Alabama was on the practice field at Barry University today while preparing for Oklahoma and the Orange Bowl. The game being on Saturday means this was a standard Wednesday practice in full pads.
Here are some observations from the open period:
- As expected, Alabama did not have LG Deonte Brown, OT Elliot Baker and TE Kedrick James. They did not travel after being suspended for a violation of team rules.
- Without Brown, Lester Cotton took reps with the first team offensive line at left guard.
- The second team offensive line, left to right, was Scott Lashley, Emil Ekiyor, Chris Owens, Josh Casher and Matt Womack.
- Analyst Butch Jones was with the team today. Mike Locksley said earlier in the day that Jones hadn’t signed a contract with him at Maryland. My read was that there’s a good chance he’s joining the staff there but it isn’t a done deal yet so he couldn’t say anything. In any event, Jones remains with Alabama for now.
- Captains Ross Pierschbacher, Damien Harris, Hale Hentges and Christian Miller led the team through stretches.
- DE Isaiah Buggs (hyperextended knee) had a wrap on his left knee but was moving better than he was in the SEC championship.
- OLBs Terrell Lewis and Chris Allen were both dressed and participating in drills. Miller and Anfernee Jennings were first in drills, followed by Jamey Mosley, then Lewis, Jarez Parks, Allen, Eyabi Anoma and Cameron Latu.
- The team seemed pretty loose overall. During the “ball-out” drill at the start of practice, a defensive player went to the field side to make a tackle rather than pushing the offensive player to the sideline. When he missed the tackle, Craig Kuligowski and the other players reminded him “the sideline has never missed a tackle.”
We’ll have open practice tomorrow as well after media day. Stay tuned for updates from that.
