🏈 Live updates: Nick Saban assesses the first Alabama football scrimmage of the spring

[BAMANEWSBOT]

The latest news from Bryant-Denny Stadium.

-- Saban liked the effort and mental toughness out there today. It showed on the field.
-- The "togetherness" on the team is much better this year.
-- Execution could be better, but they made good plays. They ran the ball well and had good intensity on offense. Situational things need work.
-- First team defense was good, but fell off with the second teams.
-- Two injuries: Eddie Jackson hurt his knee on non-contact. He "just came down on his knee funny." Reuben Foster has a stinger. That injury isn't new, he's been dealing with it all spring, Saban said.
-- DeAndrew White injury was with his toe. They're working him back slowly and he won't practice this spring. The rest of the receivers are looking good. Christion Jones and Amari Cooper were the first two names Saban listed.
-- Trey DePriest is having a big spring so far. Good leadership.
-- Tony Brown fell over a hurdle at track practice and reinjured his shoulder (from All-American game). He's wearing a black shirt in practice. "I'm not sure how much more track he'll do this spring."
-- The stats were pretty good for the QBs, Saban said. As a team, they didn't respond well in certain situations. The protection hasn't been where it should be, but every passer is progressing.
-- Blake Sims "has taken command."

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STATS :

Passing

Blake Sims -- 16-23, 227 yards, 2 TDs

Alec Morris -- 9-12, 57 yards

Cooper Bateman -- 14-25, 102 yards

Parker McLeod: No stats provided

David Cornwell: No stats provide

Rushing

T.J. Yeldon -- 7 carries, 20 yards, 1 TD

Derrick Henry -- 12 carries, 40 yards

Kenyan Drake -- 11 carries, 60 yards, 1 TD

Altee Tenpenny -- 13 carries, 40 yards

Tyren Jones -- 10 carries, 49 yards

Receiving

Amari Cooper -- 10 catches, 190 yards, 2 TDs

Christion Jones -- 3 catches, 21 yards

Raheem Falkins -- 2 catches, 21 yards

Cam Sims -- 2 catches, 48 yards

Altee Tenpenny -- 3 catches, 43 yards

Defense

Trey DePriest -- 8 tackles

Denzel Devall -- 5 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 sack

Reggie Ragland -- 5 tackles, 1 sack, 1 pass breakup

Landon Collins -- 4 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 punt block

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[BAMANEWSBOT]

Alabama cornerback Eddie Jackson, linebacker Reuben Foster injured for spring scrimmage

He's been competing for a starting job in Alabama's secondary.



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[BAMANEWSBOT]

Amari Cooper, Trey DePriest among stat leaders from Alabama's 1st spring scrimmage

Alabama media relations releases a few of the top numbers from today's scrimmage.



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[TerryP]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Quick Alabama scrimmage report <a href="http://t.co/i7r7nyHF2g">http://t.co/i7r7nyHF2g</a></p>&mdash; Cliff Kirkpatrick (@COKirkpatrick) <a href="https://twitter.com/COKirkpatrick/statuses/452555916689162240">April 5, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[TerryP]

One thing of note glancing at those stats real quick—no receptions reported for TE's.

 

[BamaFan334]

Obviously this is only the first scrimmage of the year and means not a lot when you talk Fall readiness, but Kenyan Drake has to be on the field more this year. I'm sure more of that is going to sit on his shoulders and him staying out of the dog house, but the guy has what it takes on the field to take us places. He always shows up and performs when he's asked to. Now, he needs to get his act together in the classroom, attitude wise, and wherever else he's having issues, because he could make a ton of money NFL wise for himself this year if he can stay on the field. These numbers let me know he still cares and meant what he said in his Tweet about being with Alabama till the end. Yeldon very well could be the third best back we have, but obviously we need to see a lot more of Henry to make that conclusion. I just see Drake as the guy we need out there first, and let Yeldon spell him. Yeldon's two straight 1,000 yard seasons are nothing to scoff at, just saying Drake has some serious talent. We have to the best backfield in the country by far. Our second and third stringers would still be the best in the entire country.

 

[TerryP]

[MENTION=19550]BamaFan334[/MENTION] FWIW, as of yesterday (Friday) the pecking order (based on drills) was TJ, DH, KD.

Adding to that a bit, but on a different position. In the second post of this thread the AL.com article says Eddie is "competing for..." He's the best we've got on the field right now.

A lot of work in dime this past week had Eddie and Sylve on the corners, Collins and Perry inside at safeties, Geno at "Star" and Jarrick at "Money."

What was interesting, and it very well could be one of those spring experiments, is Dillon Lee was seeing time at the "Money" position.

In dime DePriest has been the lone linebacker.

Second teamers at corner were Cyrus and Tony Brown and Hootie getting reps at the safety position.

 

[bama alum]

A friend of mine told me a little while ago that he heard Eddie Jackson had a torn ACL. Can someone please verify he's wrong! :/

 

[jdpas29]

Awesome to hear that Blake is doing well. I hope he keeps it up.

 

[bama alum]

Now hearing from another friend that he does have a torn ACL; the staff expects him back in September.

 

[russb8903]

Well I guess Amari is feeling better...

 

[planomateo]

Bummer on Eddie, hope the MRI results are good today. Not exactly the news you want coming out of camp...although I rather hear this stuff in spring vs fall.

 

[TerryP]

[MENTION=12433]planomateo[/MENTION] [MENTION=19691]bama alum[/MENTION]

So far, based on what I've read, it seems this is yet another Internet rumor that's started. We'll certainly know more after the MRI today.

Out of curiosity I looked over TI this morning to see when the ACL stuff started. Saban had his press conference that kicked off around 4ish. By 6PM it was a subject of discussion and within 30 minutes it was "he'd torn his ACL." Then, in a matter of minutes, the subject turns to "how long before he can come back from an ACL tear."

All of this from Saban saying he came down funny in a non-contact drill and will have an MRI tomorrow (Sunday.)

It's left me shaking my head...once again.

Strain. Sprain. Tear. Torn. All four are different.

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I'm willing to bet someone saw a trainer testing both the MCL and ACL with the anterior drawer or Lachman test and—in an effort to be the one that broke the news—decided it was a tear and...well, you know the rest of the story.

I don't know...and I'm not in a big rush to find out. Seriously, all I can think is "it's April 6th."