Next year’s draft could eclipse 2013′s numbers
Putting nine members of the same team into the same NFL draft class is no small feat – but it’s one that Alabama might top in a year’s time. Casting an eye towards the 2014 NFL Draft, Alabama fans might see as many as 14 or 15 Alabama players taken. A lot will be determined, obviously, by the junior seasons of some of Alabama’s draft-eligible underclassmen. From the senior class alone, Alabama could see 8 players called to the podium.
There is always a debate as to the importance of A-Day from the perspective of what translates and doesn’t translate to the field in the fall. On one hand, both offenses and defenses are very vanilla. A good comparison would be postseason all-star games like the Senior Bowl, where, for the sake of simplicity in understanding, defenses are often limited to a certain combination of looks and coverages. The frenetic blitz packages designed by Nick Saban and defensive coordinator Kirby Smart rarely make an appearance in this game.
Continue reading …
Over the last three years, TideFans.com and NARCAS have taken a look back at old recruiting rankings, partially as a self-check, but also to see how players had progressed since arriving on campus. The mark of a “great” class, five years after the fact, is generally considered appropriate when between 55 to 60 percent of the class becomes a front-line contributor at some point over the course of their career (“front-line contributor” defined as being a starter, or a second-teamer with a key role).
Continue reading …
In the end, time – and health issues brought about by the march of it – was Mal Moore’s inevitable enemy. In time, the nearly 60-year legacy of one of Alabama’s most faithful servants may come to be fully appreciated. Moore remains under a doctor’s care, in need of prayers and no longer Alabama’s athletic director. One of Moore’s former Alabama teammates, Bill Battle, has been tapped to replace him. Or, at least, succeed him.
Continue reading …
The arrival of spring football is always heralded in the state of Alabama as the start of football’s “third season,” following the actual schedule and the two months when recruiting feels like a competitive endeavor in and of itself.
Continue reading …Spring football preview: Returning experience may be deceiving as Alabama goes for third straight title
March 17, 2013 1 Comment
For a team that lost only a few seniors over the offseason, along with a modest number of early entrants into the 2013 NFL Draft, the 2013 Alabama Crimson Tide doesn’t necessarily feel like a veteran team heading for an inevitable third straight BCS National Championship.
Continue reading …
The Crimson Tide followed up national championship No. 15 last month with another recruiting national championship this month. Alabama signed the top class in the country, just as it did last year, which means for anyone wishing for a Tide backslide, it won’t happen due to a regression in the total talent level anytime soon.
Continue reading …BCS wrap-up: Alabama, not Notre Dame, wakes up the echoes of past domination
January 8, 2013 10 Comments
At some point in the next few weeks, after the confetti has been cleared from Sun Life Stadium and the mainstream media’s focus finally diverts from its much-preferred Notre Dame, the question will be asked whether this is the greatest era in Alabama football history.
Continue reading …
Alabama has but one win in its history against Notre Dame, and that game – played in the middle of a regular season 20-something years ago against a bad Irish team – was cause for such momentous remembrance that Alabama LB Cornelius Bennett’s career was advanced several notches (and artist Daniel Moore’s career launched) as the result of a vicious sack of Irish QB Steve Beuerlein. For a program that prides itself on not rushing the field after wins or assigning too much importance to individual victories, most Alabama fans who were alive for that game can still tell you exactly where they were at several points in the afternoon.
Continue reading …
A-Day wrap-up: Some questions left unanswered after sloppy game
April 20, 2013 1 CommentAs it often seems to be the case, A-Day 2013 turned more into a discussion of what Alabama has left to do than what it has already accomplished.
Several questions were left unanswered after a game that was, frankly, sloppy and a bit disorganized. Alabama turned the ball over eight times and two other fumbles were recovered by the offense, while quarterbacks appeared ready to throw into any coverage rather than take a two-hand-touch sack.
Share this: