Tuesday notes of interest for Alabama

Back in the saddle…

Let’s see how long I can stay.

Special teams loom large for Va. Tech-Alabama game
Va. Tech is known for good special teams. Could this year’s Va. Tech team be even better? The Roanoke Times reports, “Hokies coach Frank Beamer, whose teams have long been known for their superb special teams play, told the largest media day gathering in program history Saturday that he thinks the Hokies will field their most potent punt-block and punt-return teams ever this fall. Since news travels almost as quick as the speed of sound these days on the Internet, rest assured there will be a lot of coaches putting a stopwatch on their punt-delivery time.”

No doubt about the Hokies special team excellence.

However, speed of sound? That is kind of slow since the Internet is composed of electromagnetic radiation (think light), and light travels much faster than sound.

Jockocracy continues
Frank Sanders joins WJOX, according to the interview on Paul Finebaum’s Radio Show. Sanders was already on the radio spouting an Auburn recruiting message—Alabama is mean with scholarships.

Why hire someone without any discernible talent? He makes the inept Josh Moon a better choice for radio. Hell, even Chaddddd (did I put enough D’s in?) Scott would have been a better choice.

Since Sanders is recruiting for Auburn on the radio now, perhaps we need to look at “scholarship security” in the SEC. According to the Opelika-Auburn News, Auburn sucks at keeping players. Here are the numbers:

SEC teams’ attrition from 2006-08 signing classes
Team Total signees   Not with team   Percentage
AUBURN 84     35           41.6
MSU 84     35 41.6
Ole Miss 83     30 36.1
Arkansas 79     28 35.4
UK 79     27 34.1
LSU 78     26 33.3
USC 78     26 33.3
Tennessee 72     24 33.3
Alabama 80     23 28.75
Georgia 75     17 22.6
Florida 76     16 21
Vanderbilt 60     10 16.6
*Signing classes courtesy of Rivals.com; team rosters taken from teams’ 2009 media guides.
*Players who failed to qualify once, but are currently on team were not counted.

Once again, those numbers show if you sign a scholarship with Auburn, you are much less likely to actually stay with the team, or even join the team. The truth here: Auburn has a worse attrition problem than Nick Saban and Alabama.

However, I doubt this truth will stop Sanders and other Auburn propagandists from spreading lies on the radio.

Sanders is pathetic; he tries to talk football and confuses television personality Star Jones with Alabama Crimson Tide player Star Jackson. It wouldn’t be bad to make the mistake once, but he repeated the error until a caller corrected him. How did he handle the correction? He tried to spin and attack the caller. Horrible radio. He is less interesting than Charles from Reeltown.

Radio choices are easier now—WJOX slips further in quality. Who knew someone could make Ian Fitzsimmons seem like quality radio? It would be better to hear more about Tim Tebow’s virginity than this new shill.

Alabama practices in pads
How is practice going? The players are saying the right things. Does that mean anything?

“Practice is going really well,” right tackle Drew Davis said following Monday’s workout. “We have been working really hard to get better. We are focused on doing whatever it takes to get better each practice and build the kind of chemistry along the offensive line that it takes to win football games. We are really meshing well as a group. We just have to put in the work it takes to get the plays right, get the technique right and get the communication right.”

Alabama holds a two-a-day practice Tuesday with a morning workout in pads and evening workout in pads.