. Jamey Mosley has a separated shoulder and will miss several days. Sophomore defensive back, Daniel Wright has a more serious shoulder problem. The medical team will continue to evaluate Wright, but there is a chance he could miss several weeks, maybe more.

Saban discussed new linebacker, Brandon Kaho. Kaho did pre-scrimmage drills Saturday but will not be cleared for contact work until he gets through standard acclimatization protocol. Saban explained Kaho was able to join Alabama immediately after his scholarship release from Washington because he never enrolled.

Before we get into the scrimmage buzz, enjoy the video below, compliments of the Athletics Department.

Scrimmage buzz

The scrimmage was closed. The extra eyes on hand were invited guests. Among those guests a few pass along information. From shared texts, to message boards to actual tweets, there is information. It is subjective information and as such sometimes contradictory. There is no way to authenticate it. That does not mean it should be ignored. Bama Hammer only passes along what is believed to be credible. If a rumor is prevalent, we may mention it, but we will call it a rumor.

Former players have credibility. Below is a tweet from Will Lowery.

In another tweet, Lowery, a former Alabama football defensive back, praised Deionte Thompson and Xavier McKinney as playing like veterans. He also complimented cornerbacks, Trevon Diggs and Saivion Smith.

Taking nothing away from Lowery, whose tweets we appreciate, but often the best information comes from lower-profile sources. Based on comments from credible Alabama football insiders, the players listed below had a good scrimmage.

Biggest Encouraging News

• Redshirt freshman defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis, redshirt senior defensive lineman, Johnny Dwight and true freshman linebacker, Jaylen Moody looked good in the scrimmage. Having Mathis and Dwight able to contribute in the defensive linemen rotation would be a major boost. On Moody, any positive report about a backup inside linebacker is great news.

Other less experienced players getting positive reports

• Xavier McKinney; Patrick Surtain Jr.; Eyabi Anoma; Josh Jobe and Saivion Smith

Good news but no surprises

• As expected Jonah Williams, Henry Ruggs III and Jerry Jeudy put in solid performances.

Good News on Special Teams

• Graduate transfer, Austin Jones showed placekicking consistency as he did in his Temple career.
• Freshman punter, Skyler DeLong looks like an adequate replacement for J.K. Scott.

What about the QBs?

Nick Saban was very specific in the post-scrimmage review. One Alabama football scrimmage will not settle the QB competition. There is a lot of chatter about Tua and Jalen. Most of it centers on Tua outshining Jalen. For now, we place it all in the unconfirmed category. Except, of course, for Will Lowery’s tweet.

Alabama football will rest Sunday and get back to work next week. The second and final scrimmage of fall camp will be Aug. 18.