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Nick Saban explains why it's important for both Blake Sims, Jacob Coker to play Saturday | AL.com
"It's important for a couple of reasons," Saban said Wednesday morning on the SEC teleconference. "First of all, we still have a competition at the position so it gives us an opportunity to evaluate how guys play in a game. We already know how Blake Sims played and I thought he played fairly well." Sims completed 24 of 33 passes for 250 yards and an interception. Coker took two snaps and handed off to close the game in his only action.
"But regardless of how the whole quarterback situation works out long term, you always want to have another guy that's ready to go in the game if something happens to the first guy, whoever that might be," Saban said.
Read the words.
Alabama turns to no-huddle to help communication │Tuscaloosa News
It's something Alabama has rarely gone to but has faced increasingly often. But instead of pushing the pace of the game, the goal was to clear up the lines of communication.
"It's easier to communicate when you're going no-huddle because you just have sort of code words and short words for plays and passes and all that kind of stuff so it eliminates the communication in a huddle," Saban said on Wednesday.
Alabama practice report: Tide continues to tinker with secondary as home opener nears | AL.com
-- Freshman Laurence "Hootie" Jones was shadowing Nick Perry at one of the safety spots. Jabriel Washington and Reggie Ragland were both working at Money while Geno Smith was at Star. Eddie Jackson and Cyrus Jones were the corners.
Ragland at the Money?
Tom Herman's Coaching Clinic Part I: Run-Pass Combinations | Eleven Warriors
Combining bubble, smoke and hitch routes with tight zone and power all serve the same purpose – preventing a defense from cheating second level defenders against the run game. And if the defense does cheat, then Meyer and Herman are happy to take easy yards resulting from the defense's structural unsoundness.
/Click the link.
//Scroll to the bottom.
///Check out the lineman 8 yards down field after the pass is completed.
////Begin to hate where college football is headed
Evolving the option: The pop pass and the future of football - SBNation.com
But that was only the surface of what's becoming possible with plays like this one, which are being dubbed pop pass plays both for the quick-hitting throws and as an acronym: play-option pass. Have you ever noticed the glitch in football video games in which you can run your QB at the line of scrimmage and then throw it over the heads of defenders if they rushed up to stop you from scrambling for easy yardage? With pop plays, that nightmare has become a reality.
One successful Texas high school head coach indicated he's rebuilding his offense around this tweak on the option. "On any given run play or down, the QB has a pass read as well," he said. "Your QB better be a sharp kid, or all this is for naught. If you're the QB, it's like playing 'NCAA Football' on the Xbox. You can always alter the read, route, or play."
Oh look, another play where a lineman was down field and the call was missed. Are you starting to see a trend?
I have no issue with the pop-pass and I actually hope Bama starts to use the concept (if it's not already), but the lineman down the field thing needs to be addressed ASAP.
See how Alabama CB Eddie Jackson looks in practice after being cleared for action | AL.com
After knee surgery this spring, he has progressed quicker than some teammates would have expected. He remained with the first group in Wednesday's practice working with the cornerbacks.
Earlier Wednesday, Nick Saban said Jackson would see the field "some kind of way," in the 11 a.m. visit from the Owls. They'd prefer to "ease him" back into the game-speed action after missing most of spring practice and sitting out Saturday's game with West Virginia.
In one breath it sounds like he's the starter and in the next he may come off the bench..
Y U BE NO CLEAR, SABAN?!
Nick Perry describes scene at Alabama team hotel as players watched Dee Hart's big game | AL.com
"We're happy for him," Alabama safety Nick Perry said. "He had a few injuries his first couple of years here, so to see him out there and showing the world what he can really do is exciting. We were all happy and tuned in. We were in the hotel jumping up and down when he was scoring his touchdowns. "He's just a little sparkplug out there."