Alabama Crimson Tide Football Has Some Unhappy Castaways - WSJ.com
As loathe as I am to link to such nonsense, it's likely all we are going to be hearing about for the next few days so might as well acknowledge it, make our points, and move on while the holier than thou types up north self pollute all over it.
1. The article focuses on only three of the twelve players who have gone on medical scholarship since Saban's arrival (Charlie Kirschman, Charles Hoke, and Jeramie Griffin), none of whom played anywhere else despite the assertion "they could have played through it." If they really thought they were capable of playing (all three acknowledge in the article that they didn't dispute the findings of the training staff and the decision to give up football was ultimately theirs), then they could have gone the Zeke Knight route and tried to transfer.
2. Of the three, only Kirschman and Griffin felt "pressured" to take the medical scholarship, and of the two, only Kirschman seems bitter about it (Griffin, admirably, "felt less angry about being pushed to take the medical scholarship than he did about not living up to his potential.")
3. Kirschman is apparently so bitter about the whole affair that when "the school offered in the summer of 2009 to pay for his graduate degree in business" he accepted and he's also so bitter that he still accepts "some of the same perks as players. "I still get game tickets, which is nice," he says." I can feel his rage from here.
Let that be the end of it.
Five questions with Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino | al.com
Q: Can you run the ball?
A: Well, we've worked really hard at it. A week of practice where we've put a big emphasis on running the football. I think our guys understand it. They do believe it's all of us not doing it. They're taking it to heart, and I'm hoping it will show up. That's what the biggest thing is, we've got to quit talking about it and go show it.
That's just a fancy way of saying no.
Five questions with Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson | al.com
5) More on technique for the defensive line?
WR: "One of the things we stress more than anything is stay on your feet. I mean, you've got to be able to do all those things and stay on your feet to do it. Our guys are getting better. Last year when we graded effort throughout the week, we want to measure how many times you're on the ground and why is it. Are you too high, is it because your feet aren't moving. What is it? We track that day in and day out. Stay off the ground. You're not a good football player if you're on the ground. if you stay on the ground, you're even a bad football player."
Injury time an advantage for Milliner | TideSports.com
"The one thing Dee did when he was injured is he watched and he actually learned, had a script in his hand every day, knew what the call was," Saban said. "He saw and learned some things that maybe he wasn’t sure of. And when he came back, he was actually mentally further ahead than what he was before he got injured. So it can work both ways if a guy takes advantage of it."
Will Alabama's dynamic duo of Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson rate with the best ever? | al.com
How about the "Pony Express?"
"I've heard of it," Ingram said. "That sounds familiar."
You don't know the names?
"No."
Eric Dickerson? Craig James? Ring a bell?
"I know Eric Dickerson," Ingram said. "Everybody knows him. But I don't really know the names of the tandems."
Mark Ingram doesn't know who Craig James is. This is why we love him.
and etc.
Talking Bama with Bocephus – ABC and Deas of Sports - Tide Sports
A lot of you have linked this in the fanposts/shots and sent me e-mails about the Hank Jr. interview, but if you haven't seen it, go check it out in all it's barely coherent glory.
I answered five questions for the SEC blog Bourbon & Coke, so go check them out, and also laugh at their banner. What else could you put for Ole Miss?
Download the al.com Alabama-Arkansas Gameday Fact Sheet | al.com
Alabama's Prolific Offense - Team Speed Kills
Boise State hasn’t tried to schedule Bama | TideSports.com
A One Dimensional Offense & Cute Red Shirts = A Loss | Saturday Down South