🏈 Any Update on Darius?

[planomateo]

we aren't defending anything, haven't you listened to Saban

 

[TerryP]

Oh man. What a way to start defending the title. I know it's only San Jose State, but I sure do feel sick right now. First, the NCAA is dragging out the whole Marcel issue, just like they did last season with that stupid fishing bs involving Mark and Julio. Then Ingram gets injured. I have lots of confidence in Trent, but I just have a bad feeling that Mark is done for the season. There is something not adding up about all this. I hope I'm wrong, but my gut tells me that there is more to this issue than meets the eye.

There's not...just got to take my word for it at this point.

 

[AlabamaAubKiller]

I'd be fibing if i said the lack of Marcel & Mark doesnt worry me.
I doubt either of them will not be back by the time the team gets to Fayetteville Ark. to face the hogs.
I don't see Mark being out the whole season, but if he is....that just means he'll be back next year for his Sr. season.

 

[Duder]

I'd be fibing if i said the lack of Marcel & Mark doesnt worry me.
I doubt either of them will not be back by the time the team gets to Fayetteville Ark. to face the hogs.
I don't see Mark being out the whole season, but if he is....that just means he'll be back next year for his Sr. season.

I'd be more concerned with the loss of Dareus than Ingram. Dareus would be a stabilizing playmaker on that inexperienced (not young) defense. Trent is more than capable of stepping in as the workhorse back right now, having both of them would've just been icing on the cake. The frosh behind Richardson would concern me a bit but remember, Ingram and Richardson played quite well as freshmen too.

As a random aside, I also think there is a greater chance of losing Dareus for an extended amount of time, not necessarily the season, but a suspension seems likely. If he is back by Arkansas or Florida it wouldn't be the end of the world. It sure would be nice to have your pass rusher for the two offenses that will look to test a new secondary.

 

[AlabamaAubKiller]

I'd be more concerned with the loss of Dareus than Ingram. Dareus would be a stabilizing playmaker on that inexperienced (not young) defense. Trent is more than capable of stepping in as the workhorse back right now, having both of them would've just been icing on the cake. The frosh behind Richardson would concern me a bit but remember, Ingram and Richardson played quite well as freshmen too.

As a random aside, I also think there is a greater chance of losing Dareus for an extended amount of time, not necessarily the season, but a suspension seems likely. If he is back by Arkansas or Florida it wouldn't be the end of the world. It sure would be nice to have your pass rusher for the two offenses that will look to test a new secondary.

Shouldn't you be more concerned with what's going on with Alabama Poly Tech Inst. than what's going on in Tusclaoosa?

 

[TerryP]

Can we return to normal programming....as in, this thread is about Marcel?

 

[Oiler99]

I'd be more concerned with the loss of Dareus than Ingram. Dareus would be a stabilizing playmaker on that inexperienced (not young) defense. Trent is more than capable of stepping in as the workhorse back right now, having both of them would've just been icing on the cake. The frosh behind Richardson would concern me a bit but remember, Ingram and Richardson played quite well as freshmen too.

As a random aside, I also think there is a greater chance of losing Dareus for an extended amount of time, not necessarily the season, but a suspension seems likely. If he is back by Arkansas or Florida it wouldn't be the end of the world. It sure would be nice to have your pass rusher for the two offenses that will look to test a new secondary.

If he was going to be suspended, we would have heard by now.

 

[Oiler99]

I'd be fibing if i said the lack of Marcel & Mark doesnt worry me.
I doubt either of them will not be back by the time the team gets to Fayetteville Ark. to face the hogs.
I don't see Mark being out the whole season, but if he is....that just means he'll be back next year for his Sr. season.

Why don't you think Marcel will be back by then? That would mean he would be suspended for nearly half the season. Think it's going to be that serious?

 

[UAgrad93]

I don't think Marcel loses much time if any at all. If he told the truth to everything and about how it came about. I think he is cleared. As far as the DT from UNC goes, I think he may be DONE.

 

[BamaCore]

Why don't you think Marcel will be back by then? That would mean he would be suspended for nearly half the season. Think it's going to be that serious?

That would be a 3 game suspension, which is only 1/4 of a season.

 

[musso]

I also believe you are buying into the media/pundits lines about how many graduated on defense last year. By that, I'm specifically referring to your comment about a "young defense."

Heck...take Chapman as an example. How many games has he played in? Over twenty I know.

Starts? Yeah, we lack those numbers. In game experience? We've got that.

First of all, I follow Bama much too closely and understand the economics of college football and media coverage too well to “buy into” anything that a pundit says. So let me explain my reasoning. I care more about snaps than about starts, and I care more about impact than about experience. Visualize it like this: starts < snaps < impact.

This is what I meant by “young.” As I look at our depth chart, the only players with any recorded tackles from last year at DE are Dareus and Davis. That’s two players out of eight. Oops, scratch that – Square had one recorded tackle before his injury.

At one LB position: Williams had 2 tackles, Watkins 1, <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Atchison</st1lace></st1:City> 0.

At another LB position: Upshaw had 15, Stinson 0, Hubbard 0, <st1lace w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Harbin</st1:City></st1lace> 0.

At another LB position: Hightower 16 (before his injury), Johnson 28, Jordan 12, Smith 0.

At another LB position: Harris 3, Mosley 0, Fowler 0.

At CB only one returns with any tackles: Kirkpatrick 8.

At Safety, only two return with any tackles: Barron 76 (second leading tackler), Lester 8.

Keep in mind also, that these tackling stats include special teams play.

So Terry, this is objective proof of a young, inexperienced defense mostly comprised of players who have made little to zero impact on gameday.

 

[bama4life]

Didn't the NCAA drop his suspension from four games to two? If so, is it really likely they will drop it to one game instead?

 

[Duder]

First of all, I follow Bama much too closely and understand the economics of college football and media coverage too well to “buy into” anything that a pundit says. So let me explain my reasoning. I care more about snaps than about starts, and I care more about impact than about experience. Visualize it like this: starts < snaps < impact.

This is what I meant by “young.” As I look at our depth chart, the only players with any recorded tackles from last year at DE are Dareus and Davis. That’s two players out of eight. Oops, scratch that – Square had one recorded tackle before his injury.

At one LB position: Williams had 2 tackles, Watkins 1, <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Atchison</st1lace></st1:City> 0.

At another LB position: Upshaw had 15, Stinson 0, Hubbard 0, <st1lace w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Harbin</st1:City></st1lace> 0.

At another LB position: Hightower 16 (before his injury), Johnson 28, Jordan 12, Smith 0.

At another LB position: Harris 3, Mosley 0, Fowler 0.

At CB only one returns with any tackles: Kirkpatrick 8.

At Safety, only two return with any tackles: Barron 76 (second leading tackler), Lester 8.

Keep in mind also, that these tackling stats include special teams play.

So Terry, this is objective proof of a young, inexperienced defense mostly comprised of players who have made little to zero impact on gameday.

I believe this may be the best break down of the possible defensive issues Bama may run into this year. Playing in a game is not the same as being a part of the game--if that makes sense.

All that being said I still think Bama's defense will mature on the fly and by the end of the year will be a solid, not great, unit. They will give up more than the 11 points you guys gave up last year but if your offense puts up points and chews up clock at the same clip they did last year, and there is no reason to believe they won't, the defense will not be in a bind when they do make mistakes. The front seven is pretty straight forward--you guys have solid speed and strength. Experience is lacking but it won't hurt as bad up front. The secondary would worry me a bit more. Dre is probably your next great cover corner and Barron was quietly one of the best in the country last year but aside from those two guys it gets murky. Saban runs a pretty complex scheme. He has said himself repeatedly that he would prefer experience over talent. It will be tricky, there will be mistakes made but there is boat loads of talent to make it work.

 

[AlabamaAubKiller]

Why don't you think Marcel will be back by then? That would mean he would be suspended for nearly half the season. Think it's going to be that serious?

Not really i didn't, i meant having BOTH Mark & Darcel. not either or.
worst case for Mark from what i read is Arky game. I really didn't expect anything more than 1 or 2 for Marcel.

 

[LBS]

First of all, I follow Bama much too closely and understand the economics of college football and media coverage too well to “buy into” anything that a pundit says. So let me explain my reasoning. I care more about snaps than about starts, and I care more about impact than about experience. Visualize it like this: starts < snaps < impact.

This is what I meant by “young.” As I look at our depth chart, the only players with any recorded tackles from last year at DE are Dareus and Davis. That’s two players out of eight. Oops, scratch that – Square had one recorded tackle before his injury.

At one LB position: Williams had 2 tackles, Watkins 1, <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Atchison</st1lace></st1:City> 0.

At another LB position: Upshaw had 15, Stinson 0, Hubbard 0, <st1lace w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Harbin</st1:City></st1lace> 0.

At another LB position: Hightower 16 (before his injury), Johnson 28, Jordan 12, Smith 0.

At another LB position: Harris 3, Mosley 0, Fowler 0.

At CB only one returns with any tackles: Kirkpatrick 8.

At Safety, only two return with any tackles: Barron 76 (second leading tackler), Lester 8.

Keep in mind also, that these tackling stats include special teams play.

So Terry, this is objective proof of a young, inexperienced defense mostly comprised of players who have made little to zero impact on gameday.

"Proof" is the most extremes or standards, and I'm not sure that your reached that high.

You took the opportunity to redefine the standards from starts to impact. I would add caviats of my own. Just as starts does not tell the full story, impact last season is not the 100% solution.

The aim is to predict impact this year, yet we handicap the starters because last year they lost playing time to guys who are now Pros. Ours guys performance will be better because they get more snaps, because the opponents are playing without last year's seniors, and because they are good.

Therein lies the best measure, quality of individual relative to the opposing team, not relative to an upper classman. Consider Greg McElroy's number the season before he won the national title. Not Start. Not impact, but quality will tells the story that plays out on the field.

We're good...cause they are all Saban Tested. Saban Approved.