Tide reports to practice, Saban discloses roster

TUSCALOOSA — For 364 days a year, the big story surrounding Alabama football centers on who is or who will be on the team.

One day a year, Alabama coach Nick Saban discusses who is not going to be with the Crimson Tide.

Saban disclosed his 105-man fall roster Wednesday as Alabama reported for training camp. There weren’t many surprises. Saban confirmed that four players — linebackers Prince Hall and Brandon Fanney, running back Jermaine Preyear and defensive back Alonzo Lawrence — won’t be back with the team due to team rules violations.

Hall had already left Tuscaloosa months ago.

“Brandon Fanney will leave,” Saban said. “We’re hopeful he’ll be able to graduate before he leaves. Alonzo Lawrence and (Jermaine) Preyear, these guys all did something — it doesn’t make them bad people.

“As I told you before, we have a demanding program. These guys didn’t do what they were supposed to, whether it was for academic reasons or whatever, and they’re not going to be a part of the program.”

Saban said four other players — center Evan Cardwell, running back Ivan Matchett and linebackers Jennings Hester and Charlie Kirschman — will not participate for medical reasons.

Receiver Chris Jackson and linebacker Charlie Higginbotham have both transferred, the coach confirmed.

Saban said three more players will be grayshirted, meaning their arrival from the 2009 signing class will be pushed back until January. Although Saban didn’t disclose names, defensive lineman Anthony Orr, offensive lineman Darius McKeller and linebacker Petey Smith were signees not on the 105-man roster.

Another member of the 2009 class, offensive lineman Kellen Williams, has an injury and isn’t on the training camp roster, but is expected to join the team when school starts Aug. 19.

Another 2009 signee, defensive lineman Quinton Dial, is headed to a junior college.

Saban said there could still be changes as Alabama awaits word from the NCAA Clearinghouse on a the eligibility of a couple players.

Practice plan: The Tide practices for the first time today with split squad sessions in the morning and at night.

As he has always done, the morning practice will be for veterans. Freshmen and newcomers will work at night.

“We’d like to be able to take all the young players and at least for one practice be able to make sure we’re teaching them, whether it’s drills, fundamentals, that they’re going to be getting the reps and participation in that particular practice,” Saban said. “They get a little bit more time to prepare for that practice.

“They can actually view the varsity practice so they see what they did and learn from that. That’s always something that we feel helps the freshmen get off to a little better start.”

Beyond this first day, Saban said Alabama will work four days with just one practice, then alternate two-a-days with single-practice days until school starts on Aug. 19.

Camp priorities: Saban said his primary objective for training camp is more team building than personnel-centered.

“Even though you all would probably be more inclined to think who’s gonna play left tackle and who’s gonna be the backup quarterback is the most important thing, the most important thing to us as a coaching staff is to get the intangibles in place so that we can get the kind of consistency and execution that you need to play winning football,” the coach said.

“Things like discipline, focus, ability to execute and do your job, to finish and have good work ethic and the championship intensity to see these things through on a consistent basis.”

Beyond those intangibles, however, Saban did disclose things of primary concern for the staff.

“Obviously, we want to create more depth in the offensive line,” Saban said. “We want to have a backup quarterback who is an effective player. If we had another go-to guy at receiver, that would make us a better team. We are always concerned about the kind of execution that we get at the quarterback position.”

Even his touted defense, which returns eight starters from last year’s team that went 12-0 in the regular season, has to get better, he said.
“Regardless of what we did last year, we gave up 31 points the last two games we played in,” he said, referring to losses to Florida in the SEC Championship Game and to Utah in the Sugar Bowl.

“Those guys have a lot to prove and a lot to reestablish in terms of who they are, what they want to do and how consistent they want to be. All the things that we emphasized, in the last two games we didn’t do.

“We were a pretty good red area team, almost 60 percent no touchdowns in the red area, and those last two games they scored seven out of nine times they got in the red area. That was the difference between playing in the national championship game and not playing in it.

“We were plus-13 in turnovers and were minus-four in the last two games. So, we had issues. We gave up more big plays than we’d given up all year. We had issues and we need to resolve those issues if we’re going to become a better team.”

Kicking the habit: Alabama’s 105-man roster doesn’t include a lot of kickers. Of course, placekicker Leigh Tiffin and punter P.J. Fitzgerald are experienced performers going into their senior seasons. There are no other punters on the 105 and the only placekicker is Jeremy Shelley, a freshman from Raleigh, N.C. When school starts and the camp roster can expand, more kickers are expected to join the squad.