🏈 Practice Reports- 8/11—Crimson Tide Opens Second Full Week of Camp with Two-a-Day

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The football team held its third two-a-day of fall camp on Monday, beginning with a two-hour morning session in full pads at the Thomas-Drew Practice Fields. The Crimson Tide will return tonight for its second practice.

On the heels of the first scrimmage of the fall, and the first off day of training camp, Alabama went through its second to last two-a-day. The Tide will conclude its two-a-days on Wednesday and have one practice on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday before the second scrimmage of camp.

Alabama is now 19 days away from kicking off the 2014 season in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta against West Virginia on Aug. 30. The game will be nationally televised on ABC/ESPN2 at 2:30 p.m. (CDT).

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For once, Alabama's offensive line had center stage all to itself.

As reporters swarmed the field for Monday night's viewing period, some of the Crimson Tide biggest bodies set up shop just a few feet from the door. In front of them was a big gym mat ready for one of the more intense individual drills you'll see for an offensive linemen.

On coach Mario Cristobal's whistle, the linemen shuffled side to side and pounded the circles drawn onto the pads. During the second rotation, they had to change directions any time he blew the whistle.

Spoiler: He made it chirp a lot.

At one point, you'll see freshmen Josh Casher (67) and J.C. Hassenauer (63) forced to repeat their rep.

You can check out nearly 3 minutes' worth by clicking on the video. Check out the practice report to see what we didn't catch with our camera.







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[BAMANEWSBOT]

The Alabama football team's defensive linemen have had good practices when they are available.

But the group has yet to be at full strength, creating a concern for coach Nick Saban.

Starting nose guard Brandon Ivory and key backup Jarran Reed returned from their suspensions and are a day away from being able to put on full pads.

There's no timetable for A'Shawn Robinson to come back from a knee sprain, and he won't be pushed back too soon.

Dalvin Tomlinson missed Saturday's scrimmage with a toe injury but returned Monday. He was stepped on in Friday night's practice.

In their absence, Saban feels Jonathan Allen, D.J. Pettway and Darren Lake improved with the extra attention. Freshman Joshua Frazier has made a good first impression.

"All those guys have played better," Saban said. "That was the one part of our team that I thought we had a lot more depth in going into this camp. But we have had a lot of players absent for various reasons, (so) that has not been one of the strengths that we thought it would be. But every one of those players, we will get back at some point."

There's enough time left to prepare the players who have missed extended time before the season begins, Saban said.

Because it's veteran players who have been out, it's more about conditioning than teaching them what to do.

"Any player who misses a part of camp obviously has a lot of catching up to do in terms of conditioning level and being able to get back into playing football," Saban said. "Each guy's going to be a little different, but they're big guys, so conditioning is really important to them.

"The way we have to play now, they have to be in better condition to be able to play. We see so many no-huddle, fastball teams."

Practice report
Alabama returned to practice Monday after a day off from the first scrimmage of preseason practice. There was heavy teaching going on to correct mistakes that were exposed.

Offensive lineman Leon Brown (foot) returned to practice for the first time this month. He'll compete with Alphonse Taylor for the right guard position.

Dominick Jackson (ankle) was hurt during the scrimmage and was out. He was in competition with Taylor.

Defensive lineman Robinson (knee) and tight end Kurt Freitag (toe) were not at practice. Safety Geno Smith (knee) was limited.

Starting linebackers Trey DePriest (knee) and Denzel Devall (hamstring) practiced but took it easy. Defensive lineman Tomlinson (toe) sat out the scrimmage, but practiced full speed.


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[TerryP]

 

[ElephantStomp]

@TerryP Has there been any word on how Hand has been doing?

 

[TerryP]

@TerryP Has there been any word on how Hand has been doing?

Most talk about his upside. He got here in June so it's important to remember he's still in that learning curve stage.

A lot of skill there, no doubt. Against a technically sound offensive lineman it's a push. Given time to acclimate, learn, and then put that skill level to use?

I look for him to "show up" in 2015.