Tide Tidbits – July 9, 2009

Football recruiting season gets earlier and earlier each year
College football recruiting has changed dramatically over the last decade, as college scouts make decisions and extend offers earlier than ever. Alabama coach Nick Saban pioneered the early commitment craze during his tour of duty at LSU, and copycats quickly sprang up at nearly every college program in the country. Defensive back Demarcus Milliner, the state’s top prospect from Stanhope Elmore, has already committed to Alabama. Ditto for Blount’s Jarrick Williams, another elite prospect.

Player Profile: Terrence Cody
Some players are fortunate enough to see their persona transcend their statistics. Of course, for some players (at some positions) statistics are mostly meaningless. For those guys, their mere presence in the lineup changes the game so much that a number going in a score sheet column just doesn’t matter. It also helps if you are really, really, really big. He wants to play more. At times last season he was removed from games because of fatigue, and an inability to crush the pocket on passing plays. On third-and-long, especially, he was substituted for a quicker player. He hopes that being down to around 350 will allow him to have the stamina to stay in the game, and help him to be quick enough to be effective.

Five Players Alabama Can’t Afford to Lose to Injury: Justin Woodall
This may seem like a strange choice since Woodall hasn’t really been a “star” at Alabama so far, but Woodall was sort of the quiet workhorse of the secondary last season. He leads the returning DBs in INTs with four and is second behind Kareem Jackson in pass breakups with eight (to Kareem’s 10), and was just generally a very solid strong safety, a hard hitter that was comfortable playing near the line in run support and also effective in pass coverage.

Shaun Alexander considers NFL return
Shaun Alexander isn’t currently listed on an NFL roster, but don’t read too much into that. The former Alabama star and NFL MVP said this week that he hasn’t ruled out a return to professional football. He told the Press-Register that he’s had preliminary talks with a few NFL teams, although he did not name them “If it’s not the right team, it won’t happen,” he said.

Hatch cites arrogance of BCS system after end of antitrust hearing
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, reinforced his position that the BCS violates federal antitrust laws after a Senate Antitrust Subcommittee hearing Tuesday in which he heard from two university presidents and two lawyers. “I’m having some troubles with the BCS approach,” he said at the end of the hearing. “There’s an arrogance I see that shouldn’t be there. I believe there are real antitrust issues here that aren’t going to be solved unless the folks at BCS work to resolve these matters.” What comes next remains uncertain.

Roll Tide!

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