🏈 2020 Fall Camp Thread (Final scrimmage of 2020: Saturday afternoon.)

He hasn't shown the ability to hit guys in stride like Tua, but he's certainly got one hell of a deep ball. He struggled last season on throws that were within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage (roughly 60%.) There's a reason they were working on the short an intermediate routes. It's that number right there.

I don't want to fall into Tua vs Mac: apples and oranges, but I will for a second here.

Going back to the 0-10 yard range:
  • Tagovailoa: 165-for-231 (71%), 2,147 yards, 26 TD, 3 INT, 9.3 yds/att, 11.0 AY/A, 94.0 QBR
  • Jones: 26-for-44 (59%), 308 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT, 7.0 yds/att, 5.9 AY/A, 26.1 QBR

11-20 yard range the numbers flip:
  • Tagovailoa: 84-for-138 (61%), 1,775 yards, 19 TD, 4 INT, 12.9 yds/att, 14.3 AY/A, 96.0 QBR
  • Jones: 21-for-29 (72%), 533 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT, 18.4 yds/att, 19.6 AY/A, 99.5 QBR

Now, we go over 20 yards and we're flipping again:
  • Tagovailoa: 45-for-82 (55%), 1,793 yards, 23 TD, 2 INT, 21.9 yds/att, 26.4 AY/A, 99.9 QBR
  • Jones: 7-for-17 (41%), 309 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT, 18.2 yds/att, 22.9 AY/A, 90.7 QBR

Apples and oranges with any quarterback here. A 99.9 QBR? That's why he's a first rounder. That's a number, even at 61%, that's in a category of itself.

But bro, 90.7? That's quality work.
Are those number traveled through the air throws?
 
Any news on my guy Demouy Kennedy?! Or Chris Braswell?
Your guy? 😁

I believe we're going to have to wait and see how the rotation works itself out. "Your guy" started off this fall with Allen and McMillon in front of him and that's not even considering Kaho.

Some will say Braswell is going to back up Allen while other have Anderson there. Like Kennedy, there's depth they have to make their way through.

There's five name there and we haven't mentioned Moses, Lee, Moody, or the two Harris's.
 
Kevin Harris and King Mwikwuta are going to be the most quickly forgotten LBs in team history.

Suddenly, OLB is loaded with depth. Davis and Allen are at #1s, and there are 4 elite freshmen getting tons of discussion.


What else were the big takewaways from the scrimmage? Brian Branch going to win a starting gig at STAR as a true frosh?
 


Here is what Saban said Saturday:

-- The second scrimmage was more “game-like” than the first scrimmage and featured “30-something plays” that included kicking situations, turnovers, etc. The team later said there were 133 plays in the scrimmage.

-- Saban said he was “very pleased” with the offense in the scrimmage and it was “pretty efficient." He said the offensive line has played “really, really well” and both quarterbacks, Mac Jones and Bryce Young, “played well” in the scrimmage. He added DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle are both playing “extremely well” and the other receivers are “coming along and playing very, very well.” He said he has been “very impressed” with his running backs, including younger ones who have played well. “We have a lot of good things happening on the offensive side,” he said.

-- Asked specifically about the quarterbacks, Saban said both were efficient, had good completion percentages and threw for some explosive plays in critical situations. He said the third-down offense was good, which reflects well on quarterbacks' decision making

-- Saban was less effusive in his praise about the defense, saying there were good things in the scrimmage but “a lot of things we need to clean up and improve on.” He noted the defense is less experienced and they need to learn to play together and communicate. “I think that’s something that we’ll continue to get better at,” he said.

-- Saban said sophomore Justin Eboigbe has been the “most consistent” of the younger defensive linemen. “All those guys have made a lot of progress,” Saban said. “But we’ve got to get these guys to be good all-around players. We got to get them to be able to rush the passer. Some of them play the run; got to improve rushing the passer. We’ve got some guys who rush the passer well; they’ve got to improve on playing the run. It’s kind of a group effort to get that group continuing to improve.”

- Defensive lineman Christian Barmore will be “out for a few days” with a knee injury, Saban said. “Not significant, not serious.” He did not participate in the scrimmage. “He’s done really, really well," Saban said of Barmore. ”He has been one of our best pass rushers."

-- Saban said DeMarrco Hellams has played the ‘money’ position as well as freshman Brian Branch. “We’re very, very thin in the secondary. We don’t have a lot of depth. We’ve got a lot of young players and it’s very difficult to train them at multiple positions,” Saban said. “We’re trying to use this time to be able to do that. Whether we can continue that throughout the season, that remains to be seen." Saban said he feels good about the top defensive unit but, “it’s going to be a work in progress developing these younger players who have made extreme progress -- I’m really pleased with them -- but I just know from past experience that when you try to get, especially when the season starts and things change from week to week, you get young players to play multiple positions and they don’t have a lot of experience to draw from, it makes it very difficult for them," Saban added.

-- Saban said the specialists have done “really, really well" and a “couple of the punters” have been “pretty consistent.” Sophomore Will Reichard was 4-of-5 and missed about a 55-yard field goal, Saban said. “He’s been doing really well,” he said.

-- Saban said he is “certainly not at all disappointed in the progress” the team has made to this point.

-- Saban: “It’s very important that our players buy into the culture of what has helped us be successful here for a long, long time. That’s the intangibles that we play with, the work ethic that we have, the discipline that we play with, the toughness, the effort and people having a great sense of urgency about how important it is to do their job so that their unit, their team -- our team -- has a chance to be successful. That means we have to play to a standard. It’s not really anybody else’s standard, it’s our standard. I think everybody has to buy into that, buy into the team having success and winning is very important. ... Most of the time, if you do that, you create tremendous value for yourself individually."

-- When practice resumes Tuesday, Alabama will focus on its early opponents -- it opens the season against Missouri, Texas A&M and Ole Miss -- and will need a “sense of urgency,” Saban said.
 
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