Classes at the University of Alabama were canceled Wednesday. There was a tornado watch all morning, and then another was initiated during the afternoon.
The football team still practiced. It just moved indoors for its seventh meeting of the spring.
“’Bama,” offensive lineman Ross Pierschbacher said. “You know, that’s just how it goes here. We knew that we weren’t going to have practice off, so that’s just part of the deal being a student-athlete.”
Quarterbacks
The quarterbacks kept to themselves during the open-viewing period. Jalen Hurts was the first to do anything, throwing a variety of lengthy passes to teammates. Tua Tagovailoa would do the same right after, followed by Mac Jones. Each threw three passes then rotated.
Jalen Hurts leads the quarterbacks in drills, and Tua Tagovailoa goes right after. The quarterbacks just threw to each other. pic.twitter.com/vlg9jzYVVg
— Terrin Waack (@terrinvictoria) April 5, 2017
Wide receivers
Calvin Ridley, Cam Sims and Robert Foster led the wide receivers, in order. They caught short, quick passes after making a hard cut either left or right. Both directions were practiced.
Running backs
Damien Harris was the first running back to go through each drill. Bo Scarbrough and B.J. Emmons followed, both in black jerseys. When the group split into two lines, Harris and Scarbrough were at the front of each. They ran through those drills with two footballs to work on ball control.
Bo Scarbrough and Damien Harris lead the two lines during a drill for the running backs. pic.twitter.com/WLnNMbZnc6
— Terrin Waack (@terrinvictoria) April 5, 2017
Offensive line
The offensive line worked under the chute at the start of the open-viewing period. Then, it was on its own and practiced reacting to the snap. Pieschbacher, Jonah Williams, Bradley Bozeman, Matt Womack and Lester Cotton worked as the leading line. Former Crimson Tide member Cam Robinson watched over the UA offensive line, the position group he used to be a part of.
Defensive backs
Alabama coach Nick Saban was where he normally is during an open-viewing period – with the secondary. He tossed up passes as the defensive backs practiced one-on-one coverage. Minkah Fitzpatrick and Tony Brown were paired up as the first duo to go. Former UA defensive back Marlon Humphrey was seen at practice.
Alabama coach Nick Saban throws passes at the defensive backs, who practice one-on-one coverage. pic.twitter.com/uIIHWOxae3
— Terrin Waack (@terrinvictoria) April 5, 2017
Miscellaneous
- Linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton and defensive back Jared Mayden worked on the stationary bikes to start the open-viewing period, but then they moved to the middle of the field to stretch. Hamilton is coming back from an ACL injury. Mayden had hip surgery and has been limited this spring.
- UA basketball coach Avery Johnson was in attendance.
- Many recruits were scattered among the sideline.
