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BlogsYea Alabama 2009
"Yea Alabama 2009 prepares the Alabama fan for the upcoming season with detailed player and opponent profiles, as well as in-depth and entertaining features on the team's recruiting and play calling. Of course, no Alabama publication would be complete without a look back at the storied history of the program, and a look forward at what the Saban machine will do next. Edited by Todd Jones and Joel Gamble of RollBamaRoll.com, Yea Alabama is 128 pages of the most in-depth and entertaining Crimson Tide analysis available anywhere."
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2010 Alabama Commits
Deion Belue
NR
Position: ATH
Rivals Profile
ESPN Profile
YouTube: Nay
Ht: 6'0"
Wt: 175 lbs
Forty:4.51 secs
Hometown Tuscumbia, AL
Ronald Carswell
Position: WR
Rivals Profile
ESPN Profile
YouTube: Nay
Ht: 6'0"
Wt: 180 lbs
Forty:4.5 secs
Hometown Macon, GA
Cade Foster
N/R
Position: K
Rivals Profile
ESPN Profile
YouTube: Video 1
Ht: 6'1"
Wt: 215 lbs
Forty:?
Hometown Southlake, TX
Jalston Fowler
Position: RB
Rivals Profile
ESPN Profile
YouTube: Video 1
Ht: 6'0"
Wt: 240 lbs
Forty:4.8
Hometown Prichard, AL
Jawaun James
Position: OL
Rivals Profile
ESPN Profile
YouTube: Nay
Ht: 6'6"
Wt: 293 lbs
Forty:5.3
Hometown Suwanee, GA
Chad Lindsay
Position: OL
Rivals Profile
ESPN Profile
YouTube: Video 1
Ht: 6'3"
Wt: 307 lbs
Forty:5.4
Hometown The Woodlands, TX
Wilson Love
Position: DE
Rivals Profile
ESPN Profile
YouTube: Nay
Ht: 6'4"
Wt: 235 lbs
Forty:4.8
Hometown Birmingham, AL
Keiwone Malone
Position: WR
Rivals Profile
ESPN Profile
YouTube: Video 1 Video 2
Ht: 6'1"
Wt: 165 lbs
Forty:4.4
Hometown Memphis, TN
DeMarcus Milliner
Position: DB
Rivals Profile
ESPN Profile
YouTube: Video 1
Ht: 6'1"
Wt: 180 lbs
Forty:4.45
Hometown Millbrook, AL
Nick Perry
Position: DB
Rivals Profile
ESPN Profile
YouTube: Nay
Ht: 6'2"
Wt: 195 lbs
Forty:4.55
Hometown Prattville, AL
Craig Sanders
Position: DE
Rivals Profile
ESPN Profile
YouTube: Video 1
Ht: 6'4"
Wt: 230 lbs
Forty:4.6
Hometown Ariton, AL
Austin Shepherd
Position: OL
Rivals Profile
ESPN Profile
YouTube: Nay
Ht: 6'4"
Wt: 316 lbs
Forty:5.5
Hometown Suwanee, GA
Blake Sims
Position: ATH
Rivals Profile
ESPN Profile
YouTube: Video 1 Video 2
Ht: 6'0"
Wt: 180 lbs
Forty:4.5
Hometown Gainesville, GA
Phillip Sims
Position: QB
Rivals Profile
ESPN Profile
YouTube: Video 1
Ht: 6'0"
Wt: 209 lbs
Forty:4.8
Hometown Chesapeake, VA
Jay Williams
NR
Position: K
Rivals Profile
ESPN Profile
YouTube: Video 1
Ht: 6'4"
Wt: 220 lbs
Forty:NR
Hometown Thomasville, AL
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Man, that would have been a great catch by Byrd....
about 15 hours ago
Todd
2 comments
0 recs
Alabama senior center Evan Cardwell is not expected back with the Crimson Tide's football team this season, the Press-Register has learned.
Cardwell has dealt with a recurring back injury during much of his collegiate career, though it's not clear if he will go on medical scholarship. He has already obtained his undergraduate degree from UA and is currently enrolled in graduate school with a sports management specialty.
OL Evan Cardwell not expected back with Alabama's football teamt
Cardwell started at C for the latter half of 2007 after Antione Caldwell's suspension, but saw no (meaningful) playing time last year and never managed to crack the first team rotation during spring practice this year, instead watching William Vlachos and David Ross battle it out through camp. Hopefully he'll get a medical scholarship so he can finish his graduate degree on the University's dime.
ed- didn't see the fanpost, so belated h/t chinesedentist
about 15 hours ago
Todd
2 comments
0 recs
Your RBR Friday (not so) Random Ten...
by Todd
on Jul 3, 2009 7:00 AM CDT
in Random10
6 comments
...is apparently in the mood for Muddy Waters.
...and I am more than happy to oblige...
- Muddy Waters - Bus Driver
- Muddy Waters- Twenty Four Hours
- Derek & the Dominos - Presence of the Lord
- The Lemonheads - Style
- Muddy Waters - Nine Below Zero
- Muddy Waters - You Don't Have to Go
- Aeroplane Pageant - Wherever September
- Aerosmith - South Station Blues
- Bruce Springsteen - Racing In The Street
- Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock
Bonus Track at #11: Muddy Waters - Blues Before Sunrise. I am not making this up. Leave your random tens in the comments. YouTubery after the jump.
6 comments | 0 recs
Wait 'til You Hear Him Sing "Rammer Jammer"...
by Todd
on Jul 2, 2009 9:50 PM CDT
in Humor
3 comments
3 comments | 0 recs
Michael Bowman Qualifies
by outsidethesidelines
on Jul 2, 2009 11:11 AM CDT
11 comments
Some great news breaking late this morning, as several published reports are indicating that Michael Bowman has qualified academically, and that he has also been approved by the NCAA Clearinghouse. With his academics good to go, Bowman will arrive in Tuscaloosa shortly for the beginning of the second summer term.
This is huge news, no two ways about it. Our staff was very high on Bowman this past year, and we took a commitment from him despite his academic issues. Bowman is a very big, physical target, and once he arrives on campus he will probably be the closest thing we have to Julio Jones in terms of physical skill set and raw ability. This past year, both Rivals and Scout.com had Bowman as a four-star receiver, with Rivals having him as the #20 receiver in the country, and Scout.com having him as the #14.
With Bowman qualified, we have only two players left on the fence, and they are Darrington Sentimore and Eddie Lacy. Most seemingly feel pretty confident about Sentimore, and the Clearinghouse concerns still linger with Lacy. Either way, though, even if both fail to qualify, that will mean that 24 of the 27 signees in the 2009 class qualified academically, and as a whole that is a very good percentage.
11 comments | 0 recs
Out of Curiosity: Is Year Two Always a Step Forward?
by Todd
on Jul 2, 2009 9:00 AM CDT
in Football
12 comments
Has nothing to do with this post, but it's the first thing that comes up when you search "out of curiosity," and I like it.
Last year about this time I was reading one of the preview magazines and it made a blanket statement to the effect of "Alabama will win more games this year since programs always show improvement in year two under a new head coach." I'll try avoid splitting hairs over what "show improvement" means under these conditions, since improvement doesn't always equal wins, and the idea that a team is going to be better just because it has had a year to better absorb a new coach's schemes and style ignores a lot of factors like player attrition/graduation, the difference in schedule between years, staff turnover, recruiting, and etc. But since this is just me amusing myself during the long dark that is the offseason, I decided to take a look at all of the current SEC coaches (save Mississippi State's Dan Mullen, who has never been a head coach, and UT's Lane Kiffin, who's only head coaching experience was with the Oakland Raiders and therefor doesn't count as head coaching experience) and see if their win totals improved from year one to year two at each of their coaching stops.
12 comments | 0 recs
Such a Tease: The History of the 3-4 Defense and Another Preview Shot
by Todd
on Jul 1, 2009 8:00 AM CDT
in Football
16 comments
In writing the 3-4 defense primer for this year's edition for Yea Alabama, I was forced to cut a lot of the "history" aspects due to space limitations (and the fact that OTS's O-Line article went twice as long as oringally planned, with sexy awesome results), but a lot of it was fairly interesting stuff that I enjoyed researching and I'm sure a lot of you would be interested in. But, being the doofus that I am, I didn't bother saving the unused text after the article was submitted so....yeah. Thankfully, NFL Gridiron Gab has a great rundown on it's history and some interesting notes on our own beloved Nicktator and his development into one of the top coaches in the country under Bill Belichick.
When Belichick arrived (in Cleveland after a successful stint as DC of the New York Giants, a 3-4 team), he began dismantling not just the team but, in many respects, also the entire Browns organization so as to be able to rebuild it. From changing the way the Browns practiced, traveled and even ate, there was nothing he didn’t put his hands on.
Sound familiar? Not only did Saban learn about defense from one of the best defensive minds in the NFL, it would appear that the groundwork for The Process was laid in Cleveland as well. Further:
"Bill found a defensive coordinator he really liked in Nick Saban," said current Virginia HC Al Groh who was an assistant on Belichick’s Browns staff. "Even though the defense was the part of the team that Bill felt the most passionate about, he felt comfortable in putting Nick in charge of it. And Nick’s expertise was in the 4-3 — that was consistent with his background, that’s what he was familiar with — so that’s the defense he put in."
Two things to note here: First, Belichick was comfortable enough with Saban's abilities that he turned over the part of the team that got him the HC job in Cleveland to begin with, despite the fact that Saban ran a different defense than the one that had taken the Giants to two Super Bowl titles in five years with Belichick (and Lawrence Taylor) wreaking havoc on NFL offenses. Second, Saban continued to use the 4-3 scheme he was more familiar with from the time he took over as DC for the Browns up until his move to the Miami Dolphins. If you'll remember, Saban's defenses at LSU were 4-3 based defenses (you can actually download one of his LSU playbooks here, and every base diagram calls for four down linemen), and even during his time at Miami he was essentially running a 4-3 defense though most of his time with the Dolphins. I would happily wager that Jason Taylor, a prototypical "Jack" linebacker if there ever was one, had more to do with his move to a 3-4 scheme than anything. Taylor, who played weakside linebacker for Akron before moving to defensive end his senior year, was a versatile enough athlete to play with his hand down and standing up and gave Saban the ability to completely disguise his defensive front, something the 3-4 is tailor made for (and a topic I get into in Yea Alabama). Anyway, it's a great read and it ties in nicely with this Yea Alabama tease, so go check it out, right after you pre-order your copy of Yea Alabama '09 (remember, you need 42 copies). As for the tease:
...ooooooooo, pretty diagram...
ed.- Since I wasn't able to show a lot of the text that goes along with the diagram above, several astute commentators over at the tidesports forums have noted that the gap on the weakside is open, leaving the defense prone to a counter. The diagram is meant to illustrate the responsibilities of the Mike and Will in run support, i.e. filling any open gaps left by the down linemen. In this diagram, which is a straight power run to the strong (TE) side, the ball is already snapped and the defense has ostensibly read the play and is flowing towards the ball, meaning the Mike fills the open gap on the play side while the Will is left to "scrape" the play. Should they read counter to the weakside, the Will steps up to fill the open gap while the Mike trails or, conversely, if the back sees a cutback in the open A gap on the weakside, either the Will cuts back with him or one of the safeties comes up to make the tackle. Just to clear up any confusion...
16 comments
| 0 recs
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Rachael Taylor wishes to inform you...
by Todd
on Jul 1, 2009 7:00 AM CDT
in Football
6 comments
...that the countdown widget has returned. You're welcome.
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6 comments | 0 recs
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Crimson Tide Football Schedule
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Sat 09/05 | 7:00 PM CDT |
| Fla. International | Sat 09/12 | 6:05 PM CDT |
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Sat 09/26 | 6:05 PM CDT |
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