Tide Tidbits – May 26, 2009

Tide Coach Curt Cignetti Can’t Wait to Show off Alabama’s Receiving Corps
Working for Nick Saban is one of the toughest jobs in college football. Trying to keep up with him is even tougher. Nick not only works a killer schedule himself, but demands it of his assistants.Starting his third year at Alabama, Curt Cignetti is seeing that first hand. This will be his 25th year in coaching and he comes from a family where his father coached, so this was not surprising to him or something that is too hard to bear. Not when the work bears this kind of reward. “All the work we’ve been doing began to show dividends last year,” he told me recently. “And the future looks brighter. From my own area of coaching, the wide receivers, I think we’ve got a group who could down as one of the best of all time.”

SEC meetings kick off today
At last year’s Southeastern Conference spring meetings, league officials pondered the establishment of an SEC television network. This year, with a pair of 15-year contracts — one with CBS for more than $800 million and the other with ESPN for a reported $2.25 billion — the SEC doesn’t need its own network. During this year’s meetings that begin today and conclude Friday at the Sandestin Beach Hilton, an announcement is also expected that ESPN has reached an agreement with Comcast and DirecTV to offer ESPNU and ESPN 360.com — which means there will be even more SEC football, basketball and other sports on TV.

Who Can Fill Rashad Johnson’s Shoes at Safety at Alabama?
Playing safety at the University of Alabama puts you under the closest of microscopes. Your head coach considers this his area of expertise and watches your every move and if that weren’t bad enough, the defensive coordinator is also your position coach who likewise analyzes each play. Rashad Johnson could do more than just handle that pressure, he could excel under that scrutiny. He went on to be not just a leader of the secondary, but of the defense itself, being one of the leading tacklers as well as one of the leading pick off men on the team. “He was like another coach on the field.” Saban would often say about him. “He is as smart as he was athletic, or maybe even more so.” So now the question is, who will step in and fill those shoes?

ANDREW BONE: Offers continue to prospects, class of 2009 moving to Tuscaloosa
The University of Alabama continues to extend scholarship offers during spring evaluations with the defensive back position a priority this past week. It has been a big week for news with the recent addition of Craig Sanders as a Tide commitment for the class of 2010, and the class of 2009 signees are preparing to arrive on campus this weekend for the first term of summer school. Ryan Ayers, Scout.com four-star cornerback from South Paulding High School in Douglasville, Ga., is one of the top shutdown cornerbacks in the country. He holds several scholarship offers including Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

FINEBAUM: Spurrier’s time not over yet
It seems that the easiest thing in college football these days is to write off the Ole Ball Coach. If you want in on the action, the line forms out the door and extends around the block. Obviously, Steve Spurrier’s four years at South Carolina have been disappointing. At times, it has even been agonizing to watch. And worst of all, his spectacular legacy at Florida has been somewhat dimmed by the bright shining glow over Urban Meyer’s head and the fact that the Gators will be the preseason favorite to win a third national title in four years.

Roll Tide!

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