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Alabama’s offense impressing Nick Saban thus far in spring practice

Matthew Emmons - USA TODAY Sports

In all of his coaching stops, Nick Saban developed a mentality for his teams and its fan base to hang their hats on the defensive side of the ball. Before arriving in Tuscaloosa, Ala., in 2007, the idea at LSU and Michigan State was to outwork the opponent and punish it with physicality.  

At Alabama, having tough defensive linemen, instinctive linebackers and ball-hawking players in the secondary led to four of five national championships for the program. Last season, however, it was the offense that stole the show as quarterback Tua Tagovailoa found wide receiver Devonta Smith for a game-winning, 41-yard touchdown in the national title game. 

While it’s been able to replace experience on defense throughout Saban’s tenure, this spring has been a different story as the Crimson Tide looks for its offense to carry the weight. Part of the reason for the 2018 recruiting cycle being low in numbers was that Alabama needed more players on defense. Offensively, the core of its group returned even with losing Calvin Ridley, Robert Foster, Cam Sims, Bo Scarbrough and Bradley Bozeman to the NFL Draft. 

The hires of Dan Enos and Josh Gattis have new energy and new ideals, and the promotion of Michael Locksley to offensive coordinator brings stability. During Saban’s presser on Tuesday, he said it’s the players on offense that have the ‘intangibles’ and are playing with ‘conviction’. 

“I’m feeling much better right now on that side of the ball,” Saban said. 

“And I think we have a working progress on the other side of the ball to find some leadership and some people who have an alpha dog mentality and are great competitors that hate to lose and are willing to go out there and do things at the level which is not easy to do.” 

In terms of players like Damien Harris (returning to school), Najee Harris, Joshua Casher, Tua Tagovailoa and Tyrell Shavers, Saban talked on how each one is progressing in spring ball. 

Damien Harris 

“He’s been great. There is a lot of competition on offense, which I think lends itself to players going out there and competition, I think that some of these players have done a good job setting an example with the experience and knowledge they have. Damien has done that and he’s done really well so far this spring. I have been pleased with that. Guys that make the decision he did make one or two decisions. They can’t get over it, they can’t get committed to doing the things to improve their status and then they get a little complacent. He has not done that at all. He’s worked hard. He worked hard throughout the offseason program. He’s had a really good spring.” 

Najee Harris 

“I think Najee’s got a little more confidence, knowledge in how to do things, what to do, pass protection, doing things on a consistent basis. He works really hard, he plays with great toughness and he’s got great intangibles as a player. The repetitions and the confidence that he has knowing what he’s supposed to do and how he’s supposed to do it is probably the biggest thing I see that has helped his consistency and performance.” 

Joshua Casher 

“We are mixing and matching a lot of guys on the offensive line, but Josh [Casher] is certainly in the mix at one of the guard positions. He’s very smart. He’s a great leader. He does everything the right way and has good explosion and good power. One thing he has worked hard to overcome is his size, but he’s proving to us every day that’s it is not an issue for him being able to play.” 

Tyrell Shavers 

“He’s a talented guy. He’s getting a lot of reps now and it’s just a working progress for him to learn the position, because he hadn’t played it before. But, he has some talent and he’s one of the guys that we need to develop and create a role for because he has the ability to contribute.” 

Tua Tagovailoa 

“Tua was able to practice some today. He was able to throw the ball a little bit, so he’s getting back into it. We had him on a pitch count. We did not do a lot with him, but he was able to do a lot of things in practice. I do not know if he will be ready to go on Saturday or not.” 

 

Alabama will resume practice on Thursday and have its first scrimmage of the spring on Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Its annual spring game is scheduled for April 21. 

Stephen M. Smith is the managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine.  You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.

Stephen Smith is a 2015 graduate of the University of Alabama. He is a senior writer and reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. He has covered Alabama football for 15 years and his knowledge and coverage of the Crimson Tide's program have made him among the most respected journalist in his field. Smith has been featured on ESPN and several other marquee outlets as an analyst.

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