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Monday, August 4, 2008
The question at Bama: When do you play the rookies?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuscaloosa, Ala.-Last Friday I wrote that the talented freshman class at Alabama was about to have a reality check with the beginning of practice here in T-Town. Part of my thinking in making that comment was that I have seen so many overly hyped high school players and recruiting classes wilt early in their careers when they realize the true talent level in the SEC.
Then I decided that the comment really wasn’t fair. I haven’t seen these guys practice. I only know them by what others have written. So I got in the car and drove to Tuscaloosa to watch the first 40 minutes of Saturday’s practice, which is what the media is allowed to attend. Here is what I saw:
These freshmen are just now learning where to line up. Over the next few weeks they are going to be bombarded with tons of information and will spend a lot of time being confused. The learning curve for freshmen in this league is very steep. In Nick Saban’s system it’s even steeper. He does not baby freshmen when it comes to dumping a lot of information on them early.
But after you’ve done this for a while you can look at players-their size, their speed, and how they carry themselves-and tell that they are different. And this group of Alabama freshmen IS different.
Saturday was the first day that the freshmen were on the field with the upperclassmen. And it wasn’t that difficult to pick out the new guys. Everybody knows about Julio Jones and B.J. Scott, the talented wide receivers. Alabama is so thin at linebacker that Jerrell Harris and Donta Hightower are going to have to play. You can look at them and tell that when they learn what to do, they will make a contribution.
Word here is that as many as seven or more of these freshmen could find their way onto the two-deep for the Aug. 30 opener with Clemson at the Georgia Dome. Alabama was sorely lacking in depth when the Crimson Tide collapsed in the second half of last season. These freshmen will improve that situation.
“Last year we just didn’t have enough depth to overcome it when we hit a bump in the road,” Saban told me when we met in his office. “But now we have a group of really good young players. How they develop is going to go a long way into saying what kind of football team we can be.”
I don’t know how many games Alabama is going to win but this will still be a very interesting season for the Crimson Tide. Here’s why. In a lot of positions at Alabama a good, solid veteran player is going to be pushed by a younger, more talented player. Coaches have to walk a tightrope when dealing with this kind of situation. Even if the younger player has more talent, the timing of moving him into the starting lineup is very tricky.
If you make the move too soon the young player struggles because he’s not completely prepared. Then he loses confidence. Also, the veteran player who loses his job may go in the tank because he’s no longer the starter.
But if you make the decision to move the kid up too late that’s not fair to the team. You’re not giving your team every opportunity to get better.
This is not like the NFL where you put the best player in the position, period, and cut the other guy if he doesn’t like it. In college these things have to be handled with a certain amount of finesse because you don’t cut guys or trade guys or pick up guys on the waiver wire.
Here is the trick, one of the coaches told me. You hope that over time the younger player makes it abundantly clear to everybody-even the veteran player that he’s challenging—that he has earned the position. Then you make the move and hope that the veteran player will remain engaged. If he’s a team guy the veteran will keep playing. If he’s not, then there could be a problem.
Alabama’s coaching staff is going to spend the 2008 season dealing with a bunch of these mini-dramas. It will make for some lively discussions in the staff meetings.
I was reminded that LSU’s 2007 national championship began with a great freshman class signed by Saban and his staff in 2004. This Alabama class, that person told me, looks better. Time will tell.
All I know is that if these guys play as good as they look, Alabama will be a pretty decent team by the end of the year.
On a personal note: I want to acknowledge and say thanks to those of you who wrote words of encouragement concerning an upcoming change in my relationship with the AJC. Given the realities of the blogosphere the word has gotten out about some of the tough decisions a lot of us in this business are having to make. I’m not in a position to talk about it now but I hope to be able to do so soon. But I did want to thank you for the kind notes.
