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Alabama Football Season Preview (from InfoWins.com)
Courtesty of http://www.infowins.com - College Sports Betting Information Network
Contributor: 0414
Released: 08/21/2003 02:21 PM PDT
Sport: Football
Subject: Crimson Tide Season Preview
Team or Region: Alabama
What an off-season the Tide had. Coach Fran left for Texas A&M, Mike Price came from Washington State and was subsequently fired for strip club fraternization and Mike Shula became the head coach over Jesse Jackson's protestations. Whew! Despite all of that (and the loss of three departed DL to the NFL, three departed DBs to the NFL, starting QB and P who were the heart and soul of the team plus a RB to the NFL and one to the CFL and two OL to NFL rosters) this team still has the best starting 22 in the SEC. And that is after losing pre-season All-SEC LB, Brooks Daniels and back-up DE Todd Bates for the season. Many sportswriters are writing off the Tide due to effects of probation, lack of experienced depth, all of the coaching changes, Mike Shula's inexperience as a head coach and a schedule that many football pundits believe to be the nation's most difficult schedule (more on that later). Amazingly, many people forget that UA won 10 games last year and probably should have won two more (OU and UGA). The main strength of that team returns: the starting OL and DL. Special teams will all be new (well, sort of, anyway) and many key players who played a big part in last year's success return.
Offense. It all starts with 3-yr Sophomore QB, Brodie Croyle. Brodie has started some games and played quite a bit last year as a redshirt freshman, throwing for over 1000 yds. He improved dramatically during the spring under Mike Price's pass-happy offense and he picked up Mike Shula's offense very quickly. Many people forget that Brodie was the nation's #1 HS QB recruit three years ago. He is beginning to look like it. The OL is easily one of the 2-3 best in the SEC, if not the best OL group in the conference. Depth is a huge concern with only 1 player probably near the starters right now, but that will improve over the course of the season. Watch RT, Evan Mathis. He is playing with a broken leg (repaired with a rod). WRs are senior-laden and deep. This will be a plus. TE goes three deep with David Cavan reminding many of Jeremy Shockey. Coach Fran visited Miami in an effort to utilize Cavan more last season. He is one to watch. RBs are deep and talented while FB is trying to catch up. BTW-The coaching staff has already installed the base offense. They will add more on a game-by-game basis.
Defense. The DL will be key for the "D". Antwan Odom will be one of the first 15 players drafted next spring even though he is a junior. Naughtyn McKay-Loescher starts opposite and he is a senior. Both are very good. Inside, the two biggest DTs you will see this season will start with 4 inexperienced guys providing back-up help. There are 4-5 back-ups at DE, but they have precious little experience. The LBs are fast, physical and competitive. This will be one of the SEC's best LB units. The secondary has depth and experience. This unit should be better than last year. If the DL doesn't suffer any injuries, this defense should keep UA in just about every game. If they start getting players nicked up.....
Special Teams. PK should be Brian Bostick, a former starter. Jeff Aul will kick off, but P is still undecided. Ungerer was hand-picked by team Shula to run special teams and Shula spends a LOT of practice time on special teams. Special teams play was not a strength last year but many players think this area may be the most improved facet of the game over last year's squad. There is a general belief that UA will be MUCH more dangerous in the return game this fall. Protection schemes still need work, though.
Schedule. It is brutal. 10 consecutive games to start the season (bad for a team with little experienced depth, injuries a MAJOR concern). Amazingly, 5 UA opponents have an open date before playing UA and 3 more conference foes have cupcakes before playing the Tide. Ouch. This will be a long season no matter which way you slice it. On the good side, Bama starts with 4 home games and Ark, ut, LSU, OU, Sou Miss all come to T-Town. Toughest road games figure to be UGA and Aub where Bama has won the last two times on both of those fields. Hawaii out there ends the season.
The players have been very resilient through all of the changes. Ironically, Price's offense helped the Tide develop a better passing attack than Coach Fran had. This will help immeasurably with Shula's pro offense. The defense didn't change coordinators and stayed the same (running the same stuff the Miami Hurricanes ran in the 80s and early 90s). The strength and conditioning coaches did a phenomenal job getting this team prepared for a long season, but that probably won't be enough. Eventually, injuries will catch up to this squad.
Courtesty of http://www.infowins.com - College Sports Betting Information Network
Contributor: 0414
Released: 08/21/2003 02:21 PM PDT
Sport: Football
Subject: Crimson Tide Season Preview
Team or Region: Alabama
What an off-season the Tide had. Coach Fran left for Texas A&M, Mike Price came from Washington State and was subsequently fired for strip club fraternization and Mike Shula became the head coach over Jesse Jackson's protestations. Whew! Despite all of that (and the loss of three departed DL to the NFL, three departed DBs to the NFL, starting QB and P who were the heart and soul of the team plus a RB to the NFL and one to the CFL and two OL to NFL rosters) this team still has the best starting 22 in the SEC. And that is after losing pre-season All-SEC LB, Brooks Daniels and back-up DE Todd Bates for the season. Many sportswriters are writing off the Tide due to effects of probation, lack of experienced depth, all of the coaching changes, Mike Shula's inexperience as a head coach and a schedule that many football pundits believe to be the nation's most difficult schedule (more on that later). Amazingly, many people forget that UA won 10 games last year and probably should have won two more (OU and UGA). The main strength of that team returns: the starting OL and DL. Special teams will all be new (well, sort of, anyway) and many key players who played a big part in last year's success return.
Offense. It all starts with 3-yr Sophomore QB, Brodie Croyle. Brodie has started some games and played quite a bit last year as a redshirt freshman, throwing for over 1000 yds. He improved dramatically during the spring under Mike Price's pass-happy offense and he picked up Mike Shula's offense very quickly. Many people forget that Brodie was the nation's #1 HS QB recruit three years ago. He is beginning to look like it. The OL is easily one of the 2-3 best in the SEC, if not the best OL group in the conference. Depth is a huge concern with only 1 player probably near the starters right now, but that will improve over the course of the season. Watch RT, Evan Mathis. He is playing with a broken leg (repaired with a rod). WRs are senior-laden and deep. This will be a plus. TE goes three deep with David Cavan reminding many of Jeremy Shockey. Coach Fran visited Miami in an effort to utilize Cavan more last season. He is one to watch. RBs are deep and talented while FB is trying to catch up. BTW-The coaching staff has already installed the base offense. They will add more on a game-by-game basis.
Defense. The DL will be key for the "D". Antwan Odom will be one of the first 15 players drafted next spring even though he is a junior. Naughtyn McKay-Loescher starts opposite and he is a senior. Both are very good. Inside, the two biggest DTs you will see this season will start with 4 inexperienced guys providing back-up help. There are 4-5 back-ups at DE, but they have precious little experience. The LBs are fast, physical and competitive. This will be one of the SEC's best LB units. The secondary has depth and experience. This unit should be better than last year. If the DL doesn't suffer any injuries, this defense should keep UA in just about every game. If they start getting players nicked up.....
Special Teams. PK should be Brian Bostick, a former starter. Jeff Aul will kick off, but P is still undecided. Ungerer was hand-picked by team Shula to run special teams and Shula spends a LOT of practice time on special teams. Special teams play was not a strength last year but many players think this area may be the most improved facet of the game over last year's squad. There is a general belief that UA will be MUCH more dangerous in the return game this fall. Protection schemes still need work, though.
Schedule. It is brutal. 10 consecutive games to start the season (bad for a team with little experienced depth, injuries a MAJOR concern). Amazingly, 5 UA opponents have an open date before playing UA and 3 more conference foes have cupcakes before playing the Tide. Ouch. This will be a long season no matter which way you slice it. On the good side, Bama starts with 4 home games and Ark, ut, LSU, OU, Sou Miss all come to T-Town. Toughest road games figure to be UGA and Aub where Bama has won the last two times on both of those fields. Hawaii out there ends the season.
The players have been very resilient through all of the changes. Ironically, Price's offense helped the Tide develop a better passing attack than Coach Fran had. This will help immeasurably with Shula's pro offense. The defense didn't change coordinators and stayed the same (running the same stuff the Miami Hurricanes ran in the 80s and early 90s). The strength and conditioning coaches did a phenomenal job getting this team prepared for a long season, but that probably won't be enough. Eventually, injuries will catch up to this squad.
Courtesty of http://www.infowins.com - College Sports Betting Information Network