After the first Alabama football scrimmage of Fall Camp, Nick Saban reviewed his team’s performance. Typical of Saban’s first scrimmage observations, he saw some good things and more areas where players, position groups and units need to improve.
At this point every season, Saban always views a team as a work-in-progress. To balance the scales, he is always clear he is not disappointed. Alabama football fans, wanting an enthusiastic indication of another championship run might be disappointed, but Saban is a realist and no team is a championship contender in August.
The first set of bullet notes comes from what Nick Saban described as areas needing improvement.
- The scrimmage began with good energy, but as the scrimmage progressed, it dropped below an acceptable level
- Overall there were too many penalties, including sloppy penalties from unforced errors
- Wide receiver play was inconsistent and there were too many dropped passes
- The second unit offensive line struggled
- Too many mistakes by the defense in red zone and goal line situations
- Khyree Jackson missed the scrimmage because of a minor groin injury, but is expected to recover quickly
- Eli Ricks is still learning the Crimson Tide defensive formations and schemes
- The younger inside linebackers are also working to learn the system and per Saban need to show progress
Alabama Football First Scrimmage Positives
- The first unit offensive line showed improvement.
- The best performance by the Crimson Tide’s young receivers came from Kobe Prentice who Saban said caught about five passes.
- Cornerback Terrion Arnold has had a strong fall camp
- Antonio Kite has been moved from safety to cornerback, which is according to Saban, his most natural position
- Jaylen Moody has had a good fall camp
- Cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry did okay in the scrimmage
- Saban said he was pleased with the running backs
- Saban said the kicking game was good
Other Scrimmage information
The bullets below include shared observations from various sources and not Nick Saban. Until more is learned, they should be considered as unconfirmed information.
- Kendall Randolph and Javion Cohen rotated with the first unit offensive line at left guard. Darrian Dalcourt and Seth McLaughlin rotated with the first unit at center.
- In the wide receivers group, along with Jermaine Burton and Kobe Prentice, Traeshon Holden also did well in the scrimmage.
- D.J. Dale did not scrimmage and was replaced in the first unit by freshman, Jaheim Oatis
Video of Saban’s post-scrimmage comments is provided below, compliments of Bama Insider.
Bama Hammer will provide additional scrimmage information as it becomes available.