Alabama held its spring game today in front of a relatively sparse Bryant-Denny crowd, with the quarterback competition front and center. It’s just one scrimmage, but the stats are pretty telling.
Russell also scrambled for a 13-yard score. The ball moved substantially better when he was in the game, with both the ones and the twos. His instincts, quick release
and accuracy looked every bit the part of the future first round prospect that he is billed to be.
Morgan finished the day with three catches for roughly 75 yards, including a 22-yard score from Russell. NC State transfer Noah Rogers was carted off with an injury and Kalen DeBoer said that he would be getting an MRI, so Morgan’s time may come sooner than later. He certainly looks the part at this stage.
Ryan Coleman-Williams had a couple of explosive plays as well, and this is what he had to say about Russell.
Alabama was able to run the football reasonably well today, and both AK Dear and freshman Trae’shon Brown showed off some receiving chops as well. Brown was overshadowed in the class by injured EJ Crowell, but he is making a name for himself.
On the offensive line, DeBoer said that they are still a work in progress from a communication perspective. Michael Carroll was at left guard on the first unit next to Jackson Lloyd, with Racin Delgatty at center, Mal Waldrep at right guard and Mississippi State transfer Jayvin James at right tackle. There was plenty of rotation, though.
DeBoer said after the scrimmage that they kept things fairly simple on both sides, but there were a few defensive highlights as well:
- Steve Mboumoua showed off his strength by tossing Dear like a rag doll on one pass rush rep.
- Luke Metz batted down a Russell pass early in the scrimmage.
- Dre Kirkpatrick picked off Mack for the first turnover of the afternoon.
- Dijon Lee, Jr. picked Russell off in the end zone near the end of the day, the only real blemish on an otherwise stellar afternoon for the redshirt freshman.
The kicking competition seems to be over as well. Transfer Lorcan Quinn confidently drilled all three of his field goal attempts with a long of 47. Conor Talty had a decent afternoon but did miss one from 38.
It’s a shame that we no longer get a telecast so that we can offer some better analysis, but it sounds like the coaching staff got what they wanted out of it. Now we watch to see if the breakouts sustain.
Roll Tide.
