Jumbo Package: Wednesday, April 12th

Why Alabama could go deep under Brian Daboll in 2017

But with Brian Daboll now directing the Tide's offense, Hurts may be asked to stretch the field. Although Hurts said Daboll "doesn't want to change too much," the coordinator has his own philosophy and it involves using the ground attack to set up high-impact, vertical throws.

In the scrimmage, Saban noted that there were "a lot of big plays, a lot of explosive plays throwing the ball, especially play-action passes."

In an article by Pro Football Focus that was published in 2012 before Daboll called his first game for the Kansas City Chiefs, the website's author examined Daboll's previous three seasons as an NFL coordinator and wrote that in 2011 with the Miami Dolphins he "has been more liberal with his pass game, as shown by a lower completion rate, a higher depth of throw, and a higher sack rate." That year, according to STATS LLC, the club's quarterback, Matt Moore, threw 52 passes of 21 or more air yards -- tied for the 12th-highest total in the NFL even though he started only 12 games that season.

The impact of Brian Daboll and how he’ll tailor the offense around Jalen Hurts has been discussed ad nauseam across every Alabama football website out there, but most have been trying to figure out how he will mix the remnants of Lane Kiffin’s offense with a similar offense to what the Patriots have run with Tom Brady.

But this study from when Daboll was actually calling the plays a few years back, he showed a tendency to want to throw deep off of play-action.

With the speed of Calvin Ridley and Robert Foster, plus the height of Cam Sims, if Daboll and Hurts can put together a decent vertical strategy to get the ball to the aforementioned pass catchers, then the offense could transcend to another level.

The Alabama players generating the most buzz this spring

Alabama coaches feel like Hurts has gotten significantly better during the last year.

The sophomore has had a good spring and continued to improve, especially in the passing game.

Hurts threw four touchdowns and didn’t have any interceptions during the Crimson Tide’s first spring scrimmage on Saturday.

“Everything's improved,” Hurts said last week. “Everything's gotten better. Right after the championship game, I said 'My season starts on the 10th.’ And, on the 10th, coach Saban got in touch with me and was like 'OK, this is what we need to improve on.' And we've been working on it ever since the 10th of January."

Speaking of Jalen Hurts, all indications are that he’s made strides so far this spring. As fans, it’s hard to really know for sure just how he’s doing until we see the results live, so all eyes will be on the passing game in a couple of weeks for A-day.

The article also has some quotes and tidbits on Tua Tagovailoa, Joshua Jacobs, Robert Foster, Jerry Jeudy, Irv Smith, Matt Womack, Isaiah Buggs, Terrell Hall, Rashaan Evans, and Trevon Diggs, if you want to give it a click.

Watch out, Kentucky: Alabama looks to be coming for Cats QB commit, again

Kentucky certainly hopes this isn’t a Mac Jones scenario all over again. Jones, a pro-style quarterback out of Jacksonville, Fla., originally committed to Kentucky on July 27, 2015. Alabama offered Jones on April 10, 2016, and managed to get him to flip his commitment and pledge to the Crimson Tide on June 7. Jones stuck with that commitment and enrolled early at UA. The Wildcats have also lost out to the Crimson Tide in recent recruiting battles for elite Bluegrass State prospects RB Damien Harris and OL Jedrick Wills.

Williams, a Central Gwinnet (Lawrenceville, Ga.) product measuring 6-foot-2, 206 pounds, is rated the No. 18 dual-threat quarterback and the No. 49 Georgia recruit by the 247Sports Composite.

Kentucky’s recruiting has picked up the last few years, but Alabama has managed to snag quite a few top players right from underneath the Wildcats’ grasp such as Jedrick Wills, Mac Jones, and, most notably, Damien Harris.

Jarren Williams just might be the next in line for the honor, and the Tide could always use a quarterback in each class.

New Alabama left tackle shares trick behind position swap

At star at right tackle as a freshman, Williams made the move to the other side this spring. That's not uncommon. To help with that transition, however, the sophomore got clever.

The right hander started doing every-day activities with his left hand.

Eating, writing, whatever. Left hand.

"It's going well," Williams said. "Some of my friends remind me to put the fork back in my left hand when I'm eating or something like that. But for the most part it's going well."

It was more of a personal challenge than an assignment from coaches. It was a matter of making the movements smooth and fluid

Not all of it stuck.

Penmanship suffered.

"No, I gave up that pretty quick when I was graded on the assignments," Williams said with a grin. "But I can do most things, it's just the really fine motor skills that are going to take a while to do if I keep working on that."

Many offensive linemen, though versatile and can play tackle or guard, end up only being able to play on one side. Former Tide left tackle, James Carpenter, after moving on to the NFL, tried to make the transition to right tackle and ended up failing before moving back to left guard and going on to earn a huge 2nd contract. He publicly stated that he just really struggled to flip his motions on the opposite side of the line.

If Jonah Williams is able to make the transition with his left handed work this offseason, it would be a huge boon to the line next fall.