| FTBL 🏈 Fall camp: 2024: News & Notes 🐘

Brandon Van de Graaff said:
QB- The staff has been really pleased with the group as a whole... all of them have responded well to the new scheme and the coaching. Obviously, Jalen Milroe is the Man, and his leadership since day 1 of the DeBoer era hasn't gone unnoticed by anyone in the facility. There is a strong belief that he's going to be playing with much more confidence this year, which is when he's at his best. Potential wise, his ceiling is just as high or higher than Penix come draft night. I said last season that people in scouting told me that Milroe could well be one of the first QB's off the board, that hasn't changed other than he's now in an even friendlier offense with an offensive minded head coach.Ty Simpson is the clear #2 heading into the fall... he too has shown a good attitude and already has a good grasp of the scheme. He's a guy the staff would feel very comfortable with if the need arises for him to take over. In the new scheme, DeBoer doesn't ask the QB to go through a lot of progressions... Most plays are 2 or less with a lot of play-action mixed in to stress the defense, along with pre-snap motion, something that caused even Saban's defense fits at times. Lastly, while we won't know until we know, I personally think the helmet communication will be very beneficial for Milroe, especially when they are going fast and the comms stay on. Other than Texas, it's hard to find a better 1-2 combo on the depth chart at QB.
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Day one: the QB's were going against a wind that occasionally blew more than 5 mph. 🤷‍♂️

I don't mean this with any hint of criticism towards the Saban regime and how they handled the QB room. It comes back to the first week of the DeBoer hire; a radical change in the building.

I want to use the phrase, "free to make mistakes," but that's not quite accurate: but it is. Last season Ty practiced with a corn cob up his ass; worried about this mistake, or that mistake. I'm not implying disciplined play has been set aside, but "playing" has been placed higher on the "food pyramid."

It plays into Milroe's mental make-up. It's allowed Ty to play with more freedom. In a round-about way, it's also toned down some "external influences."
 
Brandon Van de Graaff said:
ILB- Speaking of Campbell, moving him around makes sense, he's that gifted of a player athletically. But robbing Peter to pay Paul doesn't always make the most sense, and ILB (Stinger in this defense) is his home for good reason. Deontae Lawson beside him at the Mike spot makes for quite the duo and really gives Bama that traditional athletic and physical presence in the middle that we've all come to know and love. Justin Jefferson is a more than capable backup. Justin Okoronkwo, Jeremiah Alexander and the other younger players need to develop quickly though... It's a long season, and at some point, depth here will come into play.
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Wommack essentially said "JJ is considered a starter" today. That leads me to believe there's a personnel package with Jihad sliding outside and JJ coming in for his "original position."

I saw Jake Long's name came up the other day. Morrell has been coaching the ILB's in practice.
 
TerryP said:
Day one: the QB's were going against a wind that occasionally blew more than 5 mph. 🤷‍♂️

I don't mean this with any hint of criticism towards the Saban regime and how they handled the QB room. It comes back to the first week of the DeBoer hire; a radical change in the building.

I want to use the phrase, "free to make mistakes," but that's not quite accurate: but it is. Last season Ty practiced with a corn cob up his ass; worried about this mistake, or that mistake. I'm not implying disciplined play has been set aside, but "playing" has been placed higher on the "food pyramid."

It plays into Milroe's mental make-up. It's allowed Ty to play with more freedom. In a round-about way, it's also toned down some "external influences."
Click to expand...
Nothing beats going out there relaxed and just letting it fly! Mistakes need to be made now in order to learn before the games get here! Homer Smith used to put all of his QBs behind the QB running plays in 7v7. We had to “pull the trigger” on who we were throwing it to and know why and be able to tell him why!!
 
TerryP said:
Wommack essentially said "JJ is considered a starter" today. That leads me to believe there's a personnel package with Jihad sliding outside and JJ coming in for his "original position."

I saw Jake Long's name came up the other day. Morrell has been coaching the ILB's in practice.
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More than likely will happen at some point during the season. Did it under Sabans tenure numerous times, and was successful in doing so. That's what I like about running odd fronts.... it allows you to be multiple in what you run, how you position players. Its fun.
And do you know whether or not Jake Long is still on the team? I've looked for two days, and can't find shit. Thanks in advance.
 
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UAgrad93 said:
Nothing beats going out there relaxed and just letting it fly! Mistakes need to be made now in order to learn before the games get here! Homer Smith used to put all of his QBs behind the QB running plays in 7v7. We had to “pull the trigger” on who we were throwing it to and know why and be able to tell him why!!
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Both approaches to a QB room work, in my opinion. But, the "attitude" of this QB room is a lot more inviting to kids that want to play the game.

On another note, but related. The timing of #LANK can't be ignored. What started last season has turned into a mantra about that building. One of the most impressive things I've seen about this change in leadership is how they embraced, then RAN with, Jalen and #LANK.
 
Brandon Van de Graaff said:
DL- Another deep position group, this one with a solid mixture of experienced and talented players. A healthy Jehiem Oatis is a very valuable commodity with Tim Keenan backing him up. Then you've got Damon Payne, Tim Smith, LT Overton, Jah-Marien Latham, and James Smith who are all pretty stout players as well... and that's a pretty good group to carry into a long SEC season. James Smith just needs to find his consistency, which will come with time, but his potential runneth over. Jordan Renaud is in the same boat... he just needs time and reps. The staff is expecting this unit to be the strength of the defense, and if they can live up to those expectations, they'll really take some pressure off the young secondary. There's also some really promising younger guys waiting their turn, would not be shocking if one of them came out of nowhere late in the season and proved to be ready for the bigtime... a guy like Hunter Osborne? Jeremiah Beaman?
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This may be a little before your time. Do you remember the "Flex D" that Landry fielded in Dallas? It's not the greatest analogy, except for the 'flex' part. I know. Two practices. The flexibility I'm hearing about on the DL? It sorta reminds me of when we saw the 'Rabbits package' introduced. Except, this one has more meat in the middle.

I got this feeling that the defense would put Levi's ™️ out of business. I don't see the pockets lasting long.
 
musso said:
Honestly I thought the summary undersold the DE/Edge position group. While it lacks veteran experience, I see elite talent. Lots of 4 and 5 * dudes with length and power.
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From my perspective, you both are right. I see cautious optimism with Brandon's thoughts on the position.

I can see seven, maybe eight guys that can contribute from the "Wolf" or "Bandit" positions. I know the staff has spent a lot of extra time working with guys like Qua and Keeley because they see the potential. It's all the way down to guys like Renaud.

I've watched a fair amount of clips from Wommack's time at IU and USA. I think I have a decent feel for what they are going to do...still, it's something we're going to have to sit back and watch.

IF anything...I look for the defense to start playing from the minute the ball is kicked...not the second quarter where they finally find their footing.
 
TerryP said:
From my perspective, you both are right. I see cautious optimism with Brandon's thoughts on the position.

I can see seven, maybe eight guys that can contribute from the "Wolf" or "Bandit" positions. I know the staff has spent a lot of extra time working with guys like Qua and Keeley because they see the potential. It's all the way down to guys like Renaud.

I've watched a fair amount of clips from Wommack's time at IU and USA. I think I have a decent feel for what they are going to do...still, it's something we're going to have to sit back and watch.

IF anything...I look for the defense to start playing from the minute the ball is kicked...not the second quarter where they finally find their footing.
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I expect us to make few mistakes early on before getting settled in. I think by November, Defense will be very very good.
 
Justneedme81 said:
I expect us to make few mistakes early on before getting settled in. I think by November, Defense will be very very good.
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Hopefully we are playing at high level defensively earlier than that. Start off with two good offenses who could cause problems to our secondary. Wisconsin, and then the big one against Georgia. We'll still do some things schematically that we did under Saban, but there are concepts that will be be completely new to these guy's this season. So, we'll likely be going through some growing pains the first few games due to it(especially in the secondary). My hope is that as they get more and more reps, they start getting this defense down and playing with confidence in doing their jobs. We've got a lot of talent, experience, and depth on this team this season.... so I'm excited to see how they progress throughout the season.
 

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