By Charlie K.
SouthernPigskin.com Columnist
SouthernPigskin.com Columnist Charlie K. breaks down the Alabama spring football scrimmage.
Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban wanted to see some offense in Saturday’s Crimson and White game and he got exactly what he was looking for. Particularly in the first half as new quarterback Greg McElroy executed the offense and looked in control while throwing two touchdown passes including a beautiful 53 yard touchdown pass to Julio Jones. Additionally, the Tide entered spring practice looking for another receiver to step up and take some of the pressure off of Jones and red-shirt freshmen receiver Marquis Maze appears to be answering the bell. Maze is slippery, fast and really looked good in Saturday’s scrimmage.
In leading the Crimson to a 14-7 win over the White, McElroy executed the offense, he looked confident and in charge. With the winner of the Crimson and White game getting steak dinners for supper, it was clear from the get go that McElroy wanted steak instead of baked beans, the loser’s dinner. Somebody better pass McElroy a steak knife.
It’s no secret one of the biggest battles of the spring has been McElroy and red-shirt freshmen Star Jackson. Both are hoping to replace graduated John Parker Wilson. With an run/pass skill set, Jackson from Lake Worth, Florida has been battling McElroy all spring. In this game it looked like McElroy has won the job. That said, Jackson is very athletic and throws and runs equally well. Saturday Jackson struggled to set his feet and throw with confidence. I would look for McElroy to be the starter against Virginia Tech this fall.
Coming out of high school Jackson was heavily recruited. This is a key spring for him considering big time Virginia quarterback prospect Phillip Sims will enroll next year. Sims is a strong armed quarterback who can make all throws but yet has the athleticism to create outside of the pocket. Sims is the real deal, but so was Star Jackson coming out of high school. The up and coming battles at quarterback should certainly prove interesting. 
With McElroy, Jackson, Sims and another incoming freshmen Blake Sims, Alabama is set at quarterback for the next few years. With Julio Jones and a developing Marquis Maze on the receiving end Alabama will be explosive.
The Tide must find a consistent running back this spring. Junior running back Terry Grant got a lot of looks throughout spring. There is no question he has explosive running skills. For Grant he must become more of an all round back including pass protection. His development is key for the Tide. Incoming freshmen Trent Richardson will make an impact. He’s a powerful back that explodes through the holes. Look for Richardson to compete to start from the minute he arrives on campus.
Replacing starters across the offensive line the up front play is also a big question coming out of spring. “The first group has done really well. The second line has struggled with the quarterback floating out of the pocket, and missed assignments. We need to have our A game all the time. Our whole team has to rely on each other. We want to be a good team. Virginia Tech will test us and we have to be ready,” Saban said.
Don’t fool yourself, at Alabama in 2009 it’s going to be all about defense and the Tide showed their athleticism Saturday. The key this coming fall is going to be getting more pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Last year the Tide only had 26 sacks and that number must improve. With nine starters returning on defense look for Alabama to force their will and play an attacking style of defense.
"Defensively, I think we came up with three or four turnovers, which is something we have done a good job of. There is one thing we need to do a better job of, and that is creating turnovers. It is difficult to tell from the stats how effectively you ran the ball because of taking sacks off of rushing yards. But, obviously we need to improve our ability to run the football. I think it will help once we get two of our running backs back and we continue to develop and make improvements in the offensive line. Our receivers made strides as well. Marquis Maze made plays out there today as a receiver as well as a runner on a couple of reverses. Julio made some big plays and is certainly capable of that and will be someone that people have to deal with," he explained. "Defensively, one of the things that we minimized last year was giving up big plays. I think even though the defense played fairly well today, the one thing they did do is there were several big plays given up. If you are going to be a good defense, you can’t give up big plays and you have to be hard to score on in the red zone, which will be goals for our defensive team moving forward. Our specialists are capable of doing a little bit better."
The big question isn’t defensive related at Alabama. The question is can McElroy play within Nick Saban’s system and not make inexperienced plays resulting in turnovers in the tough SEC.
Time will tell.
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Quotes: RollTide.com
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Comments
Star Jackson will transfer after the VA kid comes in. He loved WVU too while he was being recruited.
I say its great to be a Tennessee Vol!
I know Bama is UT’s rival and all but you can’t compare the two.... not right now. That’s like comparing apples to well, bruised oranges.
A sophomore first year starter at quarterback, Greg McElroy and a freshman receiver, Maze is going to make them explosive?
If only it were that simple.
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