Alabama Fan Day Recap and Analysis

Alabama Fan Day was held yesterday, August 7th. For those of you who don’t know, Fan Day is a two-hour open practice held in Bryant Denny Stadium followed by a chance for fans to get autographs from Crimson Tide coaches and players. Yours truly attended the event, and I will now share with you some of my takeaways from the practice.

• The receiver position is loaded. Calvin Ridley, Robert Foster, Ardarius Stewart, Gehrig Dieter, and true freshman Trevon Diggs were all impressive today.
• Ridley in particular was nearly impossible to cover. He caught a long touchdown pass from Jalen Hurts on a go route where he just roasted Jared Mayden.
• It was nice to see Robert Foster in a white jersey instead of a black one. He looked fast and hungry. He caught a pass on a drag route from Blake Barnett and outran the entire defense to the corner for a first down.
• Stewart and Dieter each made some tough grabs today and showed physicality after the catch. Dieter in particular seems to have flypaper for hands. He made a great sideline grab with Marlon Humphrey draped all over him.  
• Trevon Diggs caught a long touchdown pass from Barnett, right over Tony Brown‘s head.
• At running back the outlook is also looking pretty bright. Bo Scarborough showed good hands today, catching several checkdowns and looked dangerous after the catch.
• Damien Harris used good vision to break outside for a 15 yard gain when there looked to be nothing there.
• B.J. Emmons is a physical specimen. He looks SEC ready.
• Not to be outdone, fellow freshman Joshua Jacobs broke free for a 30 yard touchdown. He hit the hole hard and then nobody was able to catch him.
• At quarterback, it looks to be a three man race between Cooper Bateman, Blake Barnett, and Jalen Hurts.
• For my money I thought Hurts looked the best on the day. He showcased good accuracy, arm strength, and he seemed more composed in the pocket than he was on A-Day.
• Barnett had some beautiful throws but also was lucky not to have at least two passes intercepted. He may be too much of a gunslinger for Nick Saban’s liking.
• Cooper Bateman is the Nissan Sentra of quarterbacks. He’s not flashy, but he is reliable. He has good short and intermediate accuracy. His problem is the deep ball. More specifically, his problem is that he doesn’t have one. He floated two ducks up to wide open receivers that hung up there so long the defenders were able to close and swat the ball down. I still think he’ll be the guy though. Because he takes care of the ball and is a veteran guy.
• Line play was difficult to judge today, but it looked like the defensive line was just mollywhopping the offensive line pretty much every snap. I’m not sure whether that is a sign of how good the defensive line is or how bad the offensive line is. Time will tell.
• The 1st team offensive line was made up of LT: Cam Robinson, LG: Lester Cotton, C: Ross Pierschbacher, RG: Bradley Bozeman, and RT: Jonah Williams. The only position I see that might be vulnerable is right guard. I expect last year’s starter Alphonse Taylor will make a run at it.
• I was pretty focused on the offensive players, because I expect the defense to be great as always. With that said, I do have to give a brief shout-out to Ryan Anderson. One of the walk-on running backs caught a checkdown, and Ryan nearly decapitated him.
• Also of note on defense, freshman Jared Mayden got the nod opposite Marlon Humphrey in first-team nickel packages. Minkah Fitzpatrick slid inside to star.
• Rashaan Evans is the inside linebacker along with Reuben Foster in the nickel.
• Tony Brown was working at safety most of the day.
• As far as special teams there really wasn’t much to see. The team did a few kickoff drills. Griffith appears to have the stronger leg of the two kickers.
• Calvin Ridley and Ardarius Stewart were first in line for return duty. They were followed in turn by Xavian Marks and Damien Harris, and then by B.J. Emmons and Trevon Diggs. Of the six I thought Marks looked to be the most dangerous. He is an explosive player with great agility and elusiveness. I would love to see him get the nod.

Well, those were my observations and thoughts from the practice. If you were there and have any of your own thoughts to share please do so in the comments below.