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Football 🏈 Alabama four-star 2024 OLB Sterling Dixon covers recruiting contenders

Dixon gives a rundown of the schools impacting his recruitment ahead of his Dec. 1 commitment.

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Tony's takes: Breaking down what Nick Saban said following Alabama's win at Ole Miss

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OXFORD, Miss — Alabama put an end to its two-game road losing streak Saturday, holding off Ole Miss for a 30-24 victory inside of a hostile Vauhght-Hemingway Stadium. Following the game, Nick Saban spoke to reporters, praising his team for its response and ability to overcome adversity. Here’s a transcript of the press conference and my takes on what he had to say.

Opening statement

“Really, really proud of our players in terms of the way they competed in the game. I think that’s the big thing that we wanted to get our players to get back to is, you’re responsible for the identity that you create and it’s personal in terms of how you play and how you compete in the game to try to dominate the guy you’re playing against. And I saw a lot of that in the second half, so we took a step in the right direction. We had to overcome a lot of adversity in the game. We didn’t get off to a great start, but the players just kept playing one play at a time and made the plays at the end of the game that we needed to make.

“Jase McClellan, the offensive line stepped up in the second half. Defense had some big stops. They only scored once in the second half, got the stop when we needed to. I thought Bryce did a really good job of managing the game today. It was a tough night in a lot of ways but a great night for us because I think we took a step in the right direction as a football team, and I’m really proud of our guys for the way they competed in the game.”

Tony’s take: It wasn’t pretty, but Alabama was able to snap its road skid and end up on the right side of a game-deciding play for a change. The Crimson Tide was tested a lot mentally both heading into Saturday as well as during the game itself. Ultimately, players were able to respond well enough to pull out a gritty victory in a hostile environment and avoid consecutive regular-season losses for the first time since 2007.

On Byron Young’s performance

“Byron played great. A Mississippi guy, so I’m sure he was fired up for the game. I thought he played great, but he’s played really well for us all year. He’s a good leader on the team. It means a lot to him. Glad to see him doing well.”

Tony’s take: Byron Young led Alabama’s defense, providing 11 tackles, including two sacks to go with a forced fumble and a pair of quarterback hurries. The Crimson Tide does not win this one if not for the senior from Laurel, Miss.

On Jahmyr Gibbs’ status

“He twisted his ankle.”

Tony’s take: This was a forgettable afternoon for Gibbs, who carried the ball six times for 3 yards in the first half before watching the game from the sideline after halftime. The junior running back was seen wearing a walking boot on his left foot following the game. Saban did not provide an update on his status moving forward. With FCS foe Austin Peay next up on the schedule, it might be wise to give him a rest next week.

On Jase McClellan’s performance

“I mentioned what a great job he did in the second half. He made some physical runs. The run he made on 2nd and 12, he basically did that on grit and determination. Really ran hard in the game, played physical. He’s played well for us all year. Jahmyr’s just played really well, too. So Jase stepped up tonight and took advantage of it, no doubt.”

Tony’s take: With Gibbs out, McClellan handled the bulk of Alabama’s workload at running back, carrying the ball 19 times for 84 yards. McClellan picked up 67 of his yards after the break, contributing greatly to Alabama’s second-half improvements on offense.

On Ole Miss running back Quinshon Judkins

“He’s a good player. They’re tough when they spread you out with four wide receivers and they run the ball so well and they have such good backs. And he’s an outstanding player. Fast, physical, can make you miss, hard to tackle. And you’ve gotta try to stay in nickel, you can’t play dime, because you can’t stop the runs and you can’t really match up on the passes. So one of the things in the second half that helped us when we got some third-down stops is we stopped the run a few times. We got third and long so we could play dime, so we could match up on the passes and got a couple sacks and got off the field on third down, which was huge in the game.”

Tony’s take: Judkins lived up to his hype Saturday, running over Alabama for 135 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 25 carries. The Pike Road, Ala., native nearly ran the Rebels to victory, picking up a combined 49 yards on two carries during Ole Miss’ final drive. While Judkins was impressive, his job was made easier as Ole Miss’ spread-out offense prevented the Crimson Tide from crowding the box.

On freshman wide receiver Kendrick Law

“Kendrick Law has really come along. He’s a guy we really were hopeful would be a contributor. He pulled his hamstring several weeks ago, was out for a couple weeks, but now he’s back to full strength. He played really well on special teams a couple weeks. I thought he did a really good job, but he’s a guy we’ve been trying to get in the lineup now for some time.”

Tony’s take: Breaking into the first-team offense during Alabama’s second possession of the third quarter, Law recorded three receptions for 26 yards on the drive to help set up a game-tying touchdown from Young to Ja’Corey Brooks.

Those were Law’s only catches in the game, but the spark the freshman provided is encouraging. Law, who played both sides of the ball in high school, was rated as the No. 102 overall player in this year’s class. The 5-foot-11, 193-pound receiver offers a nice blend of speed and power and could inject some life into a struggling receiving corps moving forward.

On his message to the offense after the failed fourth down attempt

“It wasn’t a real good message. Obviously, a miscommunication on the snap count, the play, the shift, the motion. But I think those kinds of things, when you talk about – sometimes you’ve just gotta do simple things better. Simple things like focusing on doing your job, focusing on the snap count, focusing on who you’re blocking, focusing on what your eye control is in terms of what you’re looking at.

“You’ve gotta do simple things better, and that was the message that I gave to the team before the game, and they obviously got it right then when we were not doing simple things very well. But I think the offense really responded, especially in the second half. I was really, really pleased with the way they responded on the line of scrimmage to be able to run the ball effectively and to make plays on third down when we needed to and move the ball, control the ball and control field position in the game.”

Tony’s take: After failing on its third straight possession to open the game, Alabama’s offense needed a wake-up call, and it got one from its head coach. Saban tore into the team after a premature snap left Bryce Young helpless on a fourth-and-1 attempt from its own 36-yard line on the final play of the first quarter. Fortunately for Alabama, it was able to respond and get its offense going at the end of the half.

On Eli Ricks’ status after injuring his head in the first quarter

“Eli Ricks is OK. I think his head is the issue. We haven’t been able to test him from a concussion protocol standpoint as of yet. But I saw him the locker room. He’s OK.”

Tony’s take: It’s good to hear that Ricks is OK as any injury involving the head can be scary. Concussions are difficult to judge, so we’ll have to wait to see how long he’ll be out. Even if Ricks can play next week, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Alabama hold him out against Austin Peay.

On his players taking pride in their performance

“All I’ve been talking about is how the players competed in the game. I think they have a lot of pride in what the standard of playing at Alabama is. And they were challenged to play to that standard, to take it personal, to understand that they’re responsible for the identity that they create by how they play on the field. It shouldn’t be anybody else that makes that determination for them, and I think they took it personally and I think they showed it in the game tonight.”

Tony’s take: As Saban mentioned earlier, he was proud of his team’s response. Multiple Alabama players spoke about taking the game personally after constantly being reminded of their struggles throughout the week. With a pair of highly-winnable games next up on the schedule, the Crimson Tide should be able to build on this performance and set itself up with plenty of momentum heading into its bowl game.

On Alabama’s recovery before halftime…

“It was huge. It set up a score, got us to 17-14 and from that time, I thought we played a little better in the game on both sides of the ball. But that getting 17-14 at halftime – but nobody even talked about the score at halftime, which is exactly how we want it to be. Because the whole focus in this game was we’ve gotta play one play at a time for 60 minutes in the game and nobody’s looking at the scoreboard, and they competed that way.”

Tony’s take: While the fumble recovery was huge for Alabama’s momentum, the real takeaway from Saban’s answer is how the team responded during halftime. Earlier this month, Saban preached the importance of “attaching yourself to doing the things you need to do to be a productive player,” rather than focusing solely on outcomes. Alabama did just that and was able to bounce back from a slow start and end its road woes.

Veteran Golfers

If you are Active Duty a Veteran, Wounded Warrior, family member and love golf you can check out this organization.

Veterans Golf Association:

Each State has a program and holds tournaments throughout the year (some more than others, the average is 10 or 12 a year). The organization is broken down by State, Regional (
South, West, North, Midwest), and National. Each year there is a State tournament to see who qualifies for Regionals and then each Regional has about 20-25 who will qualify for Nationals. This last year they played the Nationals at Doral.

Their is 4 handicap flights, A, B, C, and D (15 and higher). They break it down by Seniors, wounded warriors, and female participants as well. Once you are a member you can play in any state (memberships are $75 a year). You will also pay $20 for signing up for each tournament and pay for green fees and cart.

Last year was my first year and I really enjoyed it. You get to meet Veterans from all branches and backgrounds. Fun competition.
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Thoughts on Alabama’s blowout win over Liberty

Alabama destroyed Liberty, who was picked to win the ASUN this year 95-59.

Brandon Miller is a future pro and you can just see it when he plays. So under control and always makes the right play. He showed his outside shooting ability as well draining 4 threes on his way to 20 points.

Mark Sears was phenomenal tonight and he was a scoring machine. He affects the game in so many ways as he scored 22 points with 8 boards and 4 assists. It’s incredible to have this depth in the backcourt with Sears starting at PG and having a 5 star in Jaden Bradley who has been so impressive back him up. Imagine when JQ is back….

The length and defensive tenacity on this team is elite. ELITE. Length at every position and they affect the passing lanes, as well protecting the rim. Liberty is a great offensive team with an excellent system that Alabama made look poor.

You didn’t think Alabama was going to shoot 3/28 from deep every game did you?? This is a good shooting team like I’ve mentioned and they seemed to have found themselves offensively tonight. Great cuts, no standing around, and players were moving to get open constantly. That leads to more open shots. I mentioned before 10/28 from 3 with this team is what I predict and they went 10/22 tonight. That’ll win them a lot of games. When you shoot the 3 that well and dominate the board like they have been, you’ll win a lot of games.

Alabama travels to play at South Alabama on Tuesday night at 9 o’clock.
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