Tuscaloosa, AL... August 5,2010
A New Beginning...of a Real Live EA Sports Dynasty
What makes this year so special? Here we are, only a few years removed from the "Shula's On the Job Training" experiment,to a legit 2009 BCS MNC Champs. We have come a long way from feeling embarrassed to wear anything Alabama out in public, to actually not being afraid to have others say "Bama's Back!". Also improved is that we are dominating our in state rival in all phases, on the field, and off the field in recruiting. Auburn likes to ride around in limos to get recruits excited, while our coach simply sells , and I quote CNS....."Our coaches have over 57 years NFL coaching experience, why the hell do we need to ride around in limousines? If you ask me what I am selling to recruits, well, that's what we sell!" The biggest thing most Tide fans have noticed about what CNS does, is he finds the best talent in the nation to run his defense. A lot of people in the sports media are lamenting the difference in last years defense and how many went to the NFL ,to this years defense and how we will be playing catch up in alot of games. I think we will surprise alot more people than we did last year. They said the same thing last year about all the guys the offense lost to the NFL along the line, and the next thing you know, we have our first Heisman winner running behind that rag-tag offensive line, a line that DOMINATED more than they got dominated. Coach Pendry is one of kind, and I believe the best O-line coach in the nation, and I'm not so sure that CNS can keep his staff intact after this year. With success breeds advancement for all those around CNS, and usually other schools come calling and he will be looking to find the next great position coaches out there. I am sure Kirby Smart will be leaving and I am pretty sure McElwain will be courted also. That's why I think this year will be a show of how well we coach up our defense and how we unleash our offensive potential, and I don't think it will look much different from an NFL expansion team. On offense, big things are expected from an unit that contains a Heisman winner, a potential Heisman winner, a first round NFL caliber WR in Julio Jones when healthy, steady blocking from the O-line and a pretty good TE in Preston Dial. The bar was raised when Bama was playing to their potential vs UF in the SECCG. That is the Crimson Tide I want to see, all the time, all season. The biggest question will be........
HOW GOOD IS OUR DEFENSE????
This, luckily for us, is what CNS lives for. He is a Def. Coordinator/NFL Talent Scout parading as a NCAA Coach on the sideline of Gods Gift to the BCS. He has been sowing the seeds the past 3 yrs in recruiting for this moment, this year. These are all his players, and the nation will see how good he really is in coaching young, talented, inexperienced players to their potential. It will be freaking scary. Most teams only have a few NFL-caliber athletes, mainly sprinkled throughout the skill positions. I think people will slowly realize that most of his NFL talent is on the Def. side of the ball. I have watched Alabama football for well over 30+ years now, have friends that were at Alabama during the Dubose years, and even though a few NFL players came from that time frame and I know them personally, even they say THIS team and the next few years under Nick Saban will be the most glory Bama has seen in well over 30 yrs. A few LB's and DB's starting from those years told me if they were 18 again, and coming into this team as a recruit, they would have to put twice the work ethic to crack the lineup as a starter, more work than they did when in college , because the talent pool is so deep and they said they just did enough to get by on while at Bama, and that was the attitude the coaching staff had. They also feel it would have helped them get a higher ranking in the Draft since CNS is so respected in picking players to play in his system, that when they get to the NFL, they have the more complex schemes down, even as a rookie. They simply don't have bad habits, and they know how to read an offense. People say we are paper thin at DB's, and I won't argue that. What we are thin in is experience. That will be handled by the 5th game.
I think our offense will help our defense this year by controlling the tempo of the game. Hell, if we can control the tempo of the game vs. Florida in the SECCG, we can control anybody.Period. We run the ball. At will. If Florida cant stop us, why should Penn St? LSU? South Carolina? Is there any defenses in the SEC that stopped us last year that is "stacked" this year? We ran the ball down Florida's throat for 9 freaking minutes in the 3rd quarter, and beat the living hell outta them in a slow torture march down the field. It sucked the will to win out of them and MADE THEM QUIT. I think that will be our Method of Operation for this year. Just run the ball. Inside, outside, screen pass, play action to Julio, Hanks or Maze down the sideline or over the top. TD. Kickoff. Make the other offense go 3 and out. Rinse. Repeat.
I think many fans are more excited that we have options on offense now. Do you not remember when the few best players on offense in Sabans first year was DJ Hall and Andre Smith, maybe JPW? How bout defense? Wallace Gilberry and Simeon Castille? For opposing defenses vs Alabama for this year, it is all about stopping the run.
How do you stop something that cannot be stopped? Lets say you set up to stop Ingram, but then #3 is in the backfield, try and stop him. Lets say you go 8-9 in the box on 2nd and 4. Who is gonna double team Julio? Single coverage is just giving us an automatic 7-10 yrds before the catch, and another 5-6 after the catch because the DB is gonna need help riding him down. Hell, if your set up to double team Julio, who is gonna help on deep coverage with Maze, or in the middle with Hanks? McElroy should be on target this year, and he was pretty efficient last year, connecting on some deep balls with all receivers. I promise you, with Greg playing like he can play and executing plays like he did in the SECCG, it could be the offense that overshadows the defense for sure, and I think the match up we all are looking forward to is Arkansas.
This is Ryan Mallets 2nd yr under Petrino, and he is your prototypical NFL QB, with a cannon for an arm, and talented receivers to throw to. Our plan would be exactly like last year, except we will be faster off the edge and playing with bigger DB's this year that will match up with his WR's. Plus their defense cant tackle.
EXHIBIT A:
Arkansas was doing an admirable job up until this point, then a 5 yrd loss all of sudden turned into a 52yrd scamper for 6pts after about 60 people decided to play "pitch up and smear" with Trent Richardson. They hit him straight on, bounced off, then he did some sort of back flip, a somersault, some sort of break dance move where he spun on his helmet like a top, did a ninja kick, then his feet transformed into jets and he flew about 3 inches off the ground into the end zone. I am pretty sure he moonwalked into the endzone for style points. This year, that will be a penalty and the play will be null and void. Trust me, if that happens and a ref throws a flag like that in a close game....OMG! First ref death in 30 yrs......
The Gauntlet
Something new for this year that we hadnt had to face in as many years as I can remember, is playing 6 teams coming off of a "Bye-Week". This could get interesting. An extra week of preparation seemed to help Tenn and Auburn last year get ready for us, since we seemed to either struggled with them or were overlooking them, but I think that won't be the problem this year. We shall see. I dont think we can go through that many games unscathed, either recordwise or injurywise....what do you think?
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