Official Alabama Football Thread 2008

[rammajamma]

I am really looking forward to this season RTR!

[Bama36748]

Roll Tide Roll

[Bama36748]

Roll Tide Roll

[Ranger]

	Quote:	rammajamma
	I am really looking forward to this season RTR!

Thanks for the schedule Ramma

[bamamom4]

ROLL TIDE !!

[Bama36748]

Bama's No. 1 recruiting class reports among high expectations



Something is about to hit the University of Alabama football team's class of incoming freshmen — and it isn't just the blast furnace of Tuscaloosa heat that will greet them as they take the practice field for the first time on Friday.

It's something even hotter. It's called reality.

That doesn't just apply to what the freshmen will experience as they acclimate themselves to the world of major college football, although that is a part of it. It also means that after more than a year of hype — since some of these young men committed to Alabama more than 12 months ago — they will start to be viewed in some sort of realistic perspective.

As of Friday afternoon, the No. 1 ranking bestowed on this class by most of the recruiting services will no longer define it. From that point, over the next four (or, in some cases, five) years, it's what happens on the field — the practice field and, ultimately, the playing field — that will count. For a few zealots, anything less than instant championships will be a disappointment. After all, the off-kilter logic goes, shouldn't a No. 1 recruiting class mean a No. 1 team?

It doesn't quite work that way, of course. There is a more realistic way of looking at things, though. While this group of recruits won't magically transform the Alabama football team to BCS Championship heights, it could supply some of the answers to the questions that face the 2008 Crimson Tide. That is 'some' answers, not all, for there are plenty of questions.

Even Nick Saban thinks that freshmen can fill in some of the blanks.

'I think every guy will be different,' Saban said when asked about freshmen at SEC Media Days. 'I think all these guys will develop at a different pace relative to their maturity, maybe their ability to learn and be confident in what they do.

'But my position on it is we're going to play the best players. If they're freshmen and the freshmen can go out there and play with consistency and performance and do their job better than someone else, we have no issue with it.

'I do think how these guys develop will have something to say about the kind of success and how much our team improves this year.'

For some of the freshmen, the need to make an impact will be immediate. The lack of depth at certain positions is that critical. Saban hasn't named any names and probably won't name any for a while, if he sticks to his usual style. But there will be a lot of attention given to wide receiver Julio Jones, cornerback Alonzo Lawrence and linebackers Courtney Upshaw, Jerrell Harris and Donta Hightower, to name just a few. Others, like quarterback Star Jackson, will be studied more for their long-term impact. Jackson isn't going to beat out John Parker Wilson for the starting quarterback job in the Clemson game, and neither is anyone else. But it will still be interesting to see if Jackson looks like he can develop into the heir apparent at the position.

In an ideal world, more of the freshmen would be viewed in terms of their development, not their immediate impact. It's not quite an ideal world for Alabama yet. That doesn't mean that upperclassmen don't have to step up. They do. It's just as important for an Earl Alexander or Mike McCoy to have a breakthrough year at wide receiver as it is for Jones to be ready at the pace of microwave popcorn. Corey Reamer or, down the road, Prince Hall, need to step up at linebacker so a freshman doesn't have to shoulder the full load.

There may be a day coming in the near future when the freshman class will merely be an interesting sidelight to the squad's reporting date, the way it currently is at Ohio State or LSU or Southern Cal. At those programs, coaches are looking for two or three freshmen that are ready to play instead of 10 or 12.

Still, this class is intriguing enough to at least add an element of expectancy as the month's worth of practice leading up to the season opener against Clemson begins.

Cecil Hurt is sports editor of The Tuscaloosa News. Reach him at cecil.hurt@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0225.

[Ranger]

29 Days left for Kick off. woooohoooo.

Roll Tide Roll.

[Bama36748]

Hall suspended; Tide hits the field today


TUSCALOOSA | Alabama junior linebacker Prince Hall will be suspended for the first three games of the 2008 football season, but has been working out with teammates this summer and is expected to participate in today's first fall practices at the Sewell-Thomas practice fields.

Head coach Nick Saban, who suspended Hall indefinitely earlier this year, including the entire spring for violation of team rules, made the announcement during his pre-camp press conference Thursday.

'You guys ready to roll this season?' Saban said to reporters after taking the podium.

Players reported, received equipment and went through strength and conditioning tests. The team will take the field for the first time today, with split-squad sessions at 3 and 7:30 p.m. As usual, all practices are closed to the public, except for Sunday's Fan Day at Bryant-Denny Stadium (2:30 p.m.).

The 5-foot-11, 250-pound Hall, who was named to numerous freshman All-SEC teams in 2006, played in 11 games last season with five starts and was credited with 58 tackles and two interceptions.

Rolando McClain, now a sophomore, won the middle linebacker job, but Hall remains the most experienced linebacker on the roster. He could challenge to start at one of the two inside spots — the other is listed as weak-side on the roster even though the Crimson Tide primarily uses a 3-4 scheme — when he returns for Arkansas on Sept. 20. He will miss the season opener against Clemson (Aug. 30 in Atlanta), and home games against Tulane and Western Kentucky.

Even before backup Jimmy Johns was arrested and kicked off the team for alleged drug possession and distribution, linebacker was already the primary concern of the defense due to the loss of three starters: Darren Mustin, Keith Saunders and Ezekial Knight (medical).

Alabama recruited at least three linebackers with Jerrell Harris, Don'ta Hightower and Courtney Upshaw, but only Harris will initially line up at an outside spot, where he could immediately challenge to start.

'Hopefully, we'll be able to leave one or two of the guys at inside linebacker, but because all of these guys have played some sort of defensive end or outside linebacker in high school, we might move them back where they might be a little more natural, early in the their career,' Saban said. 'But from a team standpoint, we need to determine who can be an inside backer among the freshmen to add depth and competition.'

Saban made a number of other announcements regarding the roster:

n Senior wide receiver Will Oakley, who has 19 career catches for 239 yards, will not be on the 105-man roster for three weeks while recovering from a stress fracture in his foot. Oakley wouldn't have been able to practice anyway, but can continue to rehab and receive treatment.

n Redshirt freshman offensive lineman Patrick Crump has left the team for personal reasons.

n As expected, three members of the last signing class did not qualify academically, tight end/wide receiver Devonta Bolton, defensive lineman Brandon Lewis, and defensive tackle Kerry Murphy. Bolton and Lewis will enroll in junior colleges, and Murphy has appealed his status. Saban indicated that Murphy might be able to enroll in January.

n Incoming freshman running back Jermaine Preyear continues to be bothered by a shoulder injury sustained during high school. He'll defer enrolling until January, essentially making him a greyshirt for medical reasons.

n Tight end Colin Peek, a junior transfer from Georgia Tech, had his appeal to play this season denied.

With the roster moves, it's believed that Alabama is temporarily down to 83 scholarship players, with Oakley due back near the start of the school year. The Tide is also down to its limit of 25 incoming freshmen scholarship players.

'Lots of challenges and opportunities for this season, lots of challenges and opportunities for our team,' Saban said. 'The focus on camp, however, should be about getting the details right, paying attention to details, focus on what you need to do to be a complete player at your position, create the right kind of habits.

'The design of camp is to create winnable games with the habits we create with the kind of practice fundamentals we incorporate in our practice design.'

Reach Christopher Walsh at christopher.walsh@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0196.