What did A Day Prove?

[Jamos]

If there was one thing proven yesterday, it was the love of Bama football by it's fans. There was an estimated crowd of 70,000 plus and I have to agree with that. I don't think that at any one time were they all in the stadium at once as the fans filtered in and out for most of the game but the bottom level was full and a good crowd in the upper levels on the East and West sides. CNS had asked for a good show from the fans and I think they responded.

The big question though is what did the football team show from it's performance yesterday? I didn't get a chance to sit and watch the whole game but I did watch the replay last night and I had to check the replay and make sure that I wasn't watching last year's A day. I say this in jest because I thought the two games were very similar with lots of good defense and a mediocre offense with less than average kicking game that is not including Scott and his punting but Griffith and his kicking game. Remember last year, everyone wanted to run him off, very similar to what I have been reading from some this morning. Having lost our committed kicker to Florida and his success in their spring game probably had a lot to do with that. I say, be patient as we did last year.

I read Cecil Hurt's column this morning and he had a quote from Nick Saban yesterday that I thought was very interesting as most things CNS says after the

"Don't draw conclusions," he cautioned after Alabama wrapped up its annual A-Day game, a 7-3 Crimson team victory that probably would have unsettled a fan base that hasn't grown accustomed to seeing low-scoring spring scrimmages turn into championship offenses in the fall.

Why shouldn't we draw conclusions?

"Because you'll be wrong," he said.

There's a lot that you can read into what he said and I'm think he's reminding us that it was just a practice game and many things will change between now and August so don't go and try to commit suicide over what you think you saw yesterday, just be patient.

It was pretty obvious, same as last year, as to what will be the core of this team, the  defense. That isn't anything new with Bama football as Bear Bryant laid that foundation for  many years ago and that is what most Bama fans now regard as a must to have a championship team.That seems to be in place with the beast of a player named Tim Williams heading that up with his play and Rueben Foster with his play and leadership.

Now we get to where all the talk and opinions are and that is who will be the quarterback next season? Again, remember last year, we were having that same discussion. As I watched the quarterbacks yesterday I couldn't see a nickels worth a difference in them except for one, Jalen Hurts. He was highly touted when recruited as being something similar to what Bama faced in the championship game against Clemson quarterback Watson. After watching Watson in that game, I think everyone agreed that he is the real deal, the best that the team had played against since Johnny Football. Yesterday Hurts did show some Watson type abilities but not near as polished and effective as what Watson showed Bama back in January. Again though, this was a practice and in all fairness to each of the quarterbacks I think they can all play better in a real game. I thought Hurts' performance was the better of the quarterbacks and my reason is his abilities to make something out of nothing against a good defense. He passed for the only touchdown of the game on a play that seemed to be hopeless with a good catch from Keif the receiver. There were other plays he made that I thought would/could have been long gainers but the practice whistles protects the quarterbacks and stops the plays early.

My thinking on who the starter will be all depends on which one does the best work in the off season and I give Hurts a slight advantage on who that one will be. Jalen's dad is a coach and from what I hear a good one. I have no doubt that he and his son will be very busy in the off season trying to improve Jalen's play and here is where I give him the slight edge on possibly getting the starting job or becoming the starter before the season is over. The other quarterbacks have all been here for a season now and I really don't see that much change in any of them, as far as what they do in practice. If I had to pick the one from that three, it would be Bateman.

That's my feel for what I saw and how I feel and it's no more than an opinion. I'm sure all of you have a feel for what you all saw yesterday and it's probably much different than mine but that's what makes the game so interesting to all of us, our opinions. I can't wait for August to get here, is #17 in the near future?

[bama57]

Great read Jamos!

[Merk]

Great overview.

I agree that Hurts seems to have the best upside potential of all the QB's based on what I saw in the game. His scrambling ability is the best we've had at Bama as long as I can remember.

That defense even without key players is going to be nasty. Tim Williams put on a clinic on how a DE can disrupt an offense.

I just cannot wait for football season!

[ricky023]

From what I have read and from Jamos has said here our defense is going to another Championship type defense. I believe ever since CNS has gotten here he likes a strong offense but if we can win every game by 7 to 14 points he wouldn't care, because it would also give him something to feed off of the next week. He would win and could really keep fired up on getting better as he does. I hope from what I heard from Eli yesterday he is really excited about next year too, my one game I am really fired up about getting ready for is the Ole Miss game. RTR!

[2Stater]

Great assessment, J!

The defense played lights out, but in practice games against your own team, you pretty much know what the plays will be. The defense has always had the advantage in the A Day games, so I'm not surprised by that. Here is my takeaway from the game:

Damien Harris is ready for big time football. He played very well yesterday.

Bo was completely shut down, but in all fairness, he didn't have a hole to go through all day long.

As Chech said yesterday, Ridley has Julio Jones hands. He's waiting until he gets to the NFL to use them.  He did drop several passes, one which likely would have been a TD.

None of the receivers looked great yesterday, but then again, the D knows the routes they are running, so I can't be too critical of them, except for the dropped passes.

On defense, the Heisman people better keep an eye on Tim Williams, and maybe even Reuben. Those 2 are ballers! Defensive Heisman winners are rare, but these 2 are going to be lighting up opposing offenses and will be hard to ignore.

The secondary is a very confident group. May be one of the best we've ever had. The first game against USC will tell us more.

JK Scott is the JK Scott of 2 years ago. Whatever was distracting him last year is gone.

In the QB race, even though Hurts is a true freshman, they HAVE to make use of him, at least part time during the season. He is just too good of an athlete for him to ride the pine all year. Something to take away from this group of QB's is that none of them made many mistakes, even though there was no spectacular play. The disappointing flip side of that is that no one looks particularly accurate on the deep ball.

Anyway, typical spring game and nothing to get all worried about. They pretty much stunk up the field last year, and look what happened. Another Natty!

[Catch Prothro]

Hard to believe that Jalen Hurts was in H.S. in December.  That kid is a future star.  Whether a kid so fresh off the boat will be given the nod come this fall remains to be seen. 

In all fairness, the #1 QB was going up against the #1 Defense. Tim Williams set up camp in the backfield, and with no-contact tackling, the QB had very little time.  (As well, the #1 defense did not allow Bo to run amok and shut him down like they did Fournette last year.)

Saban commented on this; he did not seem the least bit concerned, rather, he appeared to relish the defensive play.   He specifically noted how little time the QB was given, and he had that devilish smile when he said it.

All in all a good A-Day game showing that the Defense is once again going to be the strength of this team, maybe even better than last year.  And with enough play makers on offense that, with proper scheming and against a less stout defense, should be able to put up enough points for the win.

[Marshal Dillon]

The only "real" thing we saw was Adam Griffith going 1/5 on FG's. He missed at 36, 42, 47, & 54 yards. Very disturbing. Have to have dependable FG kicking.



 

[N.AL-Tider]

I thought the guy sitting in front of Jamos and I during the second half was acting like one of those fans that sees the glass as almost totally empty after taking just one small sip...He seemed to be really bitter about the bad qb play especially.  Maybe he did forget that this was just a practice...  The #1 defense was very impressive IMO...I would love to have seen DH switch his jersey to Crimson for a series or two and try running against the #1's though.  DH (Damien Harris as opposed to Derrick Henry) looked incredible out there.  Speaking of Derrick Henry, I did see him over on the #1's sideline and he was squatting down in front of Bo and was holding court.  He was talking and I noticed that Bo, O.J. Howard and a couple of other offensive players were literally hanging on every word.  Was REALLY good to see that too... Despite the seemingly poor performance of the qb's and Bo I think we Bama fans have a lot of good times ahead to look forward to.  I also think that USCw, if they watched the game yesterday, are probably going to enter our game this fall very over confident.  That game yesterday might just give them the idea that they can steam-roll over the Tide.  I think our #1 defense will still have a lot to say about that though...

[2Stater]

I thought the guy sitting in front of Jamos and I during the second half was acting like one of those fans that sees the glass as almost totally empty after taking just one small sip...He seemed to be really bitter about the bad qb play especially.  Maybe he did forget that this was just a practice...  The #1 defense was very impressive IMO...I would love to have seen DH switch his jersey to Crimson for a series or two and try running against the #1's though.  DH (Damien Harris as opposed to Derrick Henry) looked incredible out there.  Speaking of Derrick Henry, I did see him over on the #1's sideline and he was squatting down in front of Bo and was holding court.  He was talking and I noticed that Bo, O.J. Howard and a couple of other offensive players were literally hanging on every word.  Was REALLY good to see that too... Despite the seemingly poor performance of the qb's and Bo I think we Bama fans have a lot of good times ahead to look forward to.  I also think that USCw, if they watched the game yesterday, are probably going to enter our game this fall very over confident.  That game yesterday might just give them the idea that they can steam-roll over the Tide.  I think our #1 defense will still have a lot to say about that though...

Haha! I almost forgot about that guy, NALT. After his first blast of complaints, I suddenly remembered I couldn't hear out of my left ear anymore. 

[Chechem]

A-Day proved that my white feet sunburn easily.  And it gets hot on concrete.
NALT's kids sat and bathed their feet in a puddle of rainwater.  They were the smart ones.
I got hot, so I took off my shoes and socks.  Felt nice at the time!   

[2Stater]

A-Day proved that my white feet sunburn easily.  And it gets hot on concrete.
NALT's kids sat and bathed their feet in a puddle of rainwater.  They were the smart ones.
I got hot, so I took off my shoes and socks.  Felt nice at the time!   

Hmmm...... you go barefoot at the football game and wear boots on the beach. I may not be the best knot tier, but I know what to wear on my feet on most occasions. 

[N.AL-Tider]

A-Day proved that my white feet sunburn easily.  And it gets hot on concrete.
NALT's kids sat and bathed their feet in a puddle of rainwater.  They were the smart ones.
I got hot, so I took off my shoes and socks.  Felt nice at the time!   

Hmmm...... you go barefoot at the football game and wear boots on the beach. I may not be the best knot tier, but I know what to wear on my feet on most occasions. 

  I thought that odor was some bad hotdogs they were selling at the concession stand... 

[2Stater]

A-Day proved that my white feet sunburn easily.  And it gets hot on concrete.
NALT's kids sat and bathed their feet in a puddle of rainwater.  They were the smart ones.
I got hot, so I took off my shoes and socks.  Felt nice at the time!   

Hmmm...... you go barefoot at the football game and wear boots on the beach. I may not be the best knot tier, but I know what to wear on my feet on most occasions. 

  I thought that odor was some bad hotdogs they were selling at the concession stand... 

 

[Jamos]

A-Day proved that my white feet sunburn easily.  And it gets hot on concrete.
NALT's kids sat and bathed their feet in a puddle of rainwater.  They were the smart ones.
I got hot, so I took off my shoes and socks.  Felt nice at the time!   

So that is what I was smelling. 

[2Stater]

A-Day proved that my white feet sunburn easily.  And it gets hot on concrete.
NALT's kids sat and bathed their feet in a puddle of rainwater.  They were the smart ones.
I got hot, so I took off my shoes and socks.  Felt nice at the time!   

So that is what I was smelling. 

....and we were upwind. 

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