These are observations from a former Bama OL who went to the scrimmage last saturday. FWIW
Went to the scrimmage yesterday with friend. We both thought the the scrimmage was very bad. There was zero intensity and physical hitting going on. Alot of JPW's passes that were completed were due to the fact the the QB's could not be hit or sacked. Here is a rundown by position.
QB's-The Darrah kid has an outstanding arm. the best on the team by far and I did see some things out of him that showed alot of promise. JPW will be the starter, but he looks to still be struggling with alot of the same things he did last year.
Screen passes and short passes to the RB's being the main problems with him.
Fannuzzi and GM are not a threat at this point to push JPW at all.
RB's-Upchurch showed some flashes yesterday of being the complete RB you need to win in the SEC, but CNS has already said why he does not get to play very much, so i will leave it at that. Grant looked like Grant a few times in space, but just like last year, we are going into the season w/o a bigtime SEC RB. This is one area that we need help from the recruits.
WR-McCoy is a player and Hanks will help us this year. Saw some good potential out of Jackson, but again, you can see 2-3 of the freshman playing here real quick. Very few play makers or deep threats.
TE's-this is one area that we are starting to develope some SEC type players at.
Walker has improved as a receiver and Underwood has talent to spare. Saw some flashes from Dial and Peek. If they put the Williams kid at TE, we will be loaded.
OL. RT is a huge problem. The media can make up all the nice things about the two kids playing there right now all they want to, but I think we will see a freshman there or Caldwell/Johnson come Clemson. The rest of the starters look very good to me. Seeing Andre up close yesterday, he is about 345 lbs and not near as sloppy looking as the TI photo made him out to be.What a talent he is.
Valchos and Ross looked good at OG's at 2nd team.
DL-I think Dareus and Lewis have a chance to play right away. We will be ok vs the run, but have zero pass rush guys right now. Chapman, Deadrick and Washington are pretty good, but we need one more legit DE and Greenwood is still not it. Rolando, Jackson and Rashadd are all SEC type players, but after that you can see the drop off. Fanney needs a lot of work too. Chavis Williams has lots of potential, just needs to get bigger. Rolando is the only SEC LB I saw on the field yesterday.
DB's-We really have a few good players at DB. Johnson and Jackson are NFL type players. Arenas and M.Johnson caught my eye as well. We will be very good at DB when Barron and Lawrence are added to the mix.
I got to meet new OC Jim Mc. yesterday. He is a high energy guy. He was very subdued about our talent level. to say he was shocked at what he found in Ttown would be an understatement. I told him that I thought one of the young wr's would be pretty good and he said "that guy will be a 4th wr type player" meaning he will never be higher that the 4th wr in the rotation. If we can have that kind of talent where this kid is the 4th wr, we will be ok in a few years. Jim Mc. will be a great recruiter and is a "in ya face" type coach.
We need football players in a bad way at alot of positions, but CNS will get them.
Our Special teams look like they could be some of the best in the SEC this year.
Went to the scrimmage yesterday with friend. We both thought the the scrimmage was very bad. There was zero intensity and physical hitting going on. Alot of JPW's passes that were completed were due to the fact the the QB's could not be hit or sacked. Here is a rundown by position.
QB's-The Darrah kid has an outstanding arm. the best on the team by far and I did see some things out of him that showed alot of promise. JPW will be the starter, but he looks to still be struggling with alot of the same things he did last year.
Screen passes and short passes to the RB's being the main problems with him.
Fannuzzi and GM are not a threat at this point to push JPW at all.
RB's-Upchurch showed some flashes yesterday of being the complete RB you need to win in the SEC, but CNS has already said why he does not get to play very much, so i will leave it at that. Grant looked like Grant a few times in space, but just like last year, we are going into the season w/o a bigtime SEC RB. This is one area that we need help from the recruits.
WR-McCoy is a player and Hanks will help us this year. Saw some good potential out of Jackson, but again, you can see 2-3 of the freshman playing here real quick. Very few play makers or deep threats.
TE's-this is one area that we are starting to develope some SEC type players at.
Walker has improved as a receiver and Underwood has talent to spare. Saw some flashes from Dial and Peek. If they put the Williams kid at TE, we will be loaded.
OL. RT is a huge problem. The media can make up all the nice things about the two kids playing there right now all they want to, but I think we will see a freshman there or Caldwell/Johnson come Clemson. The rest of the starters look very good to me. Seeing Andre up close yesterday, he is about 345 lbs and not near as sloppy looking as the TI photo made him out to be.What a talent he is.
Valchos and Ross looked good at OG's at 2nd team.
DL-I think Dareus and Lewis have a chance to play right away. We will be ok vs the run, but have zero pass rush guys right now. Chapman, Deadrick and Washington are pretty good, but we need one more legit DE and Greenwood is still not it. Rolando, Jackson and Rashadd are all SEC type players, but after that you can see the drop off. Fanney needs a lot of work too. Chavis Williams has lots of potential, just needs to get bigger. Rolando is the only SEC LB I saw on the field yesterday.
DB's-We really have a few good players at DB. Johnson and Jackson are NFL type players. Arenas and M.Johnson caught my eye as well. We will be very good at DB when Barron and Lawrence are added to the mix.
I got to meet new OC Jim Mc. yesterday. He is a high energy guy. He was very subdued about our talent level. to say he was shocked at what he found in Ttown would be an understatement. I told him that I thought one of the young wr's would be pretty good and he said "that guy will be a 4th wr type player" meaning he will never be higher that the 4th wr in the rotation. If we can have that kind of talent where this kid is the 4th wr, we will be ok in a few years. Jim Mc. will be a great recruiter and is a "in ya face" type coach.
We need football players in a bad way at alot of positions, but CNS will get them.
Our Special teams look like they could be some of the best in the SEC this year.
