Alabama Week in Review: 08.18.13

Second Scrimmage

Saban was not too pleased with the offensive line in Saturday's scrimmage. Looking at the stats (media was not allowed), it looks like the defense ruled the day.

Eli Gold is coming to the ATL

Great news for Alabama fans in Atlanta: radio station 92.9 The Game will be broadcasting Crimson Tide football games. There are a lot of whiny UGA fans complaining, so please let Program Director Terry Foxx terry.foxx@cbsradio.com know you approve. Also please LIKE them & add your comments to their Facebook page.

Position Changes?

° First defensive lineman LaMichael Fanning had been working at tight end and now offensive tackle Brandon Greene is giving it a try. Fanning was moved back to defense on Friday. I don't think either move is due to Fanning's inadequacies at tight end. On the contrary, there still a chance of seeing time on the offensive side. The Greene move seems to be just to get more depth at the position plus the ability to use a humongous (Greene is 6-5/307) "third tackle" type formation. The Crimson Tide has run unbalanced lines in recent years to get another big guy on the end (click here). The bad news is that this sends the signal that after Brian Vogler, the tight end depth really drops off as Malcolm Faciane, Kurt Freitag, and Harrison Jones are not really living up to their high school accolades.

° It looks like the Kouandjio pairing on the left side might turn into Kouandjio bookends as Arie Kouandjio was moved to right tackle and Austin Shepherd moved to left guard. Arie has played tackle for most of career but it was thought that he might do better at guard while recovering from injuries. However, he has performed well enough in practice to prompt a move back to tackle. The move is not permanent yet. If he proves healthy enough, it is a good move for him and for Shepherd.

OUCH!

° WR Amari Cooper (foot), cornerback Deion Belue (hamstring), and DE Jeoffrey Pagan (shoulder) did not participate in Saturday's scrimmage. All should be good to go against Virginia Tech in Week 1.
° NG Brandon Ivory twisted a knee in today's scrimmage and will be re-evaluated later today.
° True freshman running back Alvin Kamara had minor knee surgery this past week. He looks to be sidelined "probably a couple weeks," according to Coach Nick Saban. He might be looking at a redshirt in 2013.
° Defensive lineman Wilson Love has missed more practice time as he battles an undisclosed medical issue. Love is a redshirt sophomore and has yet to participate in a game. This observer wonders if a medical DQ might be in his future.

° Junior middle linebacker Trey DePriest was suspended for a violation of team rules on Tuesday. The hope is he returns within a week. Please keep the cactus swinging to a minimum.

° Sophomore tight end Malcolm Faciane returned to practice on Tuesday after serving a 30-day suspension for an undisclosed violation of team rules of his own. He has a tall mountain to climb to get back on the playing field this fall.

Do they know how to stretch in Blacksburg? Hokies are dropping like flies as three more go down to injuries. Virginia Tech may be starting multiple walk-ons - no sarcasm font here - against Alabama in week 1.

Former Iowa Hawkeye commitment Ross Pierschbacher flipped his decision to Alabama. This news may have flown under the radar but it is a big pick up since he now represents the Tide's highest rated O-lineman in the class of 2014. He is a big (6-4/290) strong kid with good physicality and can block in space. He is quite fond of pancakes.

(Retin Obasohan. Credit: Spruce Derden–USA TODAY Sports)

The men's basketball team wrapped up it's European tour with a 3-2 record including a game played in Antwerp, Belgium, hometown of sophomore guard Retin Obasohan. A nice move by Coach Anthony Grant to let Obasohan's family and friends see him play. Also, Carl Engstrom's family traveled from Sweden to see him play in France. Yes, "The Swede" is back playing! The team played a total of five games in three countries: The Netherlands, Belgium and France plus they got in a little sightseeing. They return to Tuscaloosa Sunday evening, August 18.

Some single game tickets are available for the Chattanooga and Georgia State games. Keep checking back for the Colorado State game in case the Rams return part of their allotment.

In case you missed it

° Former Alabama kicker Jeremy Shelley nailed 42-yard and 29-yard field goals for the Falcons against the Baltimore Ravens (an outdoor stadium) on Thursday. He also hit the only PAT attempt against Cincinnati in week 1 and a PAT against the Ravens. Shelley is trying to beat out veteran Matt Bryant or audition for another team.

° NFL.com put out a weird awkward little commercial but it features Trent Richardson and Julio Jones, so you know it gets awesomeness bonus points.

Random Thoughts From Around the Country

° Everyone was all atwitter this week with word that Jadaveon Clowney may not play in week 1. We should just postpone the 2013 college football season until Mr. Clowney is ready, right?! A sore shoulder was to blame but this was just more silly posturing by the Evil Genius to get the press talking about his team. I'll eat Spurrier's visor if Clowney does not line up against UNC on August 29.

° It's hard to feel sorry for a guy who willingly chooses to play for Auburn (wink) but former starting quarterback Kiehl Frazier has permanently been moved to safety. A former 4-star and the nation's #5 QB in 2011, Frazier never quite got a chance to fit his square peg style of play into the round hole offense that his teams wanted to run.

° We couldn't go a week without talking about that certain QB from the west end of the SEC kingdom, could we? If he did indeed take money for signing his autograph, I have to believe that he knew what he was doing was wrong and did it anyway. He has ruined Fan Day for many people out there as schools are reigning the whole thing in. F JFF.

I am so tired of all these outside issues messing with the game we love so much.

*BREAKING NEWS: CB Geno Smith Arrested For DUI. Suspended Indefinitely. He surely is out for the Virginia Tech game and probably the Texas A&M game as well. John Fulton and Cyrus Jones are candidates to replace him. It is okay to get your cactus out now.