After almost a week of practice and 7000 brave souls sitting in100 degree heat to watch Fan Day, it is clear the expectations are very high. They should be high. Bama has sunk a ton of money into the school and program, and the recruiting and 12 win season have magnified those desires to see Bama playing for championships not named Music City or involve having to go to the Shreeve....
I won't go into a full on breakdown of everything today, that's coming this week and next, but here's some food for thought after reading the masses.
Top 5 questions going into Fall
1. Who will be the 5 linemen vs. Va Tech?
This may be a situation where it doesn't end until later in the year, but the 5 going in will not be fully organized and familiar with each other to say the least. Left Tackle has surprisingly become a 1 man race with Carpenter being that man. Carpenter has come into the summer and really taken the opportunity to get in better shape and dedicate to the position. That is a big positive, because many reports are that Fluker is not well rounded enough yet, and that wasn't a big surprise to me. Carpenter isn't Smith though and if the bar is there then nobody on the roster will meet it this fall. One myth I read over the weekend was some coach to be said Fluker was all pass block and no run block. That would make him the most unique football lineman in the history of man to be skilled at pass before the run. The run block is pretty simple, on about 90% of the playbook, for a tackle. There are only 3 directions you typically go.
Left Guard and Center weren't contested and that's fine because the only center McElroy knows is Vlachos. You don't want to mess with the snap chemistry much. Right Guard has been a little surprising that it is still anyone's game. I thought Boswell would hold it down, but he seems to be their utility lineman. Ross has fallen off the cliff. Jones who knows. McCullough and Motley have taken the opportunity to step up and it is starting to sound like one of them may get it. Although one point in practice they had Davis there. I doubt they go there though because Fluker isn't ready. The quicker this unit forms, the better the odds of the offense being good are.
2. Can the defense find it's pass rush?
The truth is that Saban hasn't recruited itself out of the bend but don't break calibers from the Shula/Kines era. They probably get a little closer to where they want to be this fall. The first question under the main is who is the next "Jack" now that Fanney is gone? I think the real race is down to Hightower and Anders with Upshaw starting to creep up, but still 3rd behind them. There are some different things that they are trying to do up front that should help the defense with the rush by using both Anders and Hightower at the LOS and mixing in some speed at corner with Dre and Scott so that they can use Barron or Woodson at the Moneyback and get some different options on blitz packages. The level of confusion that they can create with those adjustments should help out in the long run. If they go base, it looks like Reamer has held his spot with Harris flopping behind him and behind Hightower. McClain is fine, Hightower has a spot it is just about where, and the last spot is really up to Nico Johnson or Chris Jordan right now. If one of them comes in and can handle the workload, Hightower is moved, but if they aren't quite ready, the rotations ensue. Either is not bad.
3. Can the corner play improve?
I think it is safe to say that the fall off between the 2 base starters and their counterparts was pretty noticable towards the end of the year. The race for Marquis Johnson's spot in the rotation is getting real. Dre Kirkpatrick and BJ Scott have stepped up and are pushing for it, and I think the staff is probably rooting for this as well as for Barron or Woodall to eventually get the money spot too. From what folks tell me, it is Barron's to lose. Sharrief is a special teams player and we've lost sight of that in some respects. In the end though, question 2 has to solve itself to matter here. On the flip side, the corner play will have to improve because the FS is not a senior who went through his growing pains prior to last year. I know some folks are going to be hard on Green because he will make mistakes, but folks, he's the coaching staff's pick and he would have been mine too. Smart player that really has a lot of growth potential.
4. Who can step up next to Julio Jones?
There has to be a real option to help Jones out more because the defenses that Bama will play later in the year can scheme around him. Maze and McCoy followed by Hanks seem to be the hierarchy for the moment. The freshmen will get a lot of looks and the practice reports will have a lot of comments that lead folks to think they are moving up, but the highest that one can be proabably is 5th. I say that with almost sticking an asterisk next to that, but you have really 6 guys with game experience there. You have Jones, McCoy, Maze, Hanks, Alexander, and Gibson all with PT. I think the jockeying for position is within the 1st four to be honest with the chances of a freshman pushing to the 5th and some situational stuff. Remember, this staff puts a weighted importance on experience. That is why Marquis Johnson has held on to his job in part.
5. Who will be the backup QB?
I know some folks aren't in love with McElroy for some purely cosmetic reasons, and that's fine, but you better start living with the fact he's the starter until he proves he cannot handle it. I have a hard time believing that he'll lose that edge. The thing that I usually do with fan recants of watching practice is that they usually are seeing what they want. If they wanted Star to be the guy, guess what, Star looked good. If they wanted AJ to be the guy, ditto that. I think the staff has become pretty comfortable with McElroy and Saban probably will err on the side of control with him because he had good fortune with Mauck at QB.
The backup race is fully up for grabs. I don't have a real gut feeling about the org chart on this one yet, but my gut guess is that Star is 2nd and AJ 3rd right now. However, I suspect that if McElroy does well, AJ redshirts and Darrah is probably 3rd on the chart.
What can a person make out of practice?
Not a damn thing really. It is practice, not a game, practice. Some guys, Shaun Alexander comes to mind, just aren't practice players, but others, Zeke Knight, look awesome in practice. I am a believer that if you practice hard, you play hard, and if you go soft, you look soft. I also don't put a lot of stock in 1 scrimmage or 1 practice as the Bible of the way it will be, but I do take a little more stock in a series of practices and scrimmages over time. If you take one moment as the end all be all, that's how you end up with these insane Darrah for starter threads and a fringe group of fans who swear he's being held down. There is a lot of it that we won't see or hear much about that will go a long ways towards who plays and doesn't or who starts and doesn't. I don't get into all the hype when I watch these guys play, but I know it is easy to get into the this guy is a 5 star and our starter from last year wasn't. I get it, but I think sometimes we get a little too aggressive in wanting the future stars of tomorrow to be here today. See DJ Fluker, nearly all the board believed he was the starting LT from day 1 of summer camp, but reality has set in that he may not see a lot of PT. There was the belief that Barron should replace Rashaad, but after watching the Sugar Bowl, that wasn't a real possibility. It is ok to wish and root for a guy, I do it too, but don't pile on the expectations that the staff has already set.
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