Alabama Football Practice Notes: 8/4/2018

Alabama football held its Fan Day on Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium during the second day of fall practice. It was a sunny day out as Alabama continued its work in shorts and helmets during the acclimatization period of fall camp.

These notes are based on the entirety of practice, rather than just a few minutes like we normally get. You should also check out yesterday’s notes for a look at a couple position groups I didn’t spend much time examining today.

Quarterbacks

Both Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa worked with the first and second team offenses. It appeared to me that Jalen took the first snaps in the early periods of practice, but don’t read too much into that. Someone has to be the first to take a snap, Tagovailoa was injured for most of spring and it’s still just the second practice of fall. I didn’t notice any one player taking significantly more or fewer snaps with the starters. There also didn’t appear to be a ton of separation between the two quarterbacks. As most of us expected, this battle will probably go until later in fall camp, if not the season.

Running backs

It looked like Josh Jacobs was a bit limited at times. Not sure if that’s something lingering from the injury that kept him out in spring or if it’s something new. He hasn’t been mentioned on an injury report, so it’s likely not a big deal. Just something we’ll keep an eye on as camp continues.

Wide receivers

DeVonta Smith had a nice catch in a passing drill against Saivion Smith. For how high the expectations are for the receivers, it looked like Smith, Trevon Diggs and the first string of DBs did a good job of sticking with them. Slade Bolden, who spent spring working with the DBs, is now with the wide receivers. Also keep an eye on Jaylen Waddle as fall camp progresses. He’s probably the freshman receiver with the best chance to play.

Offensive line

The first team and second team offensive lines, listed below:

As a reminder, if there were an injury to Jonah Williams, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Lashley would be the starter. I’d guess they would shuffle their tackles up and put Matt Womack in the starting lineup. But it’s also early in fall camp, and there will probably be more combinations on the first or second team. The third team appeared to be a bit of a jumble, though Richie Petitbon was taking snaps at center pretty consistently.

Defensive line

Like we did with the offensive line, here’s what the first three defensive line groupings were:

Quinnen Williams seems to have done a good job of establishing himself since spring. Johnny Dwight had been working inside for much of spring but seems to be outside now, perhaps with Williams’ emergence. I’m curious to see if Tevita Musika can move up with some more practice time.

Defensive backs

Not a lot of change early in fall camp from what appear to be the starters, but it’s interesting to see which freshmen seem to be getting more attention.

Saivion Smith and Trevon Diggs were the starting corners with Shyheim Carter at star. Carter also spent some time working outside. Freshman Josh Jobe was shadowing Diggs, while Patrick Surtain Jr. was shadowing Carter at star.

Xavier McKinney and Deionte Thompson look like they’re opening camp in good position at safety. McKinney has developed nicely physically and Thompson is probably the most experienced returning player.

Nigel Knott was wearing a black noncontact jersey, as Saban said on Friday. It’s not considered anything serious.

Special teams

We didn’t see any field goal kicks, but punter Skyler DeLong looked impressive during punt drills. One of his punts got the crowd to clap, which didn’t happen often during the practice. During punt drills, Henry Ruggs and Trevon Diggs were one set of gunners. Another set was Saivion Smith and Jared Mayden. I’d assume Ruggs and Diggs would both be factors as returners, so I’m not sure the returners during that drill mattered (though Xavian Marks was one of them). Jerry Jeudy took some return snaps later.