After looking at the offensive additions in the 2012 recruiting class, we'll switch to the defensive side of the ball and break down the defensive signees in a two-part piece, first focusing on the defensive backfield before later turning attention to the front seven. We'll begin by looking at the defensive backfield, where Alabama added four signees.

Just as was the case after the Tide's last national championship, in the following year the cornerback position is once again the biggest concern on the roster. Rising junior DeMarcus Milliner returns, but Dre Kirkpatrick, DeQuan Menzie and Phelon Jones have all since moved onto the next level, and given the attrition at the position inexperience and uncertainty are once again the dominant themes with the 2012 season on the horizon.

To help address this shortcoming, Nick Saban and company signed two junior college defensive backs, Travell Dixon and Deion Belue, both of whom have enrolled early in Tuscaloosa. Belue was a talented two-way signee out of Deshler that Alabama originally signed in the 2010 class, while Dixon was an overlooked prospect in that same class due to the fact that he had only played one year of high school football. Both are undeniably talented and possess the raw size Nick Saban prefer in a defensive back, but unfortunately both also expect to be relied on to be instant contributors in the nation's toughest conference.

The good news with Dixon and Belue is that, aside from their raw talent and size, both enrolled early and will go through the offseason strength and conditioning program and spring practice. Early enrollments often function more like returning players than incoming recruits, and having a junior college prospect enroll early on further increases the chances that a player can immediately play at a high level. Additionally, much progress can be made after spring practice (see Jesse Williams, for example). While there will obviously be some growing pains along the way, the hope is that having two JUCO players enroll early can help avoid the mental breakdowns that hurt the Tide secondary so much in 2010 while at the same time not forcing a true freshman into the rotation.

Dixon and Belue are particularly important signees because the reality of the returning depth at cornerback is that there are only three serious candidates on the roster, namely John Fulton, Bradley Sylve and Jabriel Washington, and it's possible that none of those three are viable short-term solutions. Fulton is clearly the best of the three, to be sure, but despite good size and athletic ability he has been something of a disappointment since he arrived in Tuscaloosa as a highly-touted recruit. Losing out to Milliner as a true freshman was one thing, but playing all season behind Phelon Jones is another, and the way that Fulton languished on the depth chart last season has some worried about his future. It wouldn't be a major surprise if he became a highly-performing starter next season based on the aforementioned talent, but by the same token it would come as no great shock if incoming players passed him by and he became, in effect, another Burton Scott.

Sylve and Washington are believed to have legitimate long-term potential at corner, given that the coaching staff could have generated a quicker impact by placing them at wide receiver, but both will be redshirt freshmen in 2012 and most likely both will not be ready to play at a high level in the short-term against SEC competition. Neither really has the size that Nick Saban usually prefers in his cornerbacks, and both have only spent roughly one year playing the position after having spent most of their prep careers focusing on the offensive side of the ball. Again, these players could be long-term solutions, but in all likelihood neither will see more than mop-up duty this fall. More work in the strength and conditioning program and time learning both the defense and the position will likely be required before these two can be considered legitimate options against high-end competition.

Geno Smith, the heavily-recruited cornerback out of Atlanta, has also been mentioned by several as a potential contributor as a true freshman given his billing and prep pedigree. Smith, though, also needs to add weight and he struggled at times against bigger wide receivers at the US Army All-American Game in San Antonio, so his path to immediate playing time could be slowed. Enrolling in the summer won't help his cause either, and barring a surprise showing in fall camp it's reasonable to expect that, while a redshirt may not be a guaranteed outcome, it will most likely take either injuries or some struggles by Dixon and / or Belue for Smith to see the field as a meaningful contributor this fall.

For all of the concern at cornerback, however, the safety position looks to be solidified even in the absence of Mark Barron. With Robert Lester, Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix, Vinny Sunseri, and Will Lowery all returning for 2012, 'Bama looks to manage post-Barron at the safety position with no significant drop-off in effectiveness. Even so, Landon Collins will all but certainly see the field as a true freshman, and long-term he has the raw physical tools and the physical style of play to be the natural successor to Barron. Collins comes in at about three inches shorter, so he doesn't necessarily have the length to pull off some of the gravity-defying plays that Barron made his trademark, but that lower center of gravity will help him when he is isolated in man coverage, which was relatively speaking Barron's biggest weakness. Aside from the differences in height, however, it's almost a clone comparison between the two in terms of build, explosive ability, ball skills, agility, tackling style and just about everything else that can be measured.

All that high praise notwithstanding, though, Barron looked lost at times as a true freshman in 2008, and following that season Nick Saban readily admitted that he and his coaching staff simply threw too much at the Mobile native too soon, effectively creating sensory overload at times that led to mental mistakes. With Collins not enrolling until the summer, he'll be trying to process a complicated scheme in a very short period of time. Can the coaching staff now simplify the complexities of Nick Saban's over-under scheme such that Collins can digest it and play at a high level as a true freshman, or can the presence of the returning players streamline Collins' role such that he is not forced to assume multiple roles? In any event, Collins expects to be a three-year player and his time in Tuscaloosa will likely prove short, so Alabama must find a way to take advantage of his skills early in his career.

SEC postseason position rankings: ST - SEC Blog - ESPN

7. Alabama: Before the national championship game, Alabama's field-goal kicking game received a ton of criticism, especially for the four misses in the 9-6 loss to LSU. But Jeremy Shelley redeemed the unit by hitting 5-of-7 in the rematch. Alabama's kickers missed 13 kicks. Marquis Maze only had 12 kickoff returns, but averaged 28.5 yards per return, was third in the SEC in punt return average (13.2) and had that nifty touchdown against Arkansas. However, Alabama was 11th in the league in kickoff coverage and 10th in punt average.

Saturday stock watch: Who’s rising and falling? | The Dagger: College Basketball Blog - Yahoo! Sports

Stock down: Alabama Suspended forward Tony Mitchell wasn't the only key player Alabama was missing during Saturday's 67-58 loss at LSU. Hours before tipoff, coach Anthony Grant also suspended leading scorer and rebounder JaMychal Green and guards Trevor Releford and Andrew Steele for an undisclosed violation of team rules. The quartet's absence cost Alabama (16-8, 5-5) a winnable road game and dropped the enigmatic Tide closer to the bubble. Their NCAA tourney hopes likely depend on when Grant decides to lift their suspensions, especially considering three of Alabama's next four games are against NCAA tournament contenders beginning with Tuesday's matchup with Florida.

Traina Mows Down Gamecocks, Tide Wins 3-0 - CBS 42 Birmingham, AL News Weather Sports

Alabama sophomore pitcher Jackie Traina allowed just one hit and struck out a career-high 15 batters as the Crimson Tide finished the Mardi Gras Invitational with a 3-0 win over Jacksonville State, Sunday afternoon at Jaguar Field. After the weekend UA starts the season 4-0. Traina baffled the Gamecock (0-4) hitters all game long and had a no-hitter intact until a leadoff single in the seventh inning broke the no-hit bid. The All-American finished the tournament 3-0 with an unblemished 0.00 ERA. She allowed just four hits in 16 innings and struck out 30.

Batting Around: GABA's Weekly SEC Baseball Ranking - Garnet And Black Attack

8.) Alabama Crimson Tide - Honestly, I don't know enough about this team to have a feeling one way or another about them. They've been decidedly mediocre in the past, and with the 8th best recruiting class in the SEC last year, I would expect that trend to continue.

Four-team playoff preferable to BCS majority of seasons - Stewart Mandel - SI.com

But how frequently would a four-team field leave out a truly worthy title contender? Would there be years where four would be far messier than two? If so, is that a small price to pay for avoiding indisputable injustices like 13-0 Auburn not getting a shot at the championship in 2004? In an effort to find out, let's revisit every year's title matchup and accompanying controversy and compare it with the likely reaction to a four-team field.

Urban Meyer, Jim Mora top new coach recruiting report card - Ben Glicksman - SI.com

Texas A&M's Kevin Sumlin: A-. If Sumlin does intend to bring his pass-first attack to the traditionally ground-and-pound SEC, he now has the weapons to do so. Wide receivers Thomas Johnson (a former Texas pledge), Edward Pope, Sabian Holmes and Derel Walker all committed after Sumlin was hired, and quarterback Matt Davis, a four-star dual-threat out of Houston, stuck with the Aggies. Then there's Trey Williams, the 5-foot-8, 175-pound running back who rushed for 3,890 yards and 48 touchdowns as a senior, posting even better numbers than fellow Texas phenom Johnathan Gray. Williams should be the centerpiece of Sumlin's offense of the future.

Breaking down junior days - ESPN

What happens at a junior day? Prospects, often encouraged to bring parents or high school coaches, meet with the head coach -- significant because he's not allowed to visit recruits off campus in the spring evaluation period or talk to them during school visits in December and January of their junior years. Additionally, junior days typically include meetings with position coaches, coordinators, strength coaches, nutrition staff and academic advisers. The visitors take campus tours and/or attend a basketball game -- and might even participate in some serious football discussion. "We do like to sit down and talk football to see if this is a guy who can pay attention and understand what we're going to teach," Arkansas recruiting coordinator Tim Horton said.

NCAA takes a crack at slimmer, more efficient rulebook | al.com

Bring back athlete-only dorms with unlimited food. Let coaches talk publicly about their recruits. Allow transfers in all sports to immediately play. Those are among the ideas being discussed as the NCAA tries to produce a slimmer and more efficient rulebook, according to documents obtained by The Birmingham News. An NCAA working group that's studying current rules released concepts to schools last week for discussion. The goal is to crack down on what the NCAA perceives as major threats to its principle of amateurism while legalizing smaller issues, some of which are currently unenforceable. "It's very complicated to take a 400-plus-page rule book and shrink it down to something sensible," NCAA President Mark Emmert said in The Indianapolis Star last month. "But we're going to do it."

The SEC's top 25 players: No. 21 - SEC Blog - ESPN

He didn't have eye-popping numbers in 2011, but that didn't mean that Kirkpatrick didn't have a solid final year in Tuscaloosa. He failed to record an interception, but the number of interceptions does not always tell the whole story of a corner's season. Throwing Kirkpatrick's way was usually a no-no for quarterbacks. With his 6-foot-3, 192-pound frame, he made it nearly impossible for quarterbacks to consistently throw toward his side. His aggressive style got the best of him sometimes, but Kirkpatrick had a very short memory on the field and never had an issue bouncing back.

McElwain brings Billy Napier with him to Fort Collins - The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Former Alabama Offensive Coordinator brings the Crimson Tide's head of Offensive quality control, Billy Napier, with him to Fort Collins as assistant head coach/quarterbacks. Napier was Clemson’s youngest ever coordinator in 2009 at age 29.

Alabama Crimson Tide vs Jacksonville State
Time	2:30 pm CST
Location	Mobile, Ala. | Jaguar Field (892)
Listen Online	WVUA 90.7 FM
GameTracker	vs Jacksonville State
Game Notes	Alabama Notes | SEC Notes

Our beloved Crimson Tide are off to a 3-0 start after downing Memphis (8-0), Lipscomb (15-4), and South Alabama (12-1), with all being run rule victories. Alabama will finish up their trip to the Mardi Gras Invitational this afternoon against Jacksonville State at 2:30.

The Gamecocks are winless in Mobile, falling to Lipscomb (0-2), Mississippi State (1-8), and Memphis (5-10). Knocking off the Tide is the only positive they could take from this trip, so we need to be on our guard against a let down.

via RollTide.com

SCOUTING JACKSONVILLE STATE
Jacksonville State is coming off of its fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance after winning the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament for the second straight season. The Gamecocks advanced to the Louisville Regional, where they were eliminated by the host Louisville Cardinals. They finished the 2011 season with a 40-21 record.

Series History: This will be the 15^th meeting between the two schools, with Alabama having won the previous 14 meetings. The Crimson Tide won last year 6-0, on the strength of Kelsi Dunne’s third career no hitter against the Gamecocks. Senior Jazlyn Lunceford paces UA against JSU with a .667 lifetime average (2-for-3), adding two runs, two stolen bases and two RBI. Jennifer Fenton bats .500 against the Gamecocks with three runs scored, a triple and two RBI. Cassie Reilly-Boccia has accumulated the most at-bats, posting a .444 average (4-for-9) with two doubles and two RBI.

TideSports.com - Bama's basketball season hanging in the balance

Grant said he "wanted to think more" before deciding whether any of the four suspended players - including Mitchell, previously suspended for what Grant said was an unrelated matter - would be back for Tuesday's critical game against Florida, or at some other unspecified point in the future. The door does appear open, but what level of trust will there be if and when reinstatement occurs? How will the disappointed ones Grant alluded to - the teammates, the loved ones, the fans - view the players upon their return, when and if there is one? At this point, there is still a season for Alabama. Saturday's loss didn't help things, but it was not an NCAA elimination game for the Crimson Tide, as some breathless hyperbole on the Internet surmised. But it is a season hanging in the balance, depending not on some buzzer-beating 3-pointer or defensive stand, but on choices - bad ones already made, some yet to come and the choices a head coach quietly pondered in an empty locker room in Baton Rouge.

Anthony Grant discusses the latest suspensions of Alabama basketball players | al.com

"I'm very disappointed in terms of some of the choices that we as individuals made," Grant said after the game. "But you're dealing with young men. I was a college student at one point. Can't say that I did all the things right all the time. "Unfortunately, the thing that's most disappointing is how it affects so many other people, from loved ones and teammates, the program, the goals of the program and those that care deeply about this university." Grant said he takes responsibility for the players "in terms of decisions and the values that they learn or get built upon from their families when they come to me. We've just got to continue to try to make sure we do as best a job as we can in terms of giving them opportunities to learn and continue to grow as young men."

3 points the morning after Alabama's 67-58 loss at LSU | al.com

3. Veterans. Shame on them if this team fails in its bid to reach the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006 because of what probably were some knucklehead decisions. The young players on this team should be ticked at their teammates, but if most or all of the veterans eventually are reinstated, it will be interesting to measure the team chemistry that already seemed to be lacking.

A Win For The Good Guys; LSU Defeats Alabama 67-58 - And The Valley Shook

It took a while, it took some suspensions, and it took a really ugly game, but LSU finally put away the Alabama Crimson Tide with a 67-58 win in the PMAC. I don't think anyone will say it was a well played game with numerous turnovers, poor outside shooting, and some defensive lapses. By both teams.

Lacey, Randolph learning together at Alabama | al.com

For two years, they were inexorably linked together. For at least one of those years, they supposedly disliked each other. This year, Trevor Lacey and Levi Randolph are together, and around each other, almost 24/7. That's because now, after all of the Mr. Basketball ceremonies, state tournaments and the drawn-out recruiting process that Lacey took to the eleventh hour last spring, two of the Huntsville area's finest prep basketball players of all-time finally are on the same team - and living under the same roof - at the University of Alabama. "Me playing with Trevor, I think that's what everybody's been wanting to see," Randolph said.

Shorthanded Crimson Tide fights, then fades and falls at LSU | al.com

"I felt we were capable coming into the game," Grant said. "We left a lot of things out there in the first half that we needed to be able to convert on. Anytime you go on the road, you've got to be able to finish plays." Cooper did not describe the team's pregame mood as gloomy. "We were excited to play," he said. "Coach Grant emphasized to go out and play real hard. We know we had to come together as a team so we could get this win." And what was the mood at halftime? "We came together as a team," Cooper said. "We said, 'The game is not over.' We wanted to go out and play hard."

Nick Saban gets Alabama players ready for NFL | al.com

The spoils of Alabama's football success these days go well beyond the trophies and rings accumulating on the second floor of the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility. Arguably more significant is coach Nick Saban's development of the players that helped haul in the hardware. Saban begins what he calls "the process" by selling recruits on an opportunity to grow in Alabama's pro-style program, everything from the way they are coached to the way they are treated. Those that blossom could compete for national championships using a blueprint he offers, which also happens to detail the path for the elite to reach the NFL. Last week, the NFL announced the names of more than 300 prospects invited to the NFL Scouting Combine Feb. 22-28 in Indianapolis. Nine Alabama players were invited, the most this year from any school.

Alabama’s football recruiting budget nearly triples in four years | The Daily Bama Blog

As the Alabama’s athletic department sustains solid profitability, it’s driving force doles out more every year to insure success. Recruiting expenses for the Crimson Tide football program jumped again in 2011 to total $980,882, according to documents the school filed with the NCAA. That wasn’t a major bump from the $870,438 it spent in 2010, but it’s 2.7 times higher than the $360,327 it spent in 2008. The expense represents only 3 percent of the total spent by the program, but its increase offers insight into the importance placed on drawing top athletes.

Continue reading this post »

Remember the supposed torn rib cartilage that hindered Mark Barron down the stretch in the 2011 season? Apparently what Barron was playing through was just a tad bit more serious than Nick Saban and others let on. Per CBS Sports:

Alabama safety Mark Barron will not be able to participate in the upcoming Scouting Combine after undergoing a double-hernia surgery, NFLDraftScout.com has confirmed.

There had been speculation at the Senior Bowl that Barron had been unable to participate in the event due to a pre-existing medical condition. Complicating matters is that Barron may not be sufficiently healed or in the shape he'll want to be when Alabama holds their Pro Day March 7.

The big story here in the short-term is that the injury and the subsequent surgery will cause Barron to miss the NFL Combine and perhaps even Alabama's Pro Day next month, but for the most part I'd venture to say this will ultimately cost him little. He will still be regarded as the top safety in the draft, and with obvious size and athleticism and four years worth of game film available of him going up against high-end competition, I doubt this does anything to meaningfully lower his draft stock. The greater issue he will ultimately fight through, as was the case before the injury, is that the safety position just isn't one of the big money positions in the NFL -- such as quarterback, left tackle, wide receiver, defensive end and cornerback -- so even the best players at the position tend to fall down the board into the latter stages of the first round.

NFL future notwithstanding, Barron deserves a hell of a lot of credit for playing through the pain and continuing to perform at such a high level. It was apparent by mid-season that something was hindering him, and when he missed most of the second half of the Auburn game it was obvious that he was playing in a lot of pain. The long layoff between the Iron Bowl and the BCS Championship Game certainly helped things, I'm sure, but clearly that was no long-term fix and even so he went out and played one of his best games in his Alabama finale down in New Orleans.

On a larger note on the subject, a moment of recognition is in order for several others on the 2011 'Bama defense that did something similar. Outside of Barron, Josh Chapman was playing on a torn ACL, Jesse Williams with a bum shoulder, DeQuan Menzie and DeMarcus Milliner with hamstring injuries, Courtney Upshaw with an elbow injury that required the equivalent of a mattress as a protective wrap, and on and on and on. While efforts are made to make the game safer, the harsh truth of the matter is that it is nevertheless a dangerous, physically draining game and at some point its simply inevitable that you have to play through the pain and yet still find away to perform at a high level. The on-field performance by the defense was impressive enough, but what several went through just to stay on the field was perhaps even more so.

Alabama Crimson Tide vs Lipscomb Lady Bison/South Alabama Jaguars
Time	vs Lipscomb | 3:00 p.m. CST vs South Alabama | 5:30 pm CST
Location	Mobile, Ala. | Jaguar Field (892)
Listen Online	WVUA 90.7 FM
GameTracker	vs Lipscomb | vs South Alabama
Game Notes	Alabama Notes | SEC Notes

Our beloved Crimson Tide got the Mardi Gras Invitational started with an 8-0 run rule decision against Memphis yesterday and hope to build off that momentum this afternoon against the Lipscomb Lady Bison and South Alabama.

Lipscomb split their doubleheader yesterday, knocking off Jacksonville State in the opener, 2-0, before falling to Mississippi State 3-1. Senior Whitney Kiihnl was the hero in the win over Jacksonville State, going the distance for the shut out, scattering five hits and striking out nine for her 72nd career victory.

"Whitney threw very well for us today," said Lipscomb head coach Kristin Ryman. "We were happy to see her get off to a good start. She knows she’s going to get everyone’s best efforts this year, so it was big for her and the team to have a good outing today."

They couldn't keep the momentum going into the second half, though, with their only score coming on a solo homer in the sixth after already giving up three runs to the Bulldogs.

Meanwhile, South Alabama's date with Memphis was cancelled due to rain.

via RollTide.com

SCOUTING LIPSCOMB
Lipscomb comes into the 2012 season coming off of a 2011 Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament runner-up finish. The Lady Bison finished the 2011 season with a 30-20 record and went 15-5 in conference play. Individually Lipscomb returns its top hitter in Caroline Mason. She paced the team in average (.307), hits (43), doubles (10), home runs (9) and total bases (82). In the circle Whitney Kiihnl returns after posting one of the top seasons by a pitcher in 2010 followed by another solid campaign in 2011. Last season she went 20-11 with a 1.69 ERA, striking out 328 in 211 1/3 innings pitched. Head coach Kristin Ryman returns for her seventh season, leading the Bison to a 183-133-1 record over that span. In 2010 she paced Lipscomb to a Tuscaloosa Regional runner-up finish.

Series History
The Tide and Bison have faced off five times previously, with Alabama holding a 4-1 series lead. The two teams last faced off in 2010 at the Tuscaloosa Regional, with Alabama winning 5-2 in their first meeting, then defeating the Lady Bison 6-0 to win the regional. Lipscomb defeated the Tide in 2005, 4-2, for their only win in the series. Kayla Braud leads the team against the Bison with a .500 (3-for-6) lifetime average, adding a stolen base. Courtney Conley has added the punch with two career home runs and a .400 average (2-for-5).

SCOUTING SOUTH ALABAMA
The Jaguars of South Alabama recorded a school record 37 wins in 2011, going 37-17 overall and 15-10 in conference play. They return seven letterwinners off of last season’s team, including starting pitcher and Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year Hannah Campbell, who went 19-7 a year ago. Junior Brittany Fowler, a second team all-conference selection, led the team in hits (53), triples (3), and runs batted in (52). Becky Clark enters her sixth season as head coach, and has compiled a 299-156-2 record in nine seasons in Mobile.

Series History
The Tide and Jaguars have faced off four previous times, with Alabama winning all four games. Last season, Alabama knocked off South Alabama, 6-0, with freshman pitcher Jackie Traina pitching a six inning two-hitter at the All-Alabama Classic. Cassie Reilly-Boccia has nine career at-bats against USA, posting a .444 average with three runs and a RBI. Jennifer Fenton has blasted a home run, scored three runs and swiped three bases while Jazlyn Lunceford has stolen four bases, scored four runs and hit .375 in eight lifetime at-bats.