61° RAIN, Saban still seeking improvement after record-breaking A-Day
By Christopher Walsh Sports WriterLast Modified: Saturday, April 21, 2007 at 7:43 p.m.
TUSCALOOSA | When the team buses were pulling up to Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday morning, players already had a good idea that they were in for something special.
Not only was the traffic worse than anything they had ever seen before in Tuscaloosa, but scores of fans were already waiting, for both them and to get their first glimpse of seeing Nick Saban guide the University of Alabama football team.
“I made a comment to Rashad [Johnson] that maybe Florida or Tennessee was in town,” said defensive end Wallace Gilberry, who will be a senior in the fall. “It was definitely a sight for sore eyes, but it was a good sight. My hat goes off to the fans who made the trip today. I hope they like what they saw.”
Although the atmosphere was similar to a high-profile regular-season game, it was simply to watch A-Day, the final of 15 practices to conclude spring practice. Coming in, school officials expected 50,000 to show, and planned for a record-breaking 60,000, but like the players they were pleasantly blown away. The volume was such that they had to turn away some fans after the Bryant-Denny Stadium capacity of 92,138 was exceeded.
“I thought it was awesome,” starting quarterback John Parker Wilson said.
“It’s ridiculous,” cornerback Simeon Castille said. “I never could have imagined that there would be that many people, but it made it more fun for both teams. We just wanted to go out there and show how hard we’ve been working.”
For the two-hour scrimmage, the Tide was split into two squads, Crimson and White, depending on the depth chart. Specifically, the starting offense (White) always faced the first-unit defense (Crimson), and the backups did likewise but on opposite sides.
No single facet was able to dominate, but the final result was 20-13 victory for the White, which benefited from having the starting offense, which, except for the backfield, returned nearly intact from last season.
Afterward, Saban’s message was that he was pleased, but not satisfied.
“We dropped some balls,” he said. “The tackling was pretty good for the most part. I don’t think we had a lot of mental errors. We made the game pretty simple, relative to the things that we did on the running plays, passing plays and defensive pressure that we had. It made the players focused, play with discipline, have fun and compete.”
In some ways, fans saw a number of things there were already familiar with. The offense wasn’t radically different in approach (specifically, it wasn’t the wide-open pass-happy spread attack that some feared), Wilson completed 18 of 36 passes for 244 yards and two touchdowns, and wide receiver DJ Hall was named the game MVP for the second straight year after catching five passes for 87 yards including a 17-yard touchdown.
“It felt good just running out of the tunnel,” Hall said. “It’s been a while.”
But there was also a number of new things to take in, besides the coach. Like freshman running back Jamar Taylor making his debut and compiling 44 yards on 10 carries, along with two catches for 21 yards. Freshman quarterback Greg McElroy led the Crimson team and completed 14 of 33 passes for 139 yards and one touchdown. Like Wilson he didn’t have an interception.
Freshman cornerback Marquis Johnson and freshmen linebackers Eryk Anders and Charlie Higgenbotham all had seven tackles to lead the White defense, while freshman linebacker Zach Schreiber again demonstrated his knack for being around the ball, finishing with a sack and quarterback hurry. Safety Rashad Johnson led the Crimson defense with six tackles.
In terms of scheme, fans got their first look at junior Ezekial Knight at strongside linebacker – who had four tackles and a pressure — and the corresponding new linebacker/defensive hybrid position called “Jack.” Both junior starter Keith Saunders and freshman backup Brandon Fanney had two sacks.
“I think the position is great, and it’s a day-by-day thing,” Saunders said. “Every day it’s just understanding and going out and executing. Now that it’s over, I’m just going to try and do a better job of understanding the plays, situations and know what to do when it comes down to it.”
As for the offenses, the White team gained 316 yard and averaged 5.96 yards per play, while the Crimson totaled 233 yards and 3.82 average. Receivers Matt Caddell and Nikita Stover both had touchdown catches, 5 and 26 yards, respectively, while freshman Terry Grant led all running backs with 47 yards on eight carries.
“If we can execute on every play like he wants, we can score a lot of points,” Hall said.
Meanwhile, Saban watched both teams operate from behind the backfield, and did some live critiquing. For example, when Hall and Rashad Johnson collided in the end zone and both were slow to get up, the coach walked over to the receiver and said: “It’s target practice out here.”
“You see the body language,” Saban said. “You see how guys react and respond and I thought that was better because what our guys have had to learn is that your body language tells the other guy how it’s going.
“It’s sort of a boxer’s mentality.”
Overall, though, Saban called it a “special day,” to which more than 92,000 people were sure to agree with.
“It shows what kind of passion and support we have at the University of Alabama,” Saban said. “It certainly makes me feel great about being here as the coach. I just hope we can continue to channel all that energy in a positive way so we can get to where we want to go and continue to build this program into something special.”
Reach Christopher Walsh at christopher.walsh@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0196.
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