During his weekly Wednesday press conference Alabama head coach Nick Saban provided updates on a number of injured players from the week. Some news was more encouraging than others.
Last week against Western Carolina the Crimson Tide defense was without three defensive linemen who all play significant snaps for defensive coordinator Pete Golding. Wide receiver Henry Ruggs was also absent from the game as he recovered from bruised ribs. Thankfully for Alabama, it will see the return of most of them for the Iron Bowl.
“Raekwon has been able to practice. Phil Mathis and Henry Ruggs have been able to practice,” said Saban. “DJ Dale is probably a little bit questionable in terms of what he can and can’t do.”
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Dale has been seen in full pads during the teams practices all week, but on Wednesday appeared to be more limited than usual. The freshman has been battling a knee injury for the past two weeks. So far in his first season in Tuscaloosa Dale has accumulated 17 total tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss and one sack.
Even without the likes of Mathis, Dale and Davis, Saban was still pleased with how the rest of Alabama’s defensive performed in their absence.
“I think they did a pretty good job,” Saban said following the team’s win over Western Carolina. “I thought that, especially on the inside runs, for the most part, we did a pretty good job. I think any plays that they made were on boots, edges, losing contain on the quarterback — not really something that the interior guys had a lot to do with. … I felt like we were controlling the line of scrimmage pretty well.
“Now, obviously their guys aren’t as big and as physical as what we’re going to face in the future, but I was not disappointed. And I’m sure the experience did them a lot of good.”
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
