Tide Tidbits – April 18, 2009

No ordinary spring scrimmage for Tide
As players and coaches scurried to make final preparations Thursday night, Alabama’s football complex had the buzz of a game week in the fall. “I feel like I’m going to play in a real game,” defensive end Lorenzo Washington said. The days of Alabama’s spring football game being merely a gloried scrimmage are over. A national television audience on ESPN, an anticipated large crowd for the third consecutive year and various university events have raised the stakes of today’s 2 p.m. A-Day game. See also: Rewards at steak for Tide players; Large crowd expected to support Tide today; Three things to look for:;  Alabama ready for a national audience;  First-teamers paired for A-Day; Essential info for Alabama’s A-Day game; Check out the new-look field at Bryant-Denny Stadium

Enrolling early a popular trend nowadays
Gene Newberry never lined up in shotgun formation during his football career at Alabama, which most modern-day college quarterbacks take for granted. But he did help to start a modern-day trend back in 1983. Newberry was one of the first players in the SEC to skip his final spring semester of high school to enroll in college early and participate in spring football. Former Tide coach Ray Perkins persuaded the All-American quarterback from Arkansas to do so because Alabama had only one returning player at the position, Mike Shula. The trend that began with players such as Newberry now seems to be a big part of college football.

Tide’s Saban hopes to involve more Alabama legends
A-Day weekend has been huge for fans under Alabama coach Nick Saban, who said he would welcome more involvement from past players, too. “We’re doing several things to try to get former players to come back so they feel a part of the program,” Saban said Thursday. “We certainly have a tremendous amount of respect for every player whose blood, sweat and tears has created a fantastic, wonderful tradition here. And we want them to feel a part of what we’re doing now. We’re certainly looking forward to welcoming them back to the university this weekend.”

Bryant-Denny expansion cheaper than expected
An expansion to Bryant- Denny Stadium should cost about $15 million less than expected. Construction bids came in below what University of Alabama administrators predicted when they asked trustees for approval of the project in February. The roughly 9,000-seat expansion to the stadium’s south end zone should cost $65.6 million instead of the $80.6 million originally estimated. “The university was the beneficiary of the economic climate we’re in right now,” Mike Lanier, project manager for UA construction projects, told trustees at a meeting Thursday.

Roll Tide!

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