Alabama Football: The stars of A-Day included some surprises

In Saturday’s Alabama football, A-Day game, the second unit offense stole the show with enough fireworks to give the White team a 31-17 victory.

Alabama football showcased its deep roster of stars on Saturday. The brightest stars were rather unexpected as the White team second unit offense led the way.

No matter how impressive some of the young stars looked, Nick Saban was the story of the day. Nick disclosed he needs some work done on a hip, and as he put it, could be out “six to eight weeks.”

The reason Saban said he will get the ailing hip fixed is music to the ears of Alabama football fans. Check out his explanation in the tweet below.

Who looked good in the A-Day must be stated in the context of what unit a player was competing against. Some young players looked good but the format was 1s vs 1s and 2s vs 2s units. Saban cautioned the media,

"You all have a tendency to make someone a star. And when you do that you create a problem for us …"

Top performing Crimson Team players

• Skyler DeLong was solid punting the football. He averaged 47.5 yards on four punts.
• Freshman Shane Lee led the defense with eight total tackles (six solo) and an interception.
• Tua Tagovailoa was 19-for-37 for 265 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. The INT by Trevon Diggs was on a ball Tua tried to force into a closed window. Tua did well overall but was nowhere near Heisman form.

Top performing White team players

• Except for one bad decision leading to an interception by Shane Lee, Mac Jones made good reads and good throws. He finished 19-for-23 for 237 yards and two touchdowns. Jones did take a couple of sacks when he should have thrown the ball away.
• Josh Jobe looked solid at cornerback with four tackles and three pass breakups.
• Freshman kicker Will Reichard averaged 42.2 yards on six punts. Reichard also made his only field goal attempt; a 43-yarder.
• True freshman Taulia Tagovailoa was 6-for-9 for 93 yards with a touchdown and an interception by Eddie Smith. Lia’s 29-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Waddle was the best-thrown ball of the game.
• Brian Robinson had 52 yards from six receptions and rushed 11 times for a 3.8 yard average.
• Running back Chadarius Townsend looked impressive on four runs for 30 yards. He also had one pass reception.
• The White team defense was stingy against the run, led by Xavier McKinney, Josh McMillon and Dylan Moses.
• Freshman wide receiver John Metchie had five catches for 153 yards.

Nick Saban was displeased with turnovers, dropped passes and a failure to run effectively.

"We didn’t have a full complement of offensive lineman, I get that. But we have to be able to run the football better than what we demonstrated in this game"

What should Alabama football fans make of the A-Day game? Not much, considering the format. There should be some relief about punting, sprinkled with some hope for a winner at QB No.2.