Alabama Football is back: What to expect from the Tide

Alabama Football is back effective Friday afternoon, Aug 6 when the Crimson Tide’s Fall Camp begins. Is 2021 a return to normal in all things? Hopefully, it will be in most ways, but some things have changed. Check out the list below on what is new and what can be expected from the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Native coastal Alabamian, Ivan Maisel says,

"The 2021 season will be the best-played season in the history of college football."

That bold statement is all about the impact of Super Seniors. That is the guys who in many cases will be in their sixth season of college football. Miami has an offensive lineman going into his seventh season.

Teams will not just be older, they will be more experienced. According to Maisel, Ole Miss will begin fall camp with 13 seniors in its two-deep. Iowa State has 25 seniors and eight of the Cyclones’ players are six-year guys.

Unlike many teams, Alabama Football will be young. The Crimson Tide has but two Super Seniors and just 11 scholarship, senior players. The Crimson Tide is blessed with talent, but as Nick Saban said earlier this week,

"… we have talent on our team, but you can’t win with talent alone. Everybody has to be committed to a standard of excellence and commitment in order to do the right things on and off the field."

One thing Saban is committed to achieving is taking every precaution to assure his team is protected from COVID. The same COVID protocols used last season will be used for at least the first six weeks of this season. The Crimson Tide roster is believed to be near a 95 percent vaccination point. Vaccinations have not been mandated but it is clear Nick Saban would like the number to be 100 percent.

Saban also hopes more people in the general population get vaccinated. From Kaitlan Collins, Nick said,

"We’re hoping to be able to have full capacity in the stadium. I’m hoping more and more people will get vaccinated so we’ll have the opportunity to do that. I know it means a lot to our players."

As we reported three months ago, Fall Camp has new rules, with less hitting and fewer full-contact sessions. The early acclimation days have been increased to seven. The Alabama Crimson Tide will still be busy. With 23 days until Miami game week, the Tide will get in around 20 practice sessions and two scrimmages.

The first media session for Saban will be Sunday and will return to the Zoom format. That will probably be the first day for attempted information on Saban’s ‘Organizational’ Depth Chart.