tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38827925830815445722009-02-24T05:08:11.328-06:00Covering Crimson Tide athletics with The Anniston StarBran D. Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743243375135215547noreply@blogger.comBlogger102125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-70967391795185230812009-01-01T23:05:00.000-06:002009-01-01T23:06:10.692-06:00

NEW ORLEANS — There was nothing new out of Alabama regarding suspended left tackle Andre Smith for alleged improper contact with an agent. On Wednesday, Tide coach Nick Saban said Smith’s situation was an institutional matter and not an NCAA matter. On Thursday Saban was asked whether the Smith situation had tarnished the season for him.“I think it’s disappointing any time you have a circumstance

John Dietrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06519367693397716001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-732112778243272362008-12-31T14:10:00.003-06:002008-12-31T14:14:18.118-06:00

NEW ORLEANS — Alabama is currently practicing at the Superdome in New Orleans.Media is not allowed to watch this practice, so we can't report on what is going on. It's still unclear as to who will replace suspended left tackle Andre Smith in Friday's Sugar Bowl.Coach Nick Saban is expected to speak with reporters following the practice session. It will be his first comments since Smith was

Consolidated Publishinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18086141170000972306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-84841698354894915822008-11-13T23:39:00.000-06:002008-11-13T23:40:12.713-06:00

TUSCALOOSA — The memories are not pleasant for former Alabama quarterback Don Jacobs. When Jacobs, the football coach at Elkmont High, talks with his Alabama teammates about their years playing together, the 1980 game against Mississippi State never comes up.“We talk about the good times,” Jacobs said. “We don’t talk about the bad times.”On Nov. 1 of that year, the then-No. 1 Tide came to

John Dietrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06519367693397716001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-31621936932212560882008-11-06T21:01:00.002-06:002008-11-06T21:02:52.196-06:00

TUSCALOOSA — Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban had a stake in last Tuesday’s elections. While Saban did not say whether he voted for Barack Obama or John McCain for President, his good friend, West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin, won reelection. Manchin defeated Russ Weeks.“All I know is, there are a whole bunch of people who voted for the guy who won and a whole bunch of people who voted for the guy

John Dietrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06519367693397716001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-21767384484141289192008-11-02T23:50:00.000-06:002008-11-02T23:51:14.751-06:00

TUSCALOOSA — LSU coach Les Miles said can’t imagine what it would be like to coach against a team he had an emotional bond with. He never has, but he almost did. In 2006, LSU could have played the Michigan Wolverines, Miles’ alma mater, in the Rose Bowl, had Florida not gone to the national championship game that year. Instead, LSU played Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.“When it fell through I can't

John Dietrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06519367693397716001noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-7257076789633516742008-11-01T23:15:00.001-05:002008-11-01T23:16:35.814-05:00

• Ingram returns to form: After Alabama’s victory against Tennessee, Saban said, freshman running back Mark Ingram did not look like himself. Against Arkansas State, Ingram looked every bit like the player who ranks second on the Tide in rushing yards. He led Alabama with 113 yards rushing and two touchdowns.“He is a warrior,” running back Glen Coffee said. “He is a great football player and a

Bran D. Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743243375135215547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-6464447395666657602008-10-28T21:39:00.000-05:002008-10-28T21:40:26.138-05:00

TUSCALOOSA — Roy Upchurch doesn’t look like a fullback. At 6-foot, 201 pounds, he doesn’t exactly have the prototypical size for the position. But Saturday against Tennessee, he stood in the backfield with fellow running back Glen Coffee, blocking for quarterback John Parker Wilson and Coffee.“It helps the offense. You can do more, open up more, and run a lot of trick plays,” Upchurch said. “I

John Dietrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06519367693397716001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-10829292719939499732008-10-26T23:13:00.000-05:002008-10-26T23:17:59.868-05:00

TUSCALOOSA — In the second half against Tennessee, Alabama needed a change of pace with its running game. With freshman Mark Ingram struggling, the Tide called on Roy Upchurch.The junior from Tallahassee, Fla., led Alabama with a career-high 86 yards rushing on 14 carries, all of which came in the second half of Alabama’s 29-9 victory.On the Tide’s final scoring drive, Upchurch carried the ball

John Dietrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06519367693397716001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-73116490648184235742008-09-29T23:44:00.001-05:002008-09-29T23:44:49.647-05:00

TUSCALOOSA — Junior left tackle Andre Smith says he doesn’t want to think about the NFL draft. Not right now, not when his team is ranked No. 2 in the country. But his family sometimes comes up to Smith and tells him what draft experts say about him, that he is a potential first round pick.“I’m always like, ‘Don’t come to me and tell me that,’” Smith said. “It doesn’t matter. I’m worried about

John Dietrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06519367693397716001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-80701088776846415302008-09-26T00:25:00.002-05:002008-09-26T00:26:43.117-05:00

Cody EffectIt’s tough to say who Alabama’s MVP is through the first four games, but right now it might be nose tackle Terrence Cody. None of Alabama’s opponents have had an answer for the giant junior college transfer as he has stuffed up the middle and opened up lanes for the Tide’s defensive players.Arkansas, with its All-America center Jonathan Luigs, still needed to double-team the 6-foot-5,

Bran D. Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743243375135215547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-80175523717037537742008-09-16T23:29:00.000-05:002008-09-16T23:30:08.290-05:00

TUSCALOOSA — So Nick Saban says that he doesn’t pay attention to what Auburn does? Well, think again. The Alabama coach chuckled when asked about the Tigers’ 3-2 victory against Mississippi State last weekend. The laughter did not come at the expense of Auburn’s offense, but mostly because of its stellar defensive performance.Saban talked about the Tigers’ opponents’ third down conversion rate (3

John Dietrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06519367693397716001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-91338588561442451992008-09-15T09:31:00.002-05:002008-09-15T09:32:12.818-05:00

Three things Alabama should remember after its 41-7 victory over Western Kentucky The real game begins: It's nice to be 3-0, but now it's time for the real part of the season to start. Clemson was a test, but wins at Arkansas and Georgia can validate whether you are for real. Run the ball: It is pretty obvious that the strength of your offense is the running game. I know the offense strives for

Bran D. Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743243375135215547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-11832603900997942872008-09-15T09:27:00.002-05:002008-09-15T09:30:55.688-05:00

Alabama's star freshman nabbed an SEC honor, which was announced on Monday. Here is the snippet from the SEC offices.SEC FRESHMAN OF THE WEEKJULIO JONESWide ReceiverALABAMA6-4 • 210Foley, Ala. (HS) • Jones caught five passes for 66 yards and a touchdown in Alabama’s 41-7 win against Western Kentucky.• The score was the second of his career and was a 12-yarder in the third quarter, which gave the

Bran D. Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743243375135215547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-84656844795627357062008-09-08T09:41:00.002-05:002008-09-08T09:42:04.400-05:00

Both Alabama and Auburn got one this week. Here's the list from the SEC offices. SEC FOOTBALL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK (Games of Sept. 6) SEC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEKKNOWSHON MORENOTailbackGEORGIA5-11 • 207 • SophomoreBelford, N.J. (Middletown South HS) • Moreno rushed for 168 yards on 18 carries and a career-high tying three touchdowns in Georgia’s 56-17 win over Central Michigan. • Moreno also

Bran D. Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743243375135215547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-85460161927016022082008-09-07T23:14:00.000-05:002008-09-07T23:15:19.651-05:00

TUSCALOOSA — With 4:41 remaining in the third quarter, Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban ditched his running back rotation and went with freshman Mark Ingram as the feature back.The move proved fortuitous, as Ingram rushed for 39 yards on the drive, including a touchdown run where he swept to the left, found a hole and ran in for the 15-yard score.“He certainly made some outstanding runs when there

John Dietrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06519367693397716001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-91144331815750895522008-09-02T14:12:00.002-05:002008-09-02T14:17:22.809-05:00

The new polls are out, and there's good news and bad news. Alabama moved up four spots to No. 17. That, for the Alabama fans, would be the good news. The bad news? Well, if you can call it that, is that for right now, the Tide will not get a shot at the No. 1 team in the country in a few weeks. After Southern Cal's impressive win over Virginia, Georgia slipped to the No. 2 spot. Here is the USA

Bran D. Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743243375135215547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-60244954988317961442008-05-26T11:43:00.002-05:002008-05-26T11:45:56.538-05:00

Alabama found out its baseball postseason destination on Monday. It's Conway, S.C., home of Coastal Carolina University.The third-seeded Crimson Tide (34-26) will face East Carolina (40-17) in a first-round game of the double-elimination regional. Top-seeded Coastal Carolina (47-12) and Columbia (22-28) will face off in the other first-round game.The schedule for the regionals will be released

Creg Stephensonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-15136626880595345542008-05-22T02:07:00.002-05:002008-05-22T02:17:05.358-05:00

The SEC baseball tournament and the deadlines of the print media world collided in catastrophic fashion Wednesday night, at least for me.In a column I wrote for Thursday's paper, I predicted that this Alabama team was different than those of the last three years, which had made pitiful showings in Hoover. Since Alabama's first-round game with Kentucky didn't start until 10:50 p.m. (nearly three

Creg Stephensonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-19218393794539596262008-04-30T13:00:00.003-05:002008-04-30T13:08:08.994-05:00

It didn't take Alabama football coach Nick Saban long to find away around the new NCAA rule --- AKA the "Saban rule" --- that prohibits head coaches from recruiting off-campus during the spring recruiting period (April 15-May 31). Saban has begun taking advantage of new technology, using video-conferencing over the Internet to get a chance to meet coaches and prospects that he would have

Creg Stephensonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-8495200047756897272008-02-15T16:21:00.002-06:002008-02-15T16:30:16.572-06:00

Few things on a Friday afternoon:* First, Alabama has set its 2008 homecoming football game. It will be the Nov. 1 game against Arkansas State. That's a little later than ideal in terms of weather, but since schools generally like to face a non-conference (read: beatable) opponent for homecoming, it might have been the only option. The Tide's other non-conference home games are against Tulane on

Creg Stephensonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-55335148980570901602008-02-12T11:14:00.001-06:002008-02-12T11:14:22.118-06:00

For those of you wanting to keep up with the rest of the league, here's the spring football dates as released by the SEC.Alabama (Start: March 13 / Finish: April 15 / Spring Game - April 12)Arkansas (Start: April 3 / Finish: April 26)Auburn (Start: Feb. 28 / Finish: March 29)Florida (Start: March 19 / Finish: April 12)Georgia (Start: March 3 / Finish: April 5)Kentucky (Start: March 26

Bran D. Stricklandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17743243375135215547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-6376978200212366392008-02-07T12:03:00.000-06:002008-02-07T12:12:10.356-06:00

In perhaps the least surprising news of the week, Alabama assistant coach Lance Thompson has been named Rivals.com's National Recruiter of the Year. Read that story here.Thompson helped Alabama lock down the talent-rich Mobile area this year, serving as the primary recruiter for the likes of Julio Jones, Burton Scott, Mark Barron and Glenn Harbin. In total, he secured 10 verbal commitments, two

Creg Stephensonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-5708721533075035512008-02-06T18:04:00.001-06:002008-02-06T18:22:41.468-06:00

Alabama didn't sign every player it went after this football recruiting season, it just seemed that way. But perhaps more signficantly, the Crimson Tide absolutely hammered Auburn on the recruiting front, both in-state and out-of-state.You can theorize all you want as to why this is, but it's safe to say that Nick Saban's arrival has upped the stakes in at least this aspect of the Iron Bowl

Creg Stephensonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-53252150689119032382008-02-06T11:44:00.000-06:002008-02-06T11:46:18.041-06:00

Julio Jones' committment to Alabama vaulted the Crimson Tide into the No. 1 spot in the national recruiting rankings, according to Rivals.com. The Tide had been second at the beginning of the day.See that list here.Alabama already ranked No. 1 according to Scout.com.

Creg Stephensonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882792583081544572.post-83240580046587718142008-02-06T11:34:00.000-06:002008-02-06T11:35:18.542-06:00

Five-star wide receiver prospect Julio Jones of Foley has verbally committed to Alabama. Check annistonstar.com for updates throughout the day.

Creg Stephensonnoreply@blogger.com0