TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- A couple hundred lucky, connected fans got the chance to witness Saturday’s scrimmage first-hand at Bryant-Denny Stadium, the first intersquad battle leading up to the grand finale, A-Day, on April 14.
The stats told some of the story of what transpired -- AJ McCarron airing it out an astounding 43 times, Vinnie Sunseri and Deion Belue turning in a pair of pick-sixes, and the running game failing to find a rhythm with no tailback rushing for more than 35 yards. Coach Nick Saban filled in some of the blanks, saying he was pleased with the overall team effort but added that there was still work to be done and inexperienced players yet to learn the winning formula.
Following practice on Monday -- the 10th of the spring -- players got their chance to chime in on how the team fared in ones versus ones, and on down the depth chart.
McCarron, for all the talk of throwing three touchdowns Saturday, said he wasn’t focused on any highlights from the scrimmage. Even Belue’s interception for a touchdown was summed up simply by saying, “He just picked it off, ran it back, and nobody tackled him.”
“In every game, you're going to have highs, you're going to have lows,” McCarron said. “You've got to know how to balance both of them. If something good happens, celebrate it for that split second, then let it go. If you try to create big plays the rest of the game, you're not taking what they give you the rest of the time, because the defense is not going to keep giving you big plays, then the bad things start to come. If you find an in-between, the process goes a lot easier and a lot smoother.”
McCarron was especially complimentary of Christion Jones. The sophomore receiver was an MVP candidate from the scrimmage -- if such awards existed -- with seven catches for 83 yards and two touchdowns. McCarron said he and Jones have developed a good chemistry, calling him a consummate class clown, a laugh a minute personality.
“He's awesome. If you can ever be around him, you're not going to stop laughing,” McCarron said of Jones. “He's a good guy on and off the field. He does the right things, and that's what you've got to do in coach's system. If you do the right things you're going to play. He knows the plays, he knows what to do and what not to do. The guy is a good ball player.”
Nico Johnson, who blocked a kick during the nearly two-hour scrimmage, said he was happy with the team’s effort in the first real live action of the offseason. The senior linebacker had three tackles on the day. He said that it felt good to finally buck the trend of offense dominating the defense, and in the process brought things back around to the 2010 season.
“Every year since I’ve been here the defense has always has a bad (day),” Johnson said. “The offense always embarrasses us. We always miss a lot of tackles, a lot of plays. We tried to come out and prevent that. That’s one of our things this year, to prevent everything that happened two years ago. That’s one thing we’re thriving on right now, just trying to prevent all that by working hard and staying in the film room, paying attention to detail. We just wanted to come out and prove to our coaches and ourselves that it’s not a fluke, we can come out and work hard no matter what.”
Competition at kicker
Jeremy Shelley, the Tide’s hero in the BCS Championship Game at kicker, was a perfect 4-for-4 during Saturday’s scrimmage. The senior placekicker said he felt good to be back shooting for the uprights in Bryant-Denny Stadium again.
In fact, the entire special teams group appeared comfortable back on their home turf. Cade Foster was 3-for-4 kicking field goals -- the only miss coming on Johnson’s block -- and Cody Mandell averaged more than 42 yards per punt.
The special teams unit will welcome one more this fall when Adam Griffith, the much-heralded placekicker from Calhoun, Ga., arrives at the Capstone.
Coming off the Tide’s loss to LSU in November, many fans were calling for Griffith to parachute in early to save a struggling kicking game. After Shelley’s performance in New Orleans, those cries have quieted, but the fact remains Griffith could push for early playing time if he proves himself ready.
“It's always great to have a new face,” Shelley said of Griffith. “Hopefully he'll do great for our team. If he's up there, it's going to be great because he's going to push us even further than we push each other.”
McCarron talks 2010
McCarron didn’t mince words on Monday when he was asked about what went wrong in 2010 for the Tide, coming off a national championship only to lose three games and end up in the Capital One Bowl.
“I think it fell back on the leaders back then,” McCarron said. “Coach will tell you. We didn't have a lot of leadership. We had a lot of great players coming back, but I think the team kind of felt like everybody went their own personal way, tried to look out for (themselves) following the '09 season and help their draft status personally.
“We've got a lot of older guys on here, we've got a lot of younger guys. It's going to be a good mix-up. Young guys just have to come and be ready to learn. You've got to have young guys who want to listen and want to learn. We do. Hopefully we've got the ingredients for a great season. We just have to put everything together and get everybody going.”
