"Four downs: Talking Kevin Norwood, Alabama's dominant October, Eddie Jackson and more"

[WALL-E]

Four downs: Talking Kevin Norwood, Alabama's dominant October, Eddie Jackson and more

By Andrew Gribble | agribble@al.com
Published October 28, 2013, 12:28:00 AM

It's Andrew Gribble's weekly breakdown of four hot topics in Alabama football after the Crimson Tide's latest win. Read more...

[Chechem]

Very good discussion about Norwood, team progres, and (BEST) Coach Saban's comments on progress of our young DBs:

Saban laid it out as clearly as he possibly could. He devoted two minutes to an answer about the everyday struggles a true freshman -- particularly one that plays on the offensive line and in the secondary -- experiences at this high of a level. This tangent of sorts came after he was asked about Alabama's cornerback situation and after he mentioned that Jones had been playing well enough to earn a start.

...
"The thing about the freshmen that I think people have a hard time understanding -- I don't even think the freshmen understand -- none of these guys have played under the ... what it takes from an intensity standpoint, a mental focus standpoint, week in and week out to prepare for a game and be able to go out and execute in a game," he said. "I call it casual. They're so casual about how they go about things because they don't know any better. It's not because they want to be or intend to be, but they've just never done it any other way. They've never had to pay attention to detail, they've never had to study film and say, 'OK, when they get in a bunch pass, what are they going to do?' ... They just think they're going to line up and cover the guy. Technique's not important because that's what they've always been able to do.

[Jamos]

Very good discussion about Norwood, team progres, and (BEST) Coach Saban's comments on progress of our young DBs:

Saban laid it out as clearly as he possibly could. He devoted two minutes to an answer about the everyday struggles a true freshman -- particularly one that plays on the offensive line and in the secondary -- experiences at this high of a level. This tangent of sorts came after he was asked about Alabama's cornerback situation and after he mentioned that Jones had been playing well enough to earn a start.

...
"The thing about the freshmen that I think people have a hard time understanding -- I don't even think the freshmen understand -- none of these guys have played under the ... what it takes from an intensity standpoint, a mental focus standpoint, week in and week out to prepare for a game and be able to go out and execute in a game," he said. "I call it casual. They're so casual about how they go about things because they don't know any better. It's not because they want to be or intend to be, but they've just never done it any other way. They've never had to pay attention to detail, they've never had to study film and say, 'OK, when they get in a bunch pass, what are they going to do?' ... They just think they're going to line up and cover the guy. Technique's not important because that's what they've always been able to do.

CNS makes it sound so simple as to what it takes to be a good player but yet tells you how difficult it really is, he's the best.

[N.AL-Tider]

DE Jonathan Allen (7 games, 7 tackles, QBH), WR Raheem Falkins (6 games), LB Reuben Foster (7 games, 7 tackles), RB Derrick Henry (7 games, 21 carries, 218 yards, TD), OL Grant Hill (4 games), TE O.J. Howard (8 games, 2 starts, 10 receptions, 173 yards, TD), CB Eddie Jackson (5 games, 3 starts, 9 tackles, TFL, INT), LS Cole Mazza (8 games), DE A'Shawn Robinson (8 games, 2 starts, 23 tackles, 5 TFLs, 4 sacks), CB Maurice Smith (8 games, 10 tackles, 3 passes defended), RB Altee Tenpenny (8 games, 18 carries, 73 yards, TD, 4 tackles) and LB Tim Williams (6 games, 2 tackles, TFL).

If this bit of information doesn't bring about optimism for the coming years then nothing will...

[pmull]

We had a pretty good month of October. IMO we got better each game.

-- Tennessee kicker Michael Palardy's third-quarter field goal Saturday snapped a stretch of 104 unanswered points -- the fifth-best streak in school history.

-- Alabama averaged exactly 7 yards per carry during the month of October. After the Colorado State game, the Crimson Tide was last in the SEC in rushing.

-- Cody Mandell opened the season with nine punts against Virginia Tech. He had five in October.

-- McCarron hasn't thrown an interception in his last 103 pass attempts. For October, he was 70-of-99 for 980 yards and 10 touchdowns.

[Catch Prothro]

We had a pretty good month of October. IMO we got better each game.

-- Tennessee kicker Michael Palardy's third-quarter field goal Saturday snapped a stretch of 104 unanswered points -- the fifth-best streak in school history.

-- Alabama averaged exactly 7 yards per carry during the month of October. After the Colorado State game, the Crimson Tide was last in the SEC in rushing.

-- Cody Mandell opened the season with nine punts against Virginia Tech. He had five in October.

-- McCarron hasn't thrown an interception in his last 103 pass attempts. For October, he was 70-of-99 for 980 yards and 10 touchdowns.

That's what it takes to win a championship -- getting better each week.  I'm not sure I've seen a Tide team improve as much, and as quickly, as this team has done.

[2Stater]

We had a pretty good month of October. IMO we got better each game.

-- Tennessee kicker Michael Palardy's third-quarter field goal Saturday snapped a stretch of 104 unanswered points -- the fifth-best streak in school history.

-- Alabama averaged exactly 7 yards per carry during the month of October. After the Colorado State game, the Crimson Tide was last in the SEC in rushing.

-- Cody Mandell opened the season with nine punts against Virginia Tech. He had five in October.

-- McCarron hasn't thrown an interception in his last 103 pass attempts. For October, he was 70-of-99 for 980 yards and 10 touchdowns.

This is kind of where we were last year, improving every game. Then we came to Baton Rouge and ran into an inspired LSU team that nearly beat us. You can count on them to be inspired again, so we need to bring our "A" game. The bye week should help us, particularly in giving some well needed healing time to our dinged up players.

I would sure love to see our defense put some good pressure on ZM. If not, he could have a field day throwing to Beckham and Landry. Our pass coverage can't afford the mistakes against LSU that they had against UT. Good thing we've got 2 weeks to prepare for them.

[ricky023]

I would think and hope that our November is even better than October, This is the month we come each game 1 at a time and play our best. RTR!

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