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All across the country, college football fans are in that euphoric time when everything is possible. Rivals will be defeated, records will be set and championships will be won. Of course, there are a few pockets of depression where the sweet taste of anticipated victory has been replaced by the bitter herbs of inevitable defeat. Fayetteville, Arkansas comes to mind as one such location, but otherwise in Starkville and Athens, Nashville and Auburn, Gainesville and Baton Rouge, the faithful are making their plans for the fall campaign in the sure knowledge that this is the year!
Of course, for most programs, 2012 will look a lot like 2011.
Alabama fans got a chance yesterday to see what 2012 might look like and, from this vantage point, there are lots of reasons to think that this could be another very special year for the Tide.
Coach Saban described Saturday's A-Day Game as a "final exam" for spring football practice and it looks as if every player deserves a passing grade.
It will not be practical for me to say something about every player. So, please accept this column as sort of a highlights tour. With that caveat, here's how I grade the game:
Offense: A True freshman T. J. Yeldon showed why he was the highest rated player at his position coming out of high school. The speedster accounted for 179 all purpose yards [88 rushing] caught 5 passes for 91yards and scored a touchdown on a 50 yard reception. His performance earned him the Dixie Howell Most Valuable Player of the Game award; a rare honor for a true freshman.
Chris Black, another member of the 2012 recruiting class, caught 3 passes for 61 yards and handled punt and kick return duties. Because of the limited contact rules of the A-Day game, return stats, although recorded, are not particularly meaningful, nevertheless, Black showed that he has soft hands, blazing speed and excellent vision. He reminds me of Javier Arenas. Opposing punters will kick away from him this fall.
Redshirt sophomore tight end Brian Vogler was also very impressive.The Columbus, Georgia native has great size [6' 7" 258] and showed himself to be an excellent blocker as well as a receiving threat [3 catches, 46 yards].
The starting offensive line for the fall appears to be set. From left to right: Cyrus K., Warmack, B. Jones, Steen, Fluker. Cyrus looks to be completely healthy and gave a good account of himself against an excellent pass rush. Barrett Jones, to nobody's surprise, looked like he has been playing center his entire career.
Jalston Fowler was only given a few carries but he ran with a straight ahead determination that bodes ill for opposing defenses this fall.
Redshirt freshman quarterback, Phillip Ely, got lots of playing time and made the most of it completing 10 of 18 pass attempts for 83 yards.
Defense: A The national story line for the Tide defense going into the fall will be whether replacements can be found for Kirkpatrick, Hightower, Upshaw, Barron and Chapman, who will all be playing on Sundays. From what I saw yesterday, I think the answer is "yes."
Let's start where the 3-4 defense starts: nose tackle. Jesse Williams is bigger than last year. He looks wider and thicker in his upper body with complimentary bulk in his legs. He will create problems for opposing offenses. Jeoffrey Pagan started at nose for the Crimson squad.
Vinnie Sunseri will be more than a starter. Look for him to be a leader on this defense.
True freshman, Deion Belue played with the White team and recorded three tackles.
Dickson, Lee, Mosley, Patrick, Johnson, Depriest, Atchison, and Hubbard started at linebacker for their respective squads. They are all big and fast. Dillon Lee is another member of the 2012 recruiting class.
Special Teams: A Cade Foster was good from 48 for a field goal and Cody Mandel averaged 44 yards punting. It's hard to evaluate the return game, but coverage seemed to be excellent, and Cody, who punted for both squads, had a long punt of 66 yards and nailed 4 inside the 20.
Coaching: A It all starts with recruiting. Coach Saban's recruiting prowess is not a matter of opinion-it's a matter of cold hard fact.
Since his arrival at LSU, every class Saban has recruited at either LSU or Alabama, has won a national championship and his 2008 class did so twice.
The 2012 recruiting class is considered by some to be as stellar as the class of 2008. Eight members of the 2012 class enrolled early, participated in the Fourth Quarter Program, spring practice and played in on A-Day. These include running back TJ Yeldon, linebacker Dillon Lee, and defensive backs Travelle Dixon and Deion Belue, both of whom were JUCO All Americans.
The Size Prize for this class is a toss up between defensive lineman, Alphonse Taylor [6-6; 360] who appears to be a great fit at nose tackle in the 3-4, and offensive lineman, Brandon Hill [6-6; 355] described as an intimidating run blocker.
Bama filled needs created by graduation and early outs to the NFL draft. The 2012 class includes five linebackers-average height 6-3, average weight 235-four DBs-average 6 ft 190 lbs-and six defensive linemen-average height 6-2, average weight 300.
So far, this class also appears to be free of any academic or character issues.
Championship calibre recruiting is necessary, but not sufficient. It's important to attract top quality athletes but it's equally important to develop those athletes into a championship team. Saban and The Process do both. That's why he has compiled a record that is the envy of the college football universe.
Will Alabama's 2012 season look like 2011? Or will it look like 2010? Time will tell. And we are about to enter that most dreaded of time: the empty months between A-Day and the start of fall practice. It's the college football equivalent of Lent - only longer.
My prediction is that this team has the components to be a champion. The theme for this year is "improvement." The team that played its final spring scrimmage yesterday has improved over last year's counterpart. That's only one step in a long journey, but it is an important one.
So Bama fans, like their counterparts at lesser schools, can fill these empty months with hopes for the fall. And they can take pride in the fact that of all the teams in BCS football, there is only one that has a chance to repeat as national champion.
Roll Tide!
The Commissioner
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
Taking The Hog[s] For A Ride
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The college football world is closely following the sordid twists and turns in the story of Arkansas head coach, Bobby Petrino and his ill-starred motorcycle ride last week. Talk radio hosts and print columnists have been weighing in with their opinions and predictions. Will Arkansas keep Petrino or show him the door?
My prediction is that the Hogs will keep Petrino. Oh, there may be some pro-forma "counseling" or more likely some financial penalty for "Conduct Inconsistent With University Standards" but I think Arkansas is going to keep Petrino.
You can just imagine the things that are being said in Fayetteville right now: "But we were 11-2 last year with a bowl game win." "For goodness sake, Knile Davis is going to be back and making a run at the Heisman!" "This is our year to get to the BCS Championship Game." "This is a personal matter." "What's the big deal, they are both adults." "This has nothing to do with the football program."
These and other trial balloons will be floated until the Arkansas administration has talked itself into doing what it already wants to do: avoid having to make a coaching change in April and flush one and maybe even two seasons down the drain.
The Hogs will fail to learn the object lesson that Alabama could teach every other school in the country: choosing a coach's record over his character may produce short-term gain, but will result in long-term loss. From the lofty perch that Alabama football currently enjoys, it's easy to forget the depths of scandal in which the program was mired a little more than a decade ago.
It began in the summer of 1999 with the revelation that the head coach was involved in an affair with a female member of the athletic department staff and had been lying about it for months. Two seasons later the program was in its worst condition since the ignominious J. B. Whitworth was coaching; and the worst was yet to come. Punitive NCAA sanctions followed, along with so many vacancies in the coach's office that Mal Moore may have been tempted to run a Help Wanted ad.
Of course, you all know how this story ends. Alabama's critical need for a quality coach coincided with Nick Saban's epiphany that he was made for coaching college football not the professional version of the game. Nick Saban came to the Capstone and events have proven that Alabama and Saban are perfectly suited for each other.
Three weeks ago, Coach Saban came to Nashville to be the featured speaker at a fundraising luncheon for the Jason Foundation, the leading organization in the country dedicated to preventing teen and adolescent suicide. Saban has been an ambassador for JF since his days at LSU. I wish everyone who reads this blog could have heard what he had to say. Yes, he spoke about football, but his address was not about football. He used the topic of football, just as he used the topics of family and faith to shape his advice about dealing with the challenges that life presents.
I'll share one example: The Tide, like every other college football team, sets goals for itself. But at Alabama, the goals are never to win a particular championship, or a stated number of games. Those are outcomes. Alabama's team goals are stated in terms of performance; being the best player you can be. If you set your goals in terms of outcomes, then you have an excuse for compromising standards. When your goal is to win games, you have a built in excuse for curring corners in recruiting and tolerating bad behavior from star players. But when your goal is to be the best player you can be, when you achieve that goal, the outcomes take care of themselves.
This brings me full circle. Today, Arkansas is faced with the same choice that Alabama faced in 1999. My guess is that it will make the same mistake Alabama made. And Bobby Petrino will go from having wrecked while riding a hog, to taking all the Hogs for a ride that ends in an even bigger wreck.
The Commissioner
The college football world is closely following the sordid twists and turns in the story of Arkansas head coach, Bobby Petrino and his ill-starred motorcycle ride last week. Talk radio hosts and print columnists have been weighing in with their opinions and predictions. Will Arkansas keep Petrino or show him the door?
My prediction is that the Hogs will keep Petrino. Oh, there may be some pro-forma "counseling" or more likely some financial penalty for "Conduct Inconsistent With University Standards" but I think Arkansas is going to keep Petrino.
You can just imagine the things that are being said in Fayetteville right now: "But we were 11-2 last year with a bowl game win." "For goodness sake, Knile Davis is going to be back and making a run at the Heisman!" "This is our year to get to the BCS Championship Game." "This is a personal matter." "What's the big deal, they are both adults." "This has nothing to do with the football program."
These and other trial balloons will be floated until the Arkansas administration has talked itself into doing what it already wants to do: avoid having to make a coaching change in April and flush one and maybe even two seasons down the drain.
The Hogs will fail to learn the object lesson that Alabama could teach every other school in the country: choosing a coach's record over his character may produce short-term gain, but will result in long-term loss. From the lofty perch that Alabama football currently enjoys, it's easy to forget the depths of scandal in which the program was mired a little more than a decade ago.
It began in the summer of 1999 with the revelation that the head coach was involved in an affair with a female member of the athletic department staff and had been lying about it for months. Two seasons later the program was in its worst condition since the ignominious J. B. Whitworth was coaching; and the worst was yet to come. Punitive NCAA sanctions followed, along with so many vacancies in the coach's office that Mal Moore may have been tempted to run a Help Wanted ad.
Of course, you all know how this story ends. Alabama's critical need for a quality coach coincided with Nick Saban's epiphany that he was made for coaching college football not the professional version of the game. Nick Saban came to the Capstone and events have proven that Alabama and Saban are perfectly suited for each other.
Three weeks ago, Coach Saban came to Nashville to be the featured speaker at a fundraising luncheon for the Jason Foundation, the leading organization in the country dedicated to preventing teen and adolescent suicide. Saban has been an ambassador for JF since his days at LSU. I wish everyone who reads this blog could have heard what he had to say. Yes, he spoke about football, but his address was not about football. He used the topic of football, just as he used the topics of family and faith to shape his advice about dealing with the challenges that life presents.
I'll share one example: The Tide, like every other college football team, sets goals for itself. But at Alabama, the goals are never to win a particular championship, or a stated number of games. Those are outcomes. Alabama's team goals are stated in terms of performance; being the best player you can be. If you set your goals in terms of outcomes, then you have an excuse for compromising standards. When your goal is to win games, you have a built in excuse for curring corners in recruiting and tolerating bad behavior from star players. But when your goal is to be the best player you can be, when you achieve that goal, the outcomes take care of themselves.
This brings me full circle. Today, Arkansas is faced with the same choice that Alabama faced in 1999. My guess is that it will make the same mistake Alabama made. And Bobby Petrino will go from having wrecked while riding a hog, to taking all the Hogs for a ride that ends in an even bigger wreck.
The Commissioner
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