2008 Alabama Crimson Tide

The Saban Era began little different than the Shula Era ended — with a 6-6 regular season and an Independence Bowl trip. This time, the Tide left glamorous Shreveport with a win, which is progress of a sort. The team suffered from some of the same problems as in 2006, in particular a tendency to start strong and finish poorly both in games and in the season as a whole — which again ended with a losing streak in November. The offseason was marked by both a top-ranked recruiting class and by embarrassing off-field incidents, in particular the discovery that runningback-turned-linebacker Jimmy Johns was a major cocaine dealer.

Offense

As has been the case the last two years, most of the returning experienced talent is on offense; Shula, an offensive coach, recruited much more strongly on that side of the ball and essentially left the defense in the hands of his coordinator. Jim McElwain comes over from Fresno to take over the offensive coordinator job. He supposedly will stress a more ball-control oriented passing game than predecessor Major Applewhite, but the offense probably won’t change too much; it’s more Saban’s offense than anyone’s.

Senior John Parker Wilson is the unquestioned quarterback, even though he regressed last season. Fans called for his head several times, in particular after the embarrassing Louisiana-Monroe loss, but Saban indicated that none of the other quarterbacks on the roster was remotely capable of playing. One of those quarterbacks, sophomore Greg McElroy, seems to have settled in as the backup and is garnering praise from the coaches for the first time. Saban has said that he won’t use touted freshman Star Jackson in a running package (ala Tim Tebow in his freshman year, or Ryan Perrilloux last year) and his chances of playing basically come down to waiting for Wilson to get hurt.

Runningback was a problem area last year. Terry Grant played well early on, but was slowed by a “sports hernia” (I am not convinced that this is a real thing yet; it just seems to have started happening a few years ago) late in the season, and is considered too small for an every-down role or between-the-tackles running anyway. Glen Coffee was the other primary ballcarrier early in the season, but was suspended for a rules violation beginning with the Tennessee game. After that game (in which Grant shone) the Tide basically had no running game to speak of, and Wilson couldn’t carry the offense on his own. This year Alabama is expected to use Grant in a “scatback” role, trying to get him the ball outside the tackles, with Coffee and someone else, such as true freshman Mark Ingram (son of the former Giant) sharing the Mr. Inside role. Like most plans, this probably won’t survive contact with the enemy. Coffee will apparently be the “starter”; he doesn’t really do anything well, but does everything okay. As many as six different backs could share carries in various alignments.

Last year’s receiving corps was basically DJ Hall (holder of virtually every school receiving record) and a couple of other seniors, so this year’s staff will be mostly new. Junior Mike McCoy started most of the time but was wildly unproductive, catching a variety of short passes, none of which he seemed to break for significant yardage; he was more valuable as a downfield blocker than a receiver. He has practiced well and is the one given in this year’s corps. The jewel in the recruiting crown, Julio Jones, will play some role; he’s already dazzled everyone in practice and is on a different physical level than everyone else. Other than McCoy, the only returnee with significant playing time is senior Nikita Stover, but he seems to have been swamped by a sea of newcomers and little-used underclassmen. The Tide will probably use a three-receiver set as its base offense, and cycle through five or six receivers most of the time; I would guess that in addition to McCoy and Jones, sophomores Darius Hanks and Earl Alexander, redshirt freshman Marquis Maze, and true freshman BJ Scott will be prominent. Hanks was the starter in the slot role in spring, but both Maze and Scott have worked there this fall. For seemingly the 25th year in a row, coaches have promised to get the tight end more involved in the offense; seniors Nick Walker and Travis McCall will share time, and both will be on the field on a high percentage of snaps, with McCall often playing a lead blocker or H-back role in place of a fullback.

The offensive line returns four starters, though it wasn’t until fairly late in the process that their exact alignment became clear. Junior Andre Smith, an Outland candidate and the team’s best player, was always a lock at left tackle, where he’s started every game the last two years. Antoine Caldwell, another all-conference performer, will play center, at least to begin with; he’s played every line position but left tackle the last two years. Fellow senior Marlon Davis is the right guard; he and Caldwell were suspended in the same textbook scandal that took out Coffee last year, and the absence of the team’s second- and third-best offensive linemen, together with the lack of depth this caused, was a prime motivator in the late-season collapse. Junior Mike Johnson was the right tackle most of last year, but is better suited inside, and will start at left guard. Right tackle has been a revolving door and a horror show for the last few seasons. Junior Drew Davis won the job in the spring and it’s hoped he’ll settle the position. Depth on the line remains a concern; a warning sign would be if Caldwell starts moving around again. Junior Evan Cardwell, who has mostly played center and started about half the time last year, is the most experienced reserve. As everywhere, there are talented freshmen who could see playing time, led by tackle Tyler Love.

Defense

Saban went with a 3-4 scheme last year partly out of necessity (a lack of experience and depth on the defensive line) and partly out of desire. He still doesn’t have quite the talent to work with, but is getting there; the biggest problem is to get any sort of pass rush from the front seven. Three players who started last year — NT Lorenzo Washington and ends Bobby Greenwood and Brandon Deaderick — return on the line, though the team’s best lineman, Wallace Gilberry, has graduated. Only Deaderick, who displaced Greenwood roughly halfway through the season and this year takes over at Gilberry’s RE spot, really has 3-4 lineman size. The mountainous Terrance Cody, a JUCO transfer, certainly does (he weighed nearly 400 pounds when he hit campus, though he’s down to about 365 now) and has apparently won the starting job at nose tackle, displacing Washington to end. Redshirt freshman Josh Chapman will back up Cody and probably play nearly as much. A number of freshmen and little-played sophomores are likely to get time, with true freshman end Marcel Dareus perhaps the man to watch; the team still lacks experienced depth here, as it does almost everywhere.

Linebacker looked to be a strong spot of the defense coming off of last season, but when fall came only sophomore middle linebacker Rolando McClain was left from last year’s unit. In addition to Jones, who was fighting for a first team spot prior to his arrest, returning OLB Zeke Knight saw his career end due to a heart ailment, and junior ILB Prince Hall, who much of last year was in the doghouse for both off-field and on-field disciplinary issues, didn’t participate in spring practice. He’s returned to the team, but has been suspended for the first three games, and who knows if he’ll stay on Saban’s good side when he’s reinstated. Outside of McClain, nothing is yet settled. Two true freshmen, Jerell Harris and Don’ta Hightower, have worked with the first team at times this fall, and it now appears that Hightower will start the opener at the weak inside position. McClain was pretty much the team’s best linebacker when he stepped on campus, bigger, faster, and more skilled than anyone else, and it’s hoped that Hightower will have a similar impact. Junior Brandon Fanney did some work with the first team early on, but is not secure in his job by any means. Junior Cory Reamer, a converted safety, seems likely to play somewhere, depending upon where the weakest spot is, though he’s more a cover man than tackler or playmaker. Little-used junior Eryk Anders and sophomore Chavis Williams are also in the mix.

The secondary, in contrast, appears set, at least its starters. Cornerback Kareem Jackson started every game as a freshman, and by the end of the season was clearly the team’s best cover man. Senior strong safety Rashad Johnson led the team in tackles and interceptions, and was first-team All-SEC. Javier Arenas, primarily a return man his first two seasons, won the starting job opposite Jackson in the spring, and hasn’t yet been pushed; he’s on the small side, but is obviously athletic and tackles well. Only junior FS Justin Woodall seems in any danger of losing his job before the season, but he too hasn’t yet been pushed. Juniors Marquis Johnson and Chris Rogers appear to be the top backups at corner, and junior Ali Sharrief at safety. As usual on this team, any number of true freshmen are likely to compete for playing time, most prominently corner Alonzo Lawrence and safety Mark Barron. Expect a lot of five- and six-DB sets, even at times when it doesn’t seem strictly warranted; last year, blitzing DBs were needed to supplement the pass rush, and the lack of good backups in the front seven meant that resting the starters basically required using d-backs. When Alabama goes into the nickel, either Arenas will slide over to the “star” slot corner position as the departed Simeon Castille did, with Johnson presumably playing outside, or Barron will enter to take the nickel spot.

Special Teams

Say what you will about Saban (got that out of your system? Good.) but he made a good call on placekicker Leigh Tiffin. Tiffin was widely lambasted for his choketastic performance in 2006 against Arkansas, but Saban gave him the regular job anyway, and he was terrific in 2007, hitting 25 of 34 fieldgoals and all his PATs, plus handling kickoffs. Punter P.J. Fitzgerald is not very good, but hasn’t been an active weakness, and seems secure in his job.

Arenas should continue as the primary punt returner and one of two kickoff returners. The other spot may go to any of several candidates, with Maze perhaps the frontrunner.

Outlook

This is a “bad schedule” year, with the Arkansas, Tennessee, and LSU games all on the road. Together with a trip to Georgia, and a neutral-site game with Clemson, the schedule’s pretty rugged, and arguably would require upsets to finish better than 6-6 again. On the other hand, last year’s team was able to beat UT (handily) and led both LSU and Georgia late before running out of gas. Just as important will be avoiding the upset bug themselves and embarrassing losses like ULM last year, or Mississippi State the last two. The probation-related depth issues of previous years, largely responsible for the many, many blown leads of the last two seasons, aren’t quite solved, but Alabama at last has a full complement of scholarship players.

It seems likely that early in the season, the Tide will depend upon the offense to carry the load, with hopefully the defense catching up by midseason. Saban’s defense really requires more players than he had to work with last year; as the freshmen get up to speed, he should finally have that. This is still a building process, but I expect some progress. The team could be greatly improved and not see it show up in its record, but I think 8-4 and a bid to the Peach Bowl (nobody’s paying me to name it after a fast-food franchise) seems reasonable.

UPDATE 8/25: Depth chart announced, with Jones, Cody, and Hightower all starters. Jones will also team with Arenas on kickoffs. A minor surprise is McCall ahead of Walker at tight end, but that’s largely semantics: both will play, probably about the same number of snaps, and both will be on the field together maybe 30 percent of time. The transfer of Nick Fanuzzi makes it slightly more likely that Star Jackson will play.

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