Schedule: The Crimson Tide will open practice Monday afternoon and conclude the spring with their A-Day spring game on April 16. It will be televised live by ESPNU with a 3 p.m. ET kickoff. What’s new: Veteran offensive line coach Joe Pendry retired following the 2010 season and was replaced by Jeff Stoutland, who’d been Miami’s offensive line coach the previous four seasons. Mike Groh takes over as the Crimson Tide’s receivers coach and will also serve as recruiting coordinator. Chris Rumph was hired away from Clemson to replace Bo Davis as Alabama’s defensive line coach. Davis took a job on Texas’ staff. On the mend: Defensive tackle Kerry Murphy, receiver Kendall Kelly and defensive back Wesley Neighbors will miss spring practice with injuries. Safety Mark Barron will be limited while recovering from surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle. On the move: Sophomore Ed Stinson, who spent most of last season at linebacker, is making the move full time to defensive end. Key battle: Steady Greg McElroy threw 37 touchdown passes and just nine interceptions the past two seasons in leading the Crimson Tide to a 24-3 record, including a national championship in 2009. His departure sets up what will be one of the most closely watched battles in the league this spring. Sophomore AJ McCarron and redshirt freshman Phillip Sims will duke it out for Alabama’s starting quarterback job. McCarron goes in as the guy to beat and is oozing with talent, but Sims can also throw it and has been looking forward to his opportunity on this stage. New faces: Alabama welcomed nine enrollees in January who will be participating in spring practice, and at the head of the list are former Arizona Western College teammates Aaron Douglas and Jesse Williams. Douglas will vie for the starting job at left offensive tackle. He started his career at Tennessee and was a Freshman All-American for the Vols in 2009. The 6-4, 330-pound Williams has a chance to be an early impact guy at nose guard. A third junior college signee, Quinton Dial, will factor in at defensive end. Heralded running back Dee Hart of Orlando, Fla., is talented enough to warrant some carries next fall. He’ll go through spring practice along with five other high school early enrollees — receiver Ronald Carswell, quarterback Phillip Ely, defensive end Wilson Love and linebackers Vinnie Sunseri and Trey DePriest. Breaking out: Senior jack linebacker Courtney Upshaw finished fifth in the SEC last season with 14.5 tackles for loss, and had six of those in his final two games against Auburn and Michigan State. You won’t find Upshaw’s name on any of the first- or second-team All-SEC lists from the past season, but he’s poised to make that jump and then some in 2011. The 6-2, 263-pound Upshaw returns as one of the best pass-rushers in the league. Don’t forget about: Junior running back Trent Richardson wasn’t 100 percent for the latter half of the season a year ago, and it showed. But with Mark Ingram gone to the NFL, there are going to be a ton of carries coming Richardson’s way next season. Look for him to remind everybody why he’s one of the most feared offensive playmakers in the SEC. All eyes on: An inexperienced secondary cost the Crimson Tide last season, especially when it came to blown assignments. Getting that unit to play with more discipline could be the difference between returning to the SEC championship game for the third time in four years and staying at home for the second straight year.
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Opening spring camp: Alabama
Filed under Football by on Mar 21st, 2011. Comment. 
Breaking into our countdown at No. 21 is a guy who had 57 career carries coming into last season. No. 21: Stevan Ridley , RB, Jr., LSU 2010 numbers/honors: Finished fourth in the SEC in rushing with 1,147 yards and also scored 15 touchdowns. A first-team All-SEC selection by the coaches and second-team All-SEC selection by the Associated Press. Preseason ranking: Not ranked in the 2010 preseason countdown. Making the case for Ridley: When you start talking about the impact a player has on his team, imagine the LSU offense last season without Ridley. He was the Tigers’ offense and carried the load over and over again with 249 carries, tying South Carolina’s Marcus Lattimore for the most in the SEC among running backs. LSU went from 122.8 rushing yards per game in 2009 to an average of 185.7 yards last season, and a big part of that was Ridley’s bruising running style. One of those backs who’s constantly churning for extra yardage, the 6-foot, 223-pound Ridley helped keep the chains moving for the Tigers despite any real threat of a passing game for most of the season. He averaged 91.5 yards against SEC defenses and ended his LSU career with a 105-yard rushing effort against Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl. His 1,147 yards marked the seventh highest single-season rushing total in LSU history. Ridley decided to bypass his senior season and enter his name into the upcoming NFL draft. The rundown No. 22: Mississippi State OT Derek Sherrod No. 23: Alabama DE Marcell Dareus No. 24: Kentucky LB Danny Trevathan No
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The SEC’s 25 best players: No. 21
Filed under Football by on Feb 18th, 2011. Comment.
Let’s review some of the highs and lows of the SEC bowl season: Best performance: Without defensive tackle Nick Fairley’s dominance up front, Auburn doesn’t win the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game. It’s that simple. Oregon coach Chip Kelly conceded after the game that the Ducks simply couldn’t block Fairley, who disrupted just about everything Oregon tried to do with three tackles for loss, including a sack, and a forced fumble. Best out-of-nowhere performance : It wasn’t completely out of nowhere because Mississippi State’s Chris Relf improved as a passer this season. But he put on a clinic in the Bulldogs’ 52-14 rout of Michigan in the Progressive Gator Bowl. Relf finished 18-of-23 for 281 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. He also rushed for 30 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown, earning Gator Bowl MVP honors. Best team defensive performance: Led by linebacker Courtney Upshaw’s three tackles for loss, Alabama held Michigan State to minus-48 yards rushing in the Crimson Tide’s 49-7 blistering of the Spartans in the Capital One Bowl. It was the second lowest opponent rushing total in school history for the Tide. Worst luck: South Carolina’s freshman sensation, Marcus Lattimore , was knocked out of the game on the Gamecocks’ first possession when he was blasted by Florida State’s Greg Reid. Lattimore was taken to the hospital with a cut to his mouth and a concussion. He never returned and the Gamecocks never recovered, losing 26-17 to the Seminoles in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Worst officiating: Go back and count the officiating blunders and/or questionable calls at the chaotic end of Tennessee’s 30-27 overtime loss to North Carolina. At the very least, the Tar Heels should have been penalized 15 yards (not 5 yards) there at the end of regulation before the game-tying field goal. Best defensive game plan: Auburn defensive coordinator Ted Roof had more than a month to come up with a plan to at least slow down an Oregon offense that was supposedly unstoppable. Well, Roof went one better than slowing down the Ducks. His defense held them to 75 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Raise your hand if you saw that coming. Worst field: How can the field that the national championship game is played on be so slick? It was like an ice rink out there with all the players slipping on the turf at the University of Phoenix Stadium. Best freshmen: LSU had three interceptions in its 41-24 win over Texas A&M in the AT&T Cotton Bowl, and all three were by freshmen — Tyrann Mathieu, Eric Reid and Tharold Simon. Worst catch: Any of the six drops by Arkansas players in the 31-26 loss to Ohio State in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Best throw: Arkansas’ Ryan Mallett dropped one in beautifully to Jarius Wright for a 22-yard touchdown to pull the Hogs within 31-21 in the third quarter.
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Best and worst of the SEC bowl season
Filed under Football by on Jan 13th, 2011. Comment.
Then Alabama linebacker Eryk Anders appeared out of thin air and hammered Gilbert. The ball squirted free. Alabama’s Courtney Upshaw recovered. The dream died. Gilbert probably should have been pleased with his performance. Entering the BCS title game,… Source: Sports Illustrated
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Andy Staples: Texas lost title game, but found quarterback in Garrett Gilbert
Filed under News by on Aug 27th, 2010. Comment.
