Takeaways from Alabama’s fourth practice of preseason camp
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama hit the field on Sunday morning for its fourth practice of the preseason under new head coach Kalen DeBoer. Reporters were permitted to watch 15 minutes of the workout on the Thomas-Drew Practice Fields, and here are our takeaways.
– As we walked out of the indoor facility, we got a quick glimpse at the offense(s). While it appeared that walk-ons were lined up at receiver, the first-team offensive line was on the field along with Jalen Milroe, Justice Haynes and Robbie Ouzts. One difference from the first three days of fall camp was Kadyn Proctor was back at left tackle with the first team. He was to the left of Tyler Booker, who trucked a defensive player holding a blocking dummy, while the rest of the line was Parker Brailsford, Jaeden Roberts and Wilkin Formby.
It’s been said by both DeBoer and offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic that Alabama is rotating tackles early in fall camp, but after three practices, Proctor was back with the first group for the start of the media viewing period while Formby continued to play right tackle.
– Spending some time around the cornerbacks as they worked on backpedaling and jamming with Maurice Linguist, there was once again no discernable order to which the players made their way through the drills. Linguist was complimentary of freshman Jaylen Mbakwe after most of his reps. The same goes for transfer DaShawn Jones. One note here is freshman Zabien Brown had a black cast on his left hand. While he didn’t punch the pad with it, he participated in every drill that I watched before moving on to the next position to watch.
– That next group was the safeties, and it was status quo in terms of who went through drills where. Malachi Moore expectedly was first up, and it’s clear that the fifth-year senior is a leader in his position room. Keon Sabb was up next, followed by DeVonta Smith. The order after that trio varied, but Bray Hubbard, Kameron Howard, King Mack, Red Morgan and Dre Kirkpatrick Jr. round out some quality depth on the back end for coach Colin Hitschler.
– Watching the wide receivers before making our way off the field, not much has changed there. The group split up into three lines to work with Alabama’s quarterbacks toward the end of viewing. Jaren Hamilton again led one line, with Ryan Williams, Caleb Odom and Kendrick Law behind him. Germie Bernard led another outside line, followed by Emmanuel Henderson and Rico Scott. Working out of the slot were Kobe Prentice, Cole Adams, Bubba Hampton and Amari Jefferson. Adams received praise from JaMarcus Shephard on Saturday.
– Milroe, of course, is leading the quarterbacks through individual work and throwing to receivers and other groups. He said yesterday he’s grown more confident in the offense, which has been catered to him. Ty Simpson continues to be the No. 2 quarterback, with Austin Mack behind him and Dylan Lonergan behind him. It’s easy to overreact to quarterback drills in practice, but all four of Alabama’s signal-callers throw a nice ball on air.
– We mentioned Roberts and Smith, but all five of the Crimson Tide players who graduated on Saturday and weren’t spotted during the viewing periods were back to work on Sunday.
– Before we watched practice in the feels-like-91-degree heat, we got our first glimpse at the Alabama specialists. Led by James Burnip, the Tide’s kickers, punters and snappers were in the indoor facility and working on hip flexibility with hurdles for the track team. They are usually on the far field away from reporters, so we haven’t seen any of them kick just yet.
*** What’s next: Alabama will take Monday, Aug. 5, off before returning to work on Tuesday, Aug. 6. After today’s practice, DeBoer will address reporters in the indoor practice facility.
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