Saban silent about stars involved in investigation

TUSCALOOSA — Alabama football coach Nick Saban had little to say about the status of Julio Jones and Mark Ingram, who were the subject of an in-house investigation into a spring break fishing trip.

The university had sent results of that probe to the Southeastern Conference, which will share the information with the NCAA. Alabama has sent a compliance officer to discuss its findings to Indianapolis.

Jones and Ingram are not expected to be penalized, but the school is waiting for an official ruling, which is expected to come before the season opener Sept. 5.

Asked Tuesday if he is preparing for Virginia Tech as if Jones and Ingram would be available, Saban said: “I really can’t comment on that. I think the institution has showed great integrity in the way they’ve handled this situation. It’s in someone else’s hands. Until it gets decided I’ll have no comment.”

Scrimmage a success: Saban said he saw a “tremendous amount of improvement” after watching film from the Crimson Tide’s second scrimmage.

Alabama returned to the practice field after having consecutive days off for the only time since practice began Aug. 6.

“We made some big plays offensively. We moved the ball,” the coach said. “When we weren’t efficient in what we were doing it was certainly because of some mental error or missed technique or missed assignment.

“Defensively, I thought we played pretty well. When we gave up plays, it was the same thing. We either made a mental error or a missed assignment. Those things can be corrected.”

The coach said the players needed the extra rest, although some players lacked some sharpness at Tuesday’s two-hour practice in full pads.

“The older, more experienced guys can come back today and not skip a beat,” Saban said. “They have the same focus when they go out there, the same intensity, the same sense of urgency to go execute new things.

“Younger players sort of lose some of that and have to kind of play their way back into it. It’s important that we get the rest, but I think it’s important that we get back into it.”

What’s next: Saban said Tuesday’s and today’s workouts would be devoted primarily to fixing problems in the scrimmage and going back to fundamentals.

“A lot on trying to do the things, from a position standpoint, that we feel like we need to do,” he said. “It’s to take some of the younger players we feel we need to make improvements with and really work on the fundamentals and basics with them, so we sort of get back and make sure that they have the core of what we need to do.

“We’re going to work tomorrow on the fundamental things and go to work on Thursday on Virginia Tech,” Saban said.

Tide lands commitment: Alabama certainly had an insider when it came to courting tight end Harrison Jones of Memphis.

The three-star prospect from Evangelical Christian School committed to the Crimson Tide Monday night.

Jones will join his brother, Barrett, an Alabama redshirt freshman who is working with the first team at right guard.

“I am very excited that I will be able to play on the team with my brother,” Jones said in a statement released to The Commercial Appeal on Monday night. “He ... told me many times that he would love for me to join him at ’Bama, but he wanted me to find the best place for me. ... He was happy that I finally came to the ‘right’ decision.”

Their father, Rex Jones, played basketball at Alabama.

Harrison Jones is ranked No. 8 on the tight end prospect list by ESPNU. The 6-4, 232-pound senior considered North Carolina and Oklahoma.

He said Nick Saban envisions him as a tight end or H-back.

Jones is the second tight end already committed for 2010, joining Brookstone High’s Brian Vogler from the Columbus, Ga., area.

Alabama now has 21 commitments to its 2010 recruiting class.