Tide Tidbits – February 8, 2010

Early enrollees may be key to this Alabama recruiting class
It was nearly impossible for Alabama to live up to the hype surrounding its top-rated recruiting classes in 2008 and 2009. Florida ran away with the 2010 recruiting “championship,” feeding off the hype associated with the Gators’ 2008 national championship, something Alabama can use to its benefit in 2011. And the Crimson Tide was hard-pressed to follow up the last two years of landing five-star recruits with two of its scholarships spent on less ballyhooed high school players who punt and kick. Saban was less worried about grabbing the best players — as he did in 2008 and 2009 — and more worried about addressing the needs of the Tide, which lost almost every defensive back with any experience. What may turn out to be the biggest draw of this recruiting class is the ability to have three grayshirts initially recruited in 2009 join seven true freshmen from the 2010 class as early enrollees who will participate in spring practice next month. [More]

ALABAMA REPORT CARD
Here is how Alabama graded out during recruiting. QUARTERBACK: A Phillip Sims is one of the nation’s top high school quarterbacks and adds to a position that is already quite strong. Greg McElroy returns for his senior year after a 14-0 record as a junior and has sophomore Star Jackson, redshirt freshman A.J. McCarron and Sims waiting in the wings. RUNNING BACKS: A Jalston Fowler gives the Tide another bruising runner and Corey Grant has speed to burn at the position, joining Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram and what may be the nation’s top backup in Trent Richardson. That gives the Tide different types of runners and plenty of depth at the position. [More]

Alabama 2010: Early Prediction
Last August I posted some season predictions for the ‘09 season. Actually I made these predictions about this time last year and just regurgitated them in August. Just so you don’t have to go back in my articles and look, I predicted 11-1. The sole loss to Virginia Tech. So, lets get onto the early absurdity. September 4th, San Jose State: Time to put the defense through some more scout team practice. San Jose will put ten on the board (early jitters, new defense). The defense learns some lessons. Oh, if you are wondering you will see one or both back up quarterbacks play. If not, somebody better remind Saban about Texas! -W- [More]

Southeastern Conference Talent Level a Common Misconception
Year in and year out, there is a misconception about the Southeastern Conference. Every year, well-educated and informed people are fooled into believing there is a huge talent gap between the teams. This is simply false. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Alabama is going to be the No. 1 team in most preseason polls. They are the defending national champions, and this is only right. Are they actually better for 2010 than all of the other SEC teams? Florida was the preseason No. 1 team in 2009. They returned almost their entire national championship team from 2008. The consensus was that they would be the undefeated national champions in 2009. For the 2008 season, Georgia was the preseason No. 1 team. They had manhandled Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl and had the majority of their team returning. National champions LSU had lost much of their team to graduation. I could go back through a decade of missed preseason predictions for the SEC. Why is it so hard for the same pundits who pick most conferences so well to constantly miss the SEC? [More]

Alabama’s Special 2009 Season Is One Worth Remembering
To many Alabama fans 2009 will go down as the year that the Alabama Crimson Tide came full circle. It was the year that Alabama went back to where the greatness began and saw that greatness reborn. Alabama won its first National Championship at the Rose Bowl in 1926 and then returned over 80 years later to claim its 13th National Championship and reclaim its rightful place as the greatest college football program in history. Some fans might not realize just how difficult it was for Alabama to make this special season happen and just how many obstacles the Crimson Tide had to overcome to achieve this goal. [More]

Roll Tide!

~ _____________________________________



Have BamaFootball4Life eMailed to You for Free


_____________________________________


Enter your email address:

Other subscription options.

~

______________________________________


Quick Links

______________________________________


FREE Magazines!

Recruiting
2008 Bama Statistics
mybama.com
Polls/Rankings
Links and More Links...