Tide Tidbits – May 31, 2009

No rest for Tide football signees: Many of Alabama’s top recruits ready to start summer school in Tuscaloosa this week
Summer vacation is now a thing of the past for Trent Richardson, and he couldn’t be happier about it. Richardson, a running back and one of the nation’s top high school prospects this past season, graduated Friday from Pensacola’s Escambia High School. Less than 48 hours later, he’ll pack up a car and hit the interstate for Tuscaloosa. He plans to arrive today with the majority of Alabama’s 2009 football signing class, which is set to begin summer session classes Tuesday.

Ozzie Newsome will “come back” to Alabama “at some point” … but why?
I don’t think it’s a secret how much affection Ozzie Newsome has for Alabama coach Nick Saban. He even had one of those original Sabanation T-shirts. Given that Saban asked the Ravens general manager to speak at his camp, the feeling is mutual. “I am coming back,” Newsome said during a speech at the Eagle Luncheon put on by the Greater Alabama Council of the Boy Scouts of America. “I am coming back at some point. I have a lot of work to do in Baltimore, but I am coming back.”

So How Does Alabama Fix It’s Kickoff Coverage?
In Nick Saban’s first year at Alabama, the Tide rated tops among kickoff coverage in the SEC. Last year they finished at the end of the pack. Punt coverage was about that bad too. Why? Did Bobby Williams suddenly forget how to coach? Was our depth so bad that we had no athletes left for special teams? The answer to all that is no. Except for Prince Hall, who is now removed from the team, there was little experience on the coverage team. Saban opted to get the rookies feet wet in a hurry and threw them to the sharks before they were ready. Combine this with a kicker with a leg incapable of putting it out of the end-zone and you simply have a recipe for disaster. Not that the coverage unit was a disaster, but it did put Alabama on it’s heels time and again by allowing opponents great field position.

SEC football fans’ poll 2009: Your preseason predictions are in
Fan expectations remain high for Alabama football in 2009 after last year’s undefeated regular season under Nick Saban, but fans are less optimistic about Auburn’s chances with new head coach Gene Chizik.
The Crimson Tide was picked to repeat as champions in the SEC’s Western Division by 55 percent of voters in an unscientific poll last week at al.com, the online home of The Birmingham News.

The Birmingham News takes an in-depth look at 2009 SEC football
For the 63rd year, The Birmingham News has compiled a comprehensive spring SEC football preview with predictions from the league’s sports information directors on how things will shake out in 2009. Today’s Birmingham News has everything an SEC fan could want to whet that football appetite – at least for a while.

Roll Tide!

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