What you need to know as Alabama begins Sugar Bowl prep
Alabama resumes football practice Friday after 22 days away.
It's been a while.
Alabama's longer-than-normal gap between football practices ends Friday afternoon. It's now been 22 days since the Thanksgiving workout in advance of the Iron Bowl.
The program faced a similar layoff in 2011 when it missed the SEC title game and played LSU in the BCS national title game more than a month later. Again, Alabama will be in New Orleans for the
Sugar Bowl with top-ranked Clemson on New Year's Day.
Here's what you need to know before getting back in football mode:
The schedule
The No. 4 Crimson Tide (11-1) will practice for a week in Tuscaloosa before taking a few days off for Christmas and traveling to New Orleans on Dec. 27.
A year ago, Alabama reported to Atlanta on Dec. 26 since the Peach Bowl was on New Year's Eve. There's a little more breathing room since the semifinal games -- Sugar and Rose bowls -- are contracted to be New Year's Day.
Should Alabama win, there would be a quicker turnaround for the championship. The title game will be Jan. 8, 2018. That leaves two fewer prep days than last year's game played a day later and the semifinals a day earlier. Travel wouldn't be much of a concern in that scenario since Atlanta is the host of the championship game.
The first few practices of the Sugar Bowl prep should be mostly fundamentals. Nick Saban in the past said he likes to make the first few days of the bowl routine to resemble camp in August. Players can knock off the rust while the young guys get a few extra reps.
Alabama also typically practices indoors exclusively when bowl games are played in a dome like the Sugar Bowl.
The injuries
Alabama linebacker Mack Wilson had a fitting tweet the day of the playoff selection show. The unplanned exclusion from the SEC Championship Game was actually just a bye week that this Alabama team needed, was the gist of the tweet.
Wilson is among those who could use a little extra time healing up. The sophomore played in the Iron Bowl loss to Auburn just three weeks after a foot injury that Saban originally
expected would be a four-to-six-week recovery.
Minkah Fitzpatrick was also impacted by a hamstring injury suffered Nov. 4 against LSU. Last week in Atlanta, the All-American said he was 100 percent after some rest and ready for Clemson.
It'll also be interesting to see how fresh linebackers Christian Miller and Terrell Lewis look after the layoff. The two -- both thought to be lost for the season after Week 1 injuries -- returned for the Iron Bowl. They added much-needed help to an outside linebacker unit that hasn't had the same impact as recent seasons. With an athletic threat from Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant upcoming, that group's ability to affect the passer will be crucial.
Alabama will also be without a starter in the secondary. Safety Hootie Jones went down with a knee injury at Auburn, meaning Deionte Thompson will likely get the first start of his career next to Fitzpatrick.
Back on Dec. 3, Saban said injured defensive end LaBryan Ray
likely wouldn't be practicing until after Christmas.
On offense, left guard Ross Pierschbacher should also be back at full strength after having to make an emergency return at Auburn after his replacement, J.C. Hassenauer was hurt. Pierschbacher had a
high-ankle sprain early in the Nov. 11 win at Mississippi State.
A few readers asked about the availability of Shaun Dion Hamilton, but the senior middle linebacker was lost for the season with a knee cap injury against LSU. Saban at the time said it would be "a few months" before he could be back on the field.
Jeremy Pruitt
Once again, one of Alabama's coordinators took a new job in the layoff between the regular season and playoff.
This time it's Jeremy Pruitt who'll head to Tennessee. Obviously, things didn't go well with Lane Kiffin's juggling act last season, though things seemed to work out with Kirby Smart in 2015.
Pruitt's been busy building his staff and recruiting before getting back to practice Friday.
Early signing period
As if there wasn't enough going on, a rule change added another factor for Alabama and the other three playoff teams.
The first early signing period begins Dec. 20 (next Wednesday). The quiet period begins Sunday and the dead period extends from Monday-Jan. 11.
How the early signing period will go largely remains a mystery since it just hasn't been done before. It has messed with the recruiting calendar and likely played a factor in the early rash of coaching firings in November.
Saban in May said he
plans on signing 22 players to the 2018 class.
Etc.
-- There hasn't been a distraction like the 2016 transfer decisions by QBs David Cornwell and Cooper Bateman.
-- The preparation for Clemson is a little different compared to the last two games. The two will have had a month to refine the Sugar Bowl plan this time. It had a little over a week for the past two championship games, though advance scouting was done for both.
-- The dynamic is a little different this time, too. Alabama's not No. 1, but rather the fourth team into the playoff. There's a chip on the collective shoulder before this game. Clemson, on the other hand, has the No. 1 seed and experience beating Alabama in January.
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