Spring Practice: Fifth Day News And Notes

The fifth day of Spring practice is now in the books, and we are now one-third of the way through Spring practice. We worked out this afternoon in shorts, all in preparation for the first scrimmage of the Spring which will take place tomorrow. A few news and notes:

• Good news today on the injury front, as both Demetrius Goode and Jeramie Griffin left the black no-contact jerseys back in the dressing room. Both have been cleared for contact, and fully participated in drills today. You never want to put the cart before the horse -- these guys may very well need a good bit of catching up to do, particularly with Goode -- but it will be nice to see them actually on the field for a change.

• It's a different story, however, with Glen Coffee. Several published articles earlier in the day mentioned how we were going to be cautious with Coffee, and let him take things slow. Coffee himself said that he might not participate in contact drills until the Fall, and in all honesty that is the most likely scenario. The funny thing about it, however, is how several of those articles mentioned that, even if he misses all of Spring practice, Coffee may very well still be the front-runner for the tailback position going into the Fall. I think a lot of it shows that, with all of his faults, Coffee is still the only tailback on the roster who has proven himself to be a legitimate every down back.

• The bad news on the injury front is that Lionell Mitchell and Tremayne Coger both missed practice yet again. Mitchell in particular needed a good Spring, but he's barely participated in a single practice to date. Coger is just trying to get on the field, in any capacity, but he's still out with a sprained ankle. It's highly unlikely that either of these two guys participate tomorrow, and it may very well be a while before we see either one of them on the field again. It's the exact opposite of what they needed to this Spring.

• Nikita Stover, too, spent today on the exercise bike, and he most likely won't participate tomorrow. I'm not exactly crying in my beer over that fact, though. Stover is more of a known commodity as a senior, and it will just give some of the younger guys more of an opportunity to prove themselves. It will be interesting to see what they can do.

• One of the more interesting stories that has developed this Spring is that of Sam Snider. You probably don't know who that is, and rightfully so. Snider is a 5'10, 163 pound walk-on redshirt freshman receiver / punter from Norcross, Georgia. I'll give you a minute to digest that one. You might not expect much from that, but his name has been mentioned several times this Spring. One player called him the most consistent receiver this Spring, and Saban in particular singled him as a "Wes Welker type player." And if you don't know who the latter is, well, let's just say that speaks volumes. Either way, he's going to be one of the better stories to follow from here on. Walk-ons usually don't see the field very much, but occasionally you see one really break through. Maybe Snider will be one of those guys.

• At right tackle, we continue to see the same story. It's essentially a back-and-forth between Taylor Pharr and Drew Davis as to who is taking reps with the first team, and today it was Davis. We'll see just how good they look once the A-Day game rolls around, but as I've said before, unless either or both have made major progress over the past few months, either Mike Johnson is headed back to right tackle, or Tyler Love is going to start from day one.

• Bryan Motley took some reps the other day at defensive end, and he was there again today. Josh Chapman did the same on Wednesday, but even Saban pointed out that he was a natural tackle and that he would stay there. It seems a bit different with Motley though. Unlike Chapman, he's apparently getting a very long, hard look at defensive end, and he may very well be the one that sticks there. It will be interesting to see how he performs during the rest of Spring practice and the A-Day game.

Well, that will do it for now. All things considered, it seemed like a pretty slow day in practice, mainly designed, most likely, just to get everyone ready for tomorrow. We'll have more on the scrimmage, hopefully with statistics, tomorrow night on sometime Sunday morning.