Nick Saban continues his stunning debut as Alabama head football coach with yet another early commitment. This time Saban grabs a second Mobile area player with St. Paul’s Ivan Matchett. Matchett pledged to work on his teammates in an effort to garner even more Mobile talent attending the Capstone. Already in the 2008 recruiting class [...]
Archive | March, 2007
Is Saban being hindered by bureaucrats?
Did the hiring of Nick Saban end Alabama’s long journey through the wilderness? Maybe. Maybe not. If you listened to Cecil Hurt’s interview on the Paul Finebaum Radio Network Monday afternoon, you heard a somewhat sobering analysis. Advertisement: STORY CONTINUES BELOW “Saban wants their attitude to change,†Hurt said. “That is going to be easier [...]
Saban adds commitments & injury updates
A computer has nothing on Nick Saban’s ability to multitask. During the buzz of spring practice’s opening session, Saban added two new junior commitments for his 2008 recruiting class all while putting the team through a brisk first practice session. SABAN LANDS A KICKER Corey Smith of Inwood-Musselman, (W.Va.) Smith “projects as a punter/kickoff specialist,†according [...]
COLLEGE SCANDAL & Spring Practice roundup
The Birmingham News continues its excellent reporting on the scandal involving state legislators and the postsecondary college system. Advertisement: STORY CONTINUES BELOW The Birmingham News story exposes the corruption involved in having legislators (the persons charged with passing budgets (giving money to schools) working for these same institutions. Basically, legislators are using taxpayer dollars to [...]
SPRING PRACTICE BEGINS
When Nick Saban was hired we quoted the powerful lines of optimism: “Now is the winter of our discontent turned bright summer…And all the clouds that lour’d upon our house in the deep ocean buried.” It is not summer now, but the spring is here with summer like warmth. It is the perfect time for [...]
SABAN PRESSER
Nick Saban press conference feed TUSCALOOSA—â€We are not where we need to be, but we are getting better,†Alabama head football coach Nick Saban said at a Thursday afternoon press conference. Saban said the off-season workouts were helping players, but many more lessons and improvements are needed. Saban spoke extensively about the process of getting [...]
A QB gets an offer & Spring Practice previews
Brad Smelley, a junior at Alabama Christian Academy, was offered a scholarship, according to the Tuscaloosa News. Smelley has played many positions during his high school career including QB last season. In his first season as QB, he went 183 of 264 for 2,611 yards and 24 touchdowns. He also netted 320 yards and five [...]
High School Update
Lots of events happening for fans of high school sports in Alabama. Over the weekend, the AHSAA announced the lineup for the annual All-Star game on June 2 and last night the annual induction for the High School Sports Hall of Fame was held. Here is the information on the events: Advertisement: STORY CONTINUES BELOW [...]
Spring practice nears, Intel report & Biz news
Spring practice coverage 
Alabama football enters its second season as spring practice begins this week. Already Saban is addressing the issues of discipline and effort. 
 Auburn Intel Report
One of our regulars took the time to watch the Auburn A-Day game and shared a few observations. Top observations: Auburn’s kicking game looked bad, and the [...]
Record prediction, signee update and media bias
Expert: Alabama should go 8-4 due to having only four road games and a neutral site game against FSU. McCullough: Not a party person, dutiful son, loyal Alabama commitment My thoughts:Alfred McCullough has talent and a good attitude. I’ve said many times McCullough could turn out to be the best player in this class. He [...]
Freddie Kitchens interviewed & other items
Q&A with Freddie Kitchens. In a brief interview with the Arizona TE coach, the former Alabama QB talks about his coaching career and how playing football played a role in molding him as a coach. What spring practice is about: building toughness. For once, Shane has an accurate observation about the importance of spring football [...]
A-Day Game on TV; NCAA faces scrutiny
A-DAY on TV: Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast will televise Alabama’s April 21 A-Day game live at 1 p.m. RECRUITING: The business of recruit evaluation gets underway with combines in Florida now getting started, according to Tidesports.com. Advertisement: STORY CONTINUES BELOW NCAA profits get more scrutiny: Tournament expected to generated $500 million in ad revenue. Communists block [...]
RECRUITING: Many players mull offers
Here is a quick look at a few of the major players in the 2008 class mulling offers from Alabama. The list isn’t complete by any means, and is constantly changing thanks to the aggressive nature of the Saban staff. I’ll add these names to the offer section of the website, and will post any [...]
Outside sports: Climate Change?
Anyone interested in manmade global warming should check out this BBC documentary: Advertisement: STORY CONTINUES BELOW The documentary raises some interesting questions about how Global Warming regulations hinder development in Africa and other developing nations. It also interviews many worldwide scientists (including one from Huntsville) and a member of Greenpeace. It is an interesting side [...]
NIT and 2008 recruiting update
Alabama’s season nets NIT bid. Could it have been any worse? There’s no spin on the season that makes it acceptable to be considered NOT one of the top 65 teams in the nation. What is even more comical, Alabama is seeded fifth in the NIT. That’s right, fifth. Here’s the complete NIT bracket. Advertisement: [...]
LSU SEX SCANDAL
I’ve resolved not to talk (or write) about Alabama basketball, but that doesn’t mean we can’t post a link to a very interesting story involving the SEC. TIMES-PICAYUNE: Sources–LSU coach involved in alleged misconduct involving a team member. This story raises lots of questions about women’s athletics, and the role of coaches in the lives of [...]
Guest commentary: My Life as a Bama Fan
Today we launch what we hope will be a regular feature, a guest commentary. Today’s entry is by a regular poster on our community forum; Cliff has contributed to our little web community and is a great choice to lead off our guest writers. We’ll try to post at least one guest commentary every week [...]
RECRUITING: Michael Williams
Michael Williams is big, strong, moves well and more importantly has good character. Those qualities earned him attention from Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide despite playing at Class 2A Pickens County High School. Williams made 68 tackles, with 20 tackles for loss. He also netted 11 sacks, caused two fumbles and recovered two [...]
RECRUITING: Saban’s philosophy emerges
One theme has emerged in Nick Saban’s work on his 2008 recruiting class. He wants talented players, but he wants more than just football skills. So far, the verbal commitments have come from players who bring both solid character and hard work to the practice field. In conversations with the coaches who know the early [...]
RECRUITING: Brandon Lewis good kid, good skills
PLEASANT GROVE—Nick Saban added another commit to his 2008 recruiting class this week with the verbal pledge of Pleasant Grove Spartan Brandon Lewis. Lewis possess many skills that will help him get to the next level of football, his coaches said Tuesday. “He has a great work ethic. He has a good motor, and he [...]
Gottfried on right track, but much remains
Mark Gottfried’s Monday mea culpa was a good sign; at least he recognized there was something wrong. That was a good beginning to fixing the problem. However, Gottfried must follow his words with actions. Here is a short and helpful list: 1. Improve the defense. There is no excuse for defensive efforts which consistently allows opponents to score [...]
Alabama: A Top Ten Recruiting Ground
Alabama is one of the top producers of Division I college talent, according to a survey conducted by the Orlando Sentinel. According to the Sentinel report, the Top 20 states for producing recruits are: 1. Texas (374); 2. California (332); 3. Florida (313); 4. Ohio (157); 5. Georgia (151); 6. Pennsylvania (94); 7. Louisiana (85); [...]
What irks fans…
Mark Gottfried should take a lesson from Mike Shula’s demise. Many fans lost confidence in Shula not only because of ineptness on the field, but because nobody had confidence Shula could fix what was wrong. In fact, Shula wasn’t even able to diagnose the problems. According to published reports, Shula didn’t even offer serious staff [...]
MEDIA WATCH & Division crown within reach
MEDIAÂ WATCH: In a two-part series on Nick Saban’s coaching philosophy the Huntsville Times’ Paul Gattis interviewed the coach, and while the Huntsville Times is not the most accurate paper in the state, it is worth reading because it provides an interesting look at Saban and a look at the Times biased viewpoint. Column 1: The [...]
Saban makes it official: Martin joins staff
AP: Alabama coach Nick Saban named former Benjamin Russell High School coach Willie Carl Martin director of player development on Friday. The story was first reported by the Alexander City Outlook Feb. 28; however, Saban had not made an official statement until today (March 2.) According to the Tuscaloosa News, this role would have Martin [...]
Dr. Witt, end this lawsuit Part II
Mailbag: Daniel Moore support & comments The Daniel Moore column from Sunday generated a good deal of email and other discussion. Some highlights from the emails and our discussion board: I did not attend nor graduate from the University of Alabama but I have several relatives who have and I’ve kept up with their football [...]
Hoover braces for baseball tournament without Bama
As the Southeastern Conference baseball tournament begins, Hoover businesses are getting ready to feel, well, not much of anything. Since [...]