Alabama Shows Off Passing Game at A-Day

In front of the second-largest crowd of the spring games (78,200 according to the half-time announcement), Alabama threw the ball early and often.

I made my way down to Tuscaloosa for A-Day this year, and what I saw didn't surprise me in the least. The traffic to Tuscaloosa and around town was not quite as bad as a typical game day. The "Kick-off on the Quad" was scaled back, but still well attended, and the campus was swarming with crimson and white, with nary a sign of another teams fans to be found. It was a thing of beauty, really.

Inside the stadium, Alabama looked like a young team with a lot of talent, exactly what everyone expected. John Parker Wilson seemed to have improved in the off-season and Leigh Tiffin split the uprights from 44 yards out (both things fans should be relieved to hear).

Coach Nick Saban, who spent most of the scrimmage standing behind the offense, managed to get in the way of one play (pictured at right) as John Parker Wilson scrambled from pressure. He didn't go down, but it was certainly a funny situation nonetheless..

I was able to get my camera into the game, which resulted in a whole bunch of pictures that would've been good if I hadn't been 40 rows up, but some of them turned out okay anyway, take a look:



A number of questions remain for the Tide as we enter the long, slow summer.

John Parker Wilson: he seems to have cured whatever problem was causing him to throw off of his back foot, and didn't sail any passes over the heads of his receivers as far as I could tell. This is good news. He and his receivers also seemed to have good communication, something that he and D.J. Hall lacked at times last year. McElroy looked like a competent back up, if it comes to that, although the real surprise was the QB walk-on Thomas Darrah, who played lights-out every time he stepped on the field.

Jimmy Johns: He still seems to be feeling out his role at linebacker, but there's definitely some promise there. Rumors are swirling that he might use his redshirt this year. If he does, expect him to be an absolute monster next year.

Terry Grant: Back to his old self again? Who knows... he looked pretty sharp early last year as well, and we all know how that turned out.

Leigh Tiffin: For probably the first time in his tumultuous career, he actually looked like a stable, reliable kicker.

Defensive Front: The pressure was okay, but not phenomenal, during the scrimmage. They have some work to do before the Clemson game if the Tide expects to do better than 7 or 8 wins this year.

Offensive Front: This could be one of Alabama's strengths this year, but we really didn't see enough of the running game to know how versatile the line will be. Then again, any offensive line that includes Andre Smith should be capable of getting a decent running game going.

The Receiving Corps: Mike McCoy had an outstanding outing, making some good catches, running well after the catch, and generally being in the right place at the right time. Darius Hanks looked good as well, and both of them did an above average job blocking on the few run plays that we saw. It's also nice to see Saban really using the Tight Ends, hopefully that's a trend that will continue into the Fall.

All in all, a pretty good day for Tide Fans. That said, expecting more than 8 wins is probably being a little unrealistic. It's a young team that's still pretty shallow in places, but it's a good start. If the Tide gets a few breaks and the younger players can keep from making too many rookie mistakes, the Tide could find themselves looking at a 10 win season, but it's more likely that the progress will come in fits and spurts as is usually the case with a young team.