A-Day Roster

Jerrell Harris is on second team (right below) Fanney to me???

is he hurt or what!?

Pretty impressive kid. Finishes school early and is running with the 2’s. I like it. The only thing I would have liked to see is when Harris takes over the “money” spot and hightower slides to Jack.

While Johnson might not be the best defensive back we have in terms of talent, you have to realize that there’s a lot more to playing than sheer ability. I’m sure Barron and and Scott are world’s better, but if they can’t recognize the offensive formations and line up quickly enough (and that’s asking a lot since they’re only second year players) they’re much worse than Johnson even if they’re physically more gifted.

It’s very easy to see Johnson’s limitations, as many have noted, but the fact is he’s probably more sound in his assignments than either Barron or Scott. No, he’s not more talented (and I’m sure Saban and Smart know that) but that’s how football works. The most talented guys won’t play as much, even if their ability trumps other players, until the coaches are confident in their understanding of the defense.

Johnson gets burned, but at least he’s on the right man when he gets burned. Some of the younger players might not even be on the right man. They might not even line up right. Until the younger guys learn their responsibilities well enough to play under pressure, Johnson will continue to be the guy.

Johnson will in time be replaced because he just is not that good, but for right now he knows who to cover. Remember BJ Scott is new to this. But the good news is that Arenas and Jackson are the starting corners and Woodall and Green are the safeties and Johnson will only be in when we have 5 DB’s which is not every down so maybe if we go with him we can hide him. And a pass rush wil make Johnson better.

Marquis Johnson obviously had a bad game against Florida, and another one against Utah, but in all fairness it should be pointed out that all of our DB’s struggled against those two.

The truth of the matter is that while Johnson isn’t a world-beater, he’s not really all of that bad either. We had an incredible pass defense last year in SEC play, and it wasn’t because we had such an obvious liability in Johnson, who played on just about every single passing down. All in all, Johnson is a pretty solid player, despite the fact that people like to make him out to be terrible.

Look at all of the passing touchdowns we allowed last year in SEC play, and see who was responsible:

Arkansas #1: General, tight end slipped through uncovered

Arkansas #2: Chavis Williams

Georgia #3: Javier Arenas

Georgia #4: Kareem Jackson

Kentucky #5: Kareem Jackson

Kentucky #6: Marquis Johnson / Rashad Johnson

Ole Miss #7: Javier Arenas

Tennessee #8: Javier Arenas (though in all fairness it was an illegal pick play by UT)

LSU #9: Kareem Jackson

MSU #10: Ali Sharrief

So how many times you see Marquis Johnson in there? Exactly, only once, and that particular touchdown was the garbage touchdown UK scored in the closing minute, and it was actually a joint mental mistake by both Marquis and Rashad Johnson, and not necessarily a mistake of technique or ability. It was just a mental lapse, plain and simple.

Again, jump on him all you want, but Marquis Johnson is not that bad of a player. And to that end, make sure you pick up a copy of Yea Alabama 2009 and look at the individual play analysis.

sticks out in my memory is the pass in the SEC champ. game when the Florida receiver beat him on a long third down play. I remeber he bit on a stop-and-go. If you think about it, he did a pretty good job, abd I am sure he won’t be worse this year. This roster is not written in stone anyway.

Unfortunately for Marquis Johnson, he’ll probably be remembered most for three things:

1. One-on-one with Fagg in 2007
2. The Florida Game 2008
3. Third-and-long plays in the Sugar Bowl against Utah

According to this excerpt from August of 2008, he hasn’t forgotten about Fagg, either.

The thrill and peace of mind came after a long offseason, possibly longer for Johnson than anyone else on the Crimson Tide considering his sophomore year.

First there was the image of Florida State receiver DeCody Fagg’s No. 81 running into the end zone for a crucial 70-yard touchdown in the Seminoles’ 21-14 victory in Jacksonville.

Johnson was filling in for benched starter Lionel Mitchell on the play, but that didn’t ease the bitter taste of humble pie that Johnson recently said he ‘ate every day, from weight room to practice to offseason to bowl game to spring to now.’

Being suspended for four games following the school’s investigation into textbook disbursement only caused it all to fester more.