Posted on 04/22/2007 3:04:59 AM PDT by panzer_grey
CECIL HURT: Biggest A-Day changes visible to all
It was the best seat in the house – an enviable position when every one of the 92,318 seats in the house are full.
Nick Saban invited a half-dozen reporters to be “media coaches” for Saturday’s A-Day game at Bryant-Denny Stadium. In a wise move by Saban, that invitation didn’t involve any actual coaching decisions. Instead, it just gave those reporters (myself included) an up-close look at what we had really only gotten a far-away glimpse at all spring: the University of Alabama football team.
What was fascinating about the day wasn’t just the chance to watch the team on the field, although the game itself – won by the White team, 20-13 – had its revelatory moments. Blocking and tackling, catching and running, are pretty much the same, year in and year our, regardless of the vantage point from which you are watching. But a few things were obvious.
John Parker Wilson, as you’d expect from a quarterback entering his second year as a starter, has improved. He was, when you reduce things to their essential level, the difference in the game’s outcome, because he was able to make plays in the passing game that his backup, Greg McElroy, was not (McElroy’s game management was encouraging, though). The backs ran hard – especially Glen Coffee, before he was knocked out by a shoulder injury.
The tackling was sound. The kicking game looked promising.
(Excerpt) Read more at tidesports.com ...
they’ll still lose at least three games this season, and Saban’s honeymoon cruise runs onto the shoals of Bama’s unrealistic expectations.
Breaking news?!?
Interesting, but not exactly breaking news material. :)
“Breaking news?!?”
It is around here.
GO VOLS!!
A .500 football team has a scrimmage. Yawn.
Which 3 do you see beating Bama? I’m not even sure who they play next year...
Bamer football fans are like KY basketball fans. A bunch of them live in an alternate universe in which Bear Bryant and Adolph Rupp still have power over their programs.
GA, UT &AU.
-Sept. 1, Western Carolina
_Sept. 8 at Vanderbilt
_Sept. 15, Arkansas
_Sept. 22, Georgia
_Sept. 29 vs. Florida State
_Oct. 6, Houston
_Oct. 13 at Ole Miss
_Oct. 20, Tennessee
_Nov. 3 at Mississippi State
_Nov. 10, LSU
_Nov. 17, Louisiana-Monroe
_Nov. 24 at Auburn
I see 6 or 7 that would beat last year’s Bama - Saban is good so maybe less in 07=08 - but he has his work cut our for him! Yet ANOTHER great coach in the SEC - the best football conference in the universe!
And only now does Suitcase Saban understand the unreasoning hysteria of the Bama fanbase. His days are already numbered.
Auburn?
Arkansas? (ok - that's a stretch)
Vandy has a shot - and so will FSU.... jmho
I think Saban can get it done - if the fan base gives him enough time - I fear another top tier coach in the SEC. It's tough enough in this conference.
Q: Why does the Crimson Tide have artificial turf in their stadium?
A: To keep the cheerleaders from eating the grass.
They genuinely do believe Alabama can return to the dominating days of the 60s and 70s.
Way too tough a conference for anyone to do that IMO.
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