Made one of these two years ago. Success. Didn't make one last year? Shame on me. Clemson drubbed, lack of any kind of red zone offense, IOL struggled without Cornbread Brown, suspended.
So yeah, this team is ungodly stacked. Even for a Saban team. The only real question I have is who plays MIKE, between Kaho or McMillon. Theoretically, this should've Mack Wilson's spot to drive up his round stock for the NFL, but he unwisely shipped early. Can't understand that, it was shown he freelanced and was often out of position. Amazed he got drafted at all with the film. Addition by subtraction for Savion Wilson, the personal crème brûlée of Justyn Ross all last Natty. Brutal. Thank god Diggs is back, totally changed what this team had in CB depth. Josh Jobe shined in the spring to be a physical corner. This allows personal favorite Patrick Surtain II to move to STAR. Add that to the versatility Shyheim Carter is giving this defense, kind of like Minkah Fitzpatrick would in years past. Let this be the year Terrell Lewis stays healthy at SAM. Please dear god. First round talent, but horribly hampered with injuries. If he stays healthy, probably the best Tide draft steal since Eddie Jackson for whatever team gets him. Physically a freak, he, Xavier McKinney at SS, and Raekwon Davis need to be the guys this year to take that next step. Moses is already there. Good riddance to Lupoi, honestly. Great recruiter, shitty DC. Golding looks like probably an amazing hire that hasn't gotten enough publicity outside of T-Town, maybe UTSA where they had him a bit. Sure hope he's more agressive a playcaller than what I saw the last few weeks of last season. That said, favorite of the rotating SNL-like new staffers for the Tide is Brian Baker. Holy shit what a get for the DL. Those Bulldogs always played with an aggressive mean streak that fits the SEC wonderfully. Bama football is nothing if not hard-nosed D by tradition.
Special teams, Chris Sailer's camp and I both agree Will Reichard is a special kind of kicker. Simple, fluid, repeatable motion. He brought down the overall class score despite being easily the nation's top guy. Brings me back some memories of Van Tiffin in particular. Fletcher is a solid enough LS. Doesn't stick out to me as an especially Sunday guy down unlike what Starkville has been churning out. Hopefully, there's a little more to be had out of Delong this season, dude looked as awful as anything until Bernier took his spot, but then they were spoiled with JK Scott for enough years.
Of course, you can't talk Alabama 2019 without the offense and Sark, which I genuinely love as a fit for the personnel in place right. So let's start at OL. I personally am a big fan of Leatherwood moving back to his natural position of LT. LG is interesting, I think they'd start with Emile Ekiyor but think Brown takes this back fairly handily following his suspension. If either can't go, IMG Academy 5* Evan Neal, the true freshman giant is going to step in. Man I love this kid. Had the best Power Throw Toss distance of any OT freshman this season, at 47'6" (Bryan Clay, a 2008 Gold Medal Olympian decathlete, had a 38'9" for context), in SPARQ measurements, recently replacing max bench press. Requires a 3 kg ball, and is probably the best measurement of pure body strength and power we have.
Owens/Womack/Wills should have C-RT pretty secured respectively. TE is going to be tough to replace Irv Smith. Latu, Forristall, Tennison, Parker are great but right now I fail to see anything that remotely gives what Smith gave on the weekly with his separation and crisp routes.
RBs, this is going to be Najee Harris' year to absolutely get the carries he's been craving the best two years. To have a power, outside zone heavy dude like this is awesome in what can be such a screen based offense. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was concerned with the depth behind him. Brian Robinson is cool but it seems he's only gotten garbage time snaps before, although he's succeeded. Trey Sanders and his self-proclaimed #Fresheisman has looked good from the folks I know in the know at least? But man, if you have to rely on a freshman back? I'd rather not.
So, what's next? Receivers. This isn't fair. Jeudy is probably the #2 pick. Ruggs has Olympian sprinter speed. Was shown to go 27 MPH according to Bama's internal trackers last year in Training Days. Turbo button like a video game cheat code, Day 1 fringe pick in 2020. Devonta Smith is probably a 3rd round pick, and then there's Jaylen Waddle, a speed freak too, the sophomore they chose over in-state Justyn Ross of Clemson. So yeah. You can't really bracket these guys on both speed levels and who you probably leave open. 11 isn't enough to cover them all. There's not much of a way to stop them with any look they've seen before, because they will pounce like a hungry lion on raw meat.
So that leaves us with Mr. Heisman 2019, likely #1 overall to Miami(?), The Hawaiian, Tua Tagovailoa. Where do you start with him? A cannon for an arm, with a damn textbook perfect spiral, an ability to read and dissect defenses on a dime, then go through progressions 1-5/checkdown at genuinely Brady-esque speeds. Profiles a little bit like Russell Wilson in his game with a bit of a stronger arm, as someone who hates to make comps. If there's any knock on him, well, there's a couple: He holds on to the ball a bit long, look no further than the Georgia game to see that. This is where, for his development as a player, playing at Alabama isn't the best for him since the OL affords him the time and gets him into bad habits against teams with genuinely good DLs or when stunts are brought. Tua also has issues with how he works his first read into his second. Oftentimes the first read is a fake to try to draw off the defense, kind of like a one-man play action.
To be more precise, this kind of harkens (and takes effect) back to what Josh Rosen's response was about how he threw a 59-yard TD to Christan Kirk last year: "Back in college I learned the motherfucker rule: If there are a lot of motherfuckers over there, go the other way." I'd like to see a bit quicker of a release this year from Tua, but think there's every reason he can do this. It's really minor stuff with Tua, all the hard stuff is basically NFL-ready at this point. Even if you hate the Tide, take a few minutes out of your Saturday to watch this kid play. There's something special about him that I haven't seen at this level for a long, long time.
Also has the cool Billy Wagner-esque story of being naturally right-handed but pitching/throws left-handed, after his father taught him to throw as much. I mean, I have more fingers than left-handed notable QBs off-hand: Steve Young of course, but also Stabler, Esiason, Zorn, Douglass, and if you really want to throw back the clock, Frankie Albert and the original T-formation QB at Stanford.
Saturdays can't come back soon enough. Get here faster, 31st. This is a team that should be favored to at least make the National Championship. How they do against likely Clemson is anyone's guess, but I'd favor the Tide slightly, unlike how I felt last year, given how many DL Clemson lost that frankly aren't replaceable within a one year span, against this kind of juggernaut offense.
If you've got any questions here, be happy to answer them, or talk about the schemes Bama runs, especially on D. Crazy good in how well Saban teaches stuff that's exceptionally uncommon at this level with its complexity. Been one of my favorite projects the past few summers is to break down the film of these guys and see where they're going. Absolutely revolutionary and still an untapped inefficiency to run something as basic as a LIZ/RIP 3, to say nothing of the Fire Zone Blitzes, just to give a sampling of what's in that playbook behind the press podium Coke bottle.
So yeah, this team is ungodly stacked. Even for a Saban team. The only real question I have is who plays MIKE, between Kaho or McMillon. Theoretically, this should've Mack Wilson's spot to drive up his round stock for the NFL, but he unwisely shipped early. Can't understand that, it was shown he freelanced and was often out of position. Amazed he got drafted at all with the film. Addition by subtraction for Savion Wilson, the personal crème brûlée of Justyn Ross all last Natty. Brutal. Thank god Diggs is back, totally changed what this team had in CB depth. Josh Jobe shined in the spring to be a physical corner. This allows personal favorite Patrick Surtain II to move to STAR. Add that to the versatility Shyheim Carter is giving this defense, kind of like Minkah Fitzpatrick would in years past. Let this be the year Terrell Lewis stays healthy at SAM. Please dear god. First round talent, but horribly hampered with injuries. If he stays healthy, probably the best Tide draft steal since Eddie Jackson for whatever team gets him. Physically a freak, he, Xavier McKinney at SS, and Raekwon Davis need to be the guys this year to take that next step. Moses is already there. Good riddance to Lupoi, honestly. Great recruiter, shitty DC. Golding looks like probably an amazing hire that hasn't gotten enough publicity outside of T-Town, maybe UTSA where they had him a bit. Sure hope he's more agressive a playcaller than what I saw the last few weeks of last season. That said, favorite of the rotating SNL-like new staffers for the Tide is Brian Baker. Holy shit what a get for the DL. Those Bulldogs always played with an aggressive mean streak that fits the SEC wonderfully. Bama football is nothing if not hard-nosed D by tradition.
Special teams, Chris Sailer's camp and I both agree Will Reichard is a special kind of kicker. Simple, fluid, repeatable motion. He brought down the overall class score despite being easily the nation's top guy. Brings me back some memories of Van Tiffin in particular. Fletcher is a solid enough LS. Doesn't stick out to me as an especially Sunday guy down unlike what Starkville has been churning out. Hopefully, there's a little more to be had out of Delong this season, dude looked as awful as anything until Bernier took his spot, but then they were spoiled with JK Scott for enough years.
Of course, you can't talk Alabama 2019 without the offense and Sark, which I genuinely love as a fit for the personnel in place right. So let's start at OL. I personally am a big fan of Leatherwood moving back to his natural position of LT. LG is interesting, I think they'd start with Emile Ekiyor but think Brown takes this back fairly handily following his suspension. If either can't go, IMG Academy 5* Evan Neal, the true freshman giant is going to step in. Man I love this kid. Had the best Power Throw Toss distance of any OT freshman this season, at 47'6" (Bryan Clay, a 2008 Gold Medal Olympian decathlete, had a 38'9" for context), in SPARQ measurements, recently replacing max bench press. Requires a 3 kg ball, and is probably the best measurement of pure body strength and power we have.
Owens/Womack/Wills should have C-RT pretty secured respectively. TE is going to be tough to replace Irv Smith. Latu, Forristall, Tennison, Parker are great but right now I fail to see anything that remotely gives what Smith gave on the weekly with his separation and crisp routes.
RBs, this is going to be Najee Harris' year to absolutely get the carries he's been craving the best two years. To have a power, outside zone heavy dude like this is awesome in what can be such a screen based offense. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was concerned with the depth behind him. Brian Robinson is cool but it seems he's only gotten garbage time snaps before, although he's succeeded. Trey Sanders and his self-proclaimed #Fresheisman has looked good from the folks I know in the know at least? But man, if you have to rely on a freshman back? I'd rather not.
So, what's next? Receivers. This isn't fair. Jeudy is probably the #2 pick. Ruggs has Olympian sprinter speed. Was shown to go 27 MPH according to Bama's internal trackers last year in Training Days. Turbo button like a video game cheat code, Day 1 fringe pick in 2020. Devonta Smith is probably a 3rd round pick, and then there's Jaylen Waddle, a speed freak too, the sophomore they chose over in-state Justyn Ross of Clemson. So yeah. You can't really bracket these guys on both speed levels and who you probably leave open. 11 isn't enough to cover them all. There's not much of a way to stop them with any look they've seen before, because they will pounce like a hungry lion on raw meat.
So that leaves us with Mr. Heisman 2019, likely #1 overall to Miami(?), The Hawaiian, Tua Tagovailoa. Where do you start with him? A cannon for an arm, with a damn textbook perfect spiral, an ability to read and dissect defenses on a dime, then go through progressions 1-5/checkdown at genuinely Brady-esque speeds. Profiles a little bit like Russell Wilson in his game with a bit of a stronger arm, as someone who hates to make comps. If there's any knock on him, well, there's a couple: He holds on to the ball a bit long, look no further than the Georgia game to see that. This is where, for his development as a player, playing at Alabama isn't the best for him since the OL affords him the time and gets him into bad habits against teams with genuinely good DLs or when stunts are brought. Tua also has issues with how he works his first read into his second. Oftentimes the first read is a fake to try to draw off the defense, kind of like a one-man play action.
To be more precise, this kind of harkens (and takes effect) back to what Josh Rosen's response was about how he threw a 59-yard TD to Christan Kirk last year: "Back in college I learned the motherfucker rule: If there are a lot of motherfuckers over there, go the other way." I'd like to see a bit quicker of a release this year from Tua, but think there's every reason he can do this. It's really minor stuff with Tua, all the hard stuff is basically NFL-ready at this point. Even if you hate the Tide, take a few minutes out of your Saturday to watch this kid play. There's something special about him that I haven't seen at this level for a long, long time.
Also has the cool Billy Wagner-esque story of being naturally right-handed but pitching/throws left-handed, after his father taught him to throw as much. I mean, I have more fingers than left-handed notable QBs off-hand: Steve Young of course, but also Stabler, Esiason, Zorn, Douglass, and if you really want to throw back the clock, Frankie Albert and the original T-formation QB at Stanford.
Saturdays can't come back soon enough. Get here faster, 31st. This is a team that should be favored to at least make the National Championship. How they do against likely Clemson is anyone's guess, but I'd favor the Tide slightly, unlike how I felt last year, given how many DL Clemson lost that frankly aren't replaceable within a one year span, against this kind of juggernaut offense.
If you've got any questions here, be happy to answer them, or talk about the schemes Bama runs, especially on D. Crazy good in how well Saban teaches stuff that's exceptionally uncommon at this level with its complexity. Been one of my favorite projects the past few summers is to break down the film of these guys and see where they're going. Absolutely revolutionary and still an untapped inefficiency to run something as basic as a LIZ/RIP 3, to say nothing of the Fire Zone Blitzes, just to give a sampling of what's in that playbook behind the press podium Coke bottle.