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Share the load, share the wealth is the new norm in elite offenses - CBSSports.com
"I would rather have guys touch the ball 15 or 20 times for every game all year than a guy that has to be a workhorse and do it 30 to 35 times. At some point he's not the same guy." His history backs him up. The conga line of Bama backs has been seamless under Saban. Mark Ingram begat Trent Richardson who begat Eddie Lacy who begat T.J. Yeldon. Add sophomore Derrick Henry and junior Kenyan Drake to the mix again this season.
The only Alabama rusher to average more than 20 carries since 2003 is Richardson in 2011. The practice has trickled down from the NFL, where there is a dearth of workhorses. The passing game has become more important. This is in part because the average career for an NFL running back is less than three years
Your running back run-distribution methodology preference soundtrack of the day:
Alabama RB Derrick Henry cracks a few smiles when asked about running style | AL.com
A few of our colleagues on the beat, however, found a way to crack a smile on the Crimson Tide's sophomore star.
It started when Henry was asked if he was a power back or a cut back runner. He thought for a second about it before chuckling.
"Umm, power running back," Henry said. "I am 6-3, 240 and I have a big frame so I guess I'm a power back. I try to use my size to my advantage."
Power back, huh...
Alabama LB Trey DePriest's return anticipated to affect entire defense | AL.com
It's unclear what DePriest did to earn his suspension, but it's not the only hurdle he'll have to overcome as he prepares for Saturday's home opener against Florida Atlantic. DePriest hasn't been at 100 percent health since the start of preseason camp because of a lingering knee injury.
Because he was significantly limited during the first couple of weeks, DePriest saw his conditioning suffer and was tasked with powering through it in the waning days before the season opener. As recently as Wednesday, he was still wearing some protection on the knee.
We still have a couple of weeks for him to rest if needed, but we need DePriest healthy enough to stay on the field after that.
Nick Saban lists 3 Alabama receivers who could fill in for injured starter DeAndrew White | AL.com
Senior Christion Jones can move over from the H-receiver role over to White's spot at Z. He's versatile enough to play just about any receiver spot, and after a few drops against the Mountaineers, Jones has something to prove this Saturday.
Saban also mentioned Chris Black as an option. The sophomore is listed as Jones' back up at H, but is considered the No. 4 overall receiver who could fill in anywhere. Saban said Black is "a guy that deserves to play more than he has played. So this will be an opportunity for him."
Full rundown of Nick Saban's thoughts on QB plan, Twitter and more from weekly radio show | AL.com
Saban liked what he's seen from the offensive line, though calls Leon Brown's penalties "critical."
"There's a lot of things we can improve on." Stresses he wasn't disappointed and actually played better than he thought they would.
If you have never listened to it, the radio show "Hey, Coach! with Nick Saban" is pretty great. You get to hear Saban in a more relaxed atmosphere, taking questions from fans and discussing the upcoming game. I recently realized AL.com posts the show in its entirety, so I'll be including it in the video section each Friday morning. I generally enjoy it, and I hope you will too.
"It would be easy for me to say yeah, I'd consider it, but (you have to) consider how difficult it is to coach the Wishbone when it's nothing like what we do on offense," Saban said. "You're talking about something that is so sort of different that we would have to spend a significant amount of time to be able to do it. We would have to almost totally commit to doing that."
From the offensive line to the running backs to the quarterback, the change would be dramatic, Saban said. He admitted senior quarterback Blake Sims could probably do well in a Wishbone offense because of his mobility and history with running the option in high school, but he'd have to learn a completely new offense.
"The most insecure people in the world are assistant coaches," Saban said. "I hate to talk about them like that. I love them. I was that way when I was an assistant. You always want to please the head coach and all that kind of stuff. Well they never want to put (backups) in and to me I just have confidence in players. The guy practiced, he's ready to play, we feel like he can play winning football, so we just say we're going to put him in the game.
"Now I haven't decided when that's going to be in this game but I'd rather decided that this is how we're going to do it before we ever go out there because that's really the only way you give a guy a fair opportunity. He knows when he's going to go out there and he can be ready to go out there and we can go from there."
Florida State investigating Jameis Winston, attorney says
"They assured us that the Title IX process was going to move forward," said John Clune, a Title IX attorney representing the woman. "The interview went pretty well. I think it was a positive experience, and everyone felt like the university was taking it very seriously."
Clune said the lengthy interview with his client gave FSU more information than it previously had from the Tallahassee police department investigation. He said FSU officials interviewed two other people but that he does not know if Winston has been interviewed.
Kind of odd that they gave "more information" to the school than they gave to the police department. I can't really imagine why that would be. At any rate, I hope that the school will do right by this and react according to their findings, whatever they might be.
Videos
Hey Coach! with Nick Saban
Safety Nick Perry