I know everyone is fearing the worst about Bo Scarbrough, but here are tidbits from Friday's scrimmage from Saban.
On the defensive line:[/B] The defensive front is probably the strength of our team right now. I think those guys showed that a little bit today - made it difficult to run and created a lot of negative plays with batted balls and pressures on the quarterback, that type of thing. As the scrimmage went on, I thought the offense sort of got in a little bit of rhythm and actually played better as the scrimmage went on - which is a good thing.
On the quarterbacks: We sort of rotated all the quarterbacks today, so it's probably a little bit more difficult for any one guy to get a rhythm. They all played, probably, a similar number of plays - maybe 30, 40 plays apiece - and all of them did some good things and all of them have some things that they can improve on. I think the big thing when it comes to offense is everybody's got to trust and believe in what we need to do and everybody's got to go do their job. We've got to develop some trust and confidence in each other so that we execute a little bit better on a more consistent basis.
On Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake:[/B] Derrick Henry had a pretty good day. Kenyan Drake, even though he wore a black shirt out there and we just tagged off of him, was very effective in some of the things that he did in the running game and the passing game. It's good to have him back out there. Our receivers just need to learn how to pay attention to detail and how important it is to do little things right so that we're all on the same page in the passing game.
On the defense:[/B] Defensively, we got to play a lot of players in the two-deep. I thought there was a lot of good hitting out there. The tackling was pretty good for the most part for this time of the spring. As I said before, I thought the front guys were probably the strength of our team. We had some young guys playing in the secondary. They got some valuable experience today - made some mistakes, but I think all things that they can learn from.
Overall: All in all, I think that we're not satisfied with where we are right now, but we're certainly not disappointed. We know what we have to do to get better. I think everybody's commitment and focus to do those things are really important. I think discipline is something that is really important to this team in terms of their development. Choices, decisions, how they buy in, how they sort of buy in to the mission of what we're trying to accomplish, how the team chemistry develops is something that I think is going to be very important to this group.
On the offensive line: Well, you know, Shank didn't scrimmage today. MCL, he'll probably be back at practice on Monday. But we're really pleased with the two tackles. Cam and Dominick have really done a nice job this spring. Ryan Kelly has done a really good job this spring. (Ross) Pierschbacher has really done a good job this spring. I think those four guys have really made progress. Then we've got another four or five guys in a pile that are kind of competing for the rest of the positions. Boswell (guys, pretty sure he means Bradley Bozeman) probably has the most experience. I think depth there is critical. Brandon Greene is back playing there. J.C. (Hassenauer) has made progress as a backup center. I think there's work to do, but I really do think four guys have sort of separated themselves and we need some other guys to play with more consistency so we can have the kind of offensive line that we want to have. Then depth is going to be a huge issue for us to develop our young players.
On the inside linebackers:[/B] I'm really pleased with the way the linebackers have played this spring. Reggie's having a really good spring. He's really assumed the role of being a leader. Reuben's had a really good spring. Shaun Dion has had a really good spring. So I'm really pleased with the way those guys have improved and developed. Keith Holcombe has really shown that he can play that position. Walker Jones has actually done a much better job this spring. So I'm really encouraged by all five of those guys and how they've played.
On Jake Coker's progress: I think the biggest thing is, he's more comfortable in the system. He's playing with more confidence. I just think that, the system that we're playing now is better suited for him, in terms of what we're putting on him to do, actually playing him in the gun a little bit more, which is probably more suited for him. But you know, all these other quarterbacks did a pretty good job today. Cornwell did a pretty good job, Alex, Blake, all those guys did a pretty good job. There's a lot of competition at this position. Really pleased with the way Jake has sort of practiced, but we just got to keep getting him to where he feels comfortable and confident and gets in sync with the receivers so that we can execute a little bit better on a more consistent basis. And it's not all on him, it's on all of us to get that done.
On the defensive line:[/B] The defensive front is probably the strength of our team right now. I think those guys showed that a little bit today - made it difficult to run and created a lot of negative plays with batted balls and pressures on the quarterback, that type of thing. As the scrimmage went on, I thought the offense sort of got in a little bit of rhythm and actually played better as the scrimmage went on - which is a good thing.
On the quarterbacks: We sort of rotated all the quarterbacks today, so it's probably a little bit more difficult for any one guy to get a rhythm. They all played, probably, a similar number of plays - maybe 30, 40 plays apiece - and all of them did some good things and all of them have some things that they can improve on. I think the big thing when it comes to offense is everybody's got to trust and believe in what we need to do and everybody's got to go do their job. We've got to develop some trust and confidence in each other so that we execute a little bit better on a more consistent basis.
On Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake:[/B] Derrick Henry had a pretty good day. Kenyan Drake, even though he wore a black shirt out there and we just tagged off of him, was very effective in some of the things that he did in the running game and the passing game. It's good to have him back out there. Our receivers just need to learn how to pay attention to detail and how important it is to do little things right so that we're all on the same page in the passing game.
On the defense:[/B] Defensively, we got to play a lot of players in the two-deep. I thought there was a lot of good hitting out there. The tackling was pretty good for the most part for this time of the spring. As I said before, I thought the front guys were probably the strength of our team. We had some young guys playing in the secondary. They got some valuable experience today - made some mistakes, but I think all things that they can learn from.
Overall: All in all, I think that we're not satisfied with where we are right now, but we're certainly not disappointed. We know what we have to do to get better. I think everybody's commitment and focus to do those things are really important. I think discipline is something that is really important to this team in terms of their development. Choices, decisions, how they buy in, how they sort of buy in to the mission of what we're trying to accomplish, how the team chemistry develops is something that I think is going to be very important to this group.
On the offensive line: Well, you know, Shank didn't scrimmage today. MCL, he'll probably be back at practice on Monday. But we're really pleased with the two tackles. Cam and Dominick have really done a nice job this spring. Ryan Kelly has done a really good job this spring. (Ross) Pierschbacher has really done a good job this spring. I think those four guys have really made progress. Then we've got another four or five guys in a pile that are kind of competing for the rest of the positions. Boswell (guys, pretty sure he means Bradley Bozeman) probably has the most experience. I think depth there is critical. Brandon Greene is back playing there. J.C. (Hassenauer) has made progress as a backup center. I think there's work to do, but I really do think four guys have sort of separated themselves and we need some other guys to play with more consistency so we can have the kind of offensive line that we want to have. Then depth is going to be a huge issue for us to develop our young players.
On the inside linebackers:[/B] I'm really pleased with the way the linebackers have played this spring. Reggie's having a really good spring. He's really assumed the role of being a leader. Reuben's had a really good spring. Shaun Dion has had a really good spring. So I'm really pleased with the way those guys have improved and developed. Keith Holcombe has really shown that he can play that position. Walker Jones has actually done a much better job this spring. So I'm really encouraged by all five of those guys and how they've played.
On Jake Coker's progress: I think the biggest thing is, he's more comfortable in the system. He's playing with more confidence. I just think that, the system that we're playing now is better suited for him, in terms of what we're putting on him to do, actually playing him in the gun a little bit more, which is probably more suited for him. But you know, all these other quarterbacks did a pretty good job today. Cornwell did a pretty good job, Alex, Blake, all those guys did a pretty good job. There's a lot of competition at this position. Really pleased with the way Jake has sort of practiced, but we just got to keep getting him to where he feels comfortable and confident and gets in sync with the receivers so that we can execute a little bit better on a more consistent basis. And it's not all on him, it's on all of us to get that done.
