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.

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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...

...that the countdown widget has returned. You're welcome.

This is nothing but a bit of boredom on my part and provides no real insight or anything, but I figured it would be interesting anyway if you're a bit of a trivia and stat junkie.

The lists via the links also provide aggregate scores.

Virginia Tech: 10-1
Florida International: 1-0
North Texas: 2-0
Arkansas: 11-8
Kentucky: 34-2-1
Ole Miss: 45-9-2
South Carolina: 10-3
Tennessee: 46-38-7
LSU: 44-23-5
Mississippi State: 72-18-3
UT-Chattanooga: 10-0
Auburn: 39-33-1

Here's the fun facts/trivia gleaned from this pointless exercise (and some I already knew):

1. An all-time record of 324-135-19 (.679) against our 2009 opponents.
   
2. We've played all 2009 opponents at least once.
   
3. Eight of the ten times we played UT-Chattanooga happened before 1960.
   
4. Our last contest against Virginia Tech was the one loss. A 38-7 beatdown that came in the 1998 Music City Bowl. A weird stat from that game I didn't remember is that we held the ball for 36 minutes, yet had only seven points to show for it. Talk about your statistical anomalies.
5. There was a 55 year span between the two Kentucky victories over us.
6. For those of you that didn't know, we've played Mississippi State more than any other team (which I did know beforehand.) Also, Alabama and Mississippi State are geographically the two closest teams in the conference.
7. The earliest Mississippi State can even the series is 2062...and that'll take reeling off 54 straight wins.
8. As was mentioned in Watchman's recent fanpost, Alabama rolled up 833 yards of total offense on VaTech in 1973 and 748 of those were rushing yards. Let that one sink in for a minute. Four different players had over 100 yards rushing in that game.
9. We won't have to see Steve Taneyhill's mullet this year.

SOUNDTRACK WARNING

As shoelesshobo linked in the fanposts, Jarrick Williams has just committed to Alabama. Williams is a 6'2 and 210 pound safety prospect out of Eight Mile, Alabama, and he is widely considered one of the top safety prospects in the country. Both Scout.com and Rivals have him as an upper-end four-star prospect, and he had offers from effectively every major program in the country.

Williams' commitment comes as no major surprise. Many have speculated for some period of time now that Williams may have been a silent commitment, but even if that is not the case he has long been expected to end up in Tuscaloosa. It was always more of a question of when, not if. Nevertheless, regardless of the lack of surprise, Williams' commitment is a very big one for the Tide. He is clearly one of the top players in the country, one of the top five players in the state, a native of a key recruiting area for Alabama, and a top-end player at a need position for the Tide.

At this point, in-state recruiting is almost over for the Tide. With Williams on board, only three legitimate in-state prospects remain on the board, and they are Ladarius Owens, C.J. Mosley, and Corey Grant. Owens will likely end up at Auburn, Mosley at Alabama, and in many ways Grant is the most open of all (though recent talk on Florida message boards has him committing to Alabama in the soon, so take it for what it's worth). Bottom line, with Williams on board, it essentially insures that the Tide has almost entirely locked up the state of Alabama for the third year in a row.

Williams becomes the 16th commitment of the 2009 recruiting class.

SOUNDTRACK WARNING

From the Roster Preview:

click to enlarge

Go forth and consume.

Inspired by kleph's Stupid Question of the Day fanpost from Friday (and therefor AJC columnist Bill King's poor answer to said question), I thought it was time for another "Out of Curiosity" post to take a look at some of the reasons Julio Jones has received more attention and hype than A.J. Green despite both being VHT Five Star types that had stellar freshman seasons.  King has two theories about it, one of which has merit and one of which could have merit if it wasn't wrapped in pure, homer paranoia, while I have five (hopefully solid) reasons of my own.  Let's begin:

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After already securing the commitment of a kicker in the 2010 recruiting class, Nick Saban and company have moved on and have now secured the commitment of a punter. Jay Williams, a 6'4 and 220 pound punter of Thomasville, Alabama, has committed to the Tide. Williams' stock has been skyrocketing as of late, as he picked up offers from Alabama, Florida, and Houston after impressing all three with camp performances. Admittedly an lifelong Alabama fan, Williams committed to the Tide shortly after being offered by Nick Saban. As a junior in high school, he averaged almost 50 yards per punt, and was also the standout pitcher on one of the top baseball teams in the 4A classification.

Anyway, this marks the first time in probably ever that Alabama has signed both a kicker and a punter to a scholarship in the same class. With Leigh Tiffin and P.J. Fitzgerald graduating after the 2009 season, it is clear that Coach Saban and company want Cade Foster to come in and immediately handle placekicking duties and have Williams take over the punting job. Foster already plans to enroll early this December, and I would not be surprised if Williams ended up doing the same.

At any rate, it's a bit of an interesting development. It is admittedly rare for a school to sign kickers or punters to a scholarship, but it is becoming more common these days, and frankly this just goes to show you that offer two incredible recruiting classes in 2008 and 2009, with another inevitably on the way in 2010, we have reached a point where filling needs on offense and defense is not as big of an issue as it was in the recent past. Punting and kicking, however, are probably two of our biggest needs, and with a general lack of needs elsewhere, this gives us the freedom to sign a kicker and a punter in the 2010 class. One way or the other, it is nice to see us getting good prospects here. Foster was recently given a fourth-star by Scout.com and rated the #3 kicker prospect in the country, and with his offer list Williams will undoubtedly be rated as one of the top punter prospects in the country as well.

Williams becomes the 14th commitment of the 2010 recruiting class.