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5-star junior QB Ricky Town decommits from Alabama, commits to USC (update) | AL.com
The announcement from the five-star quarterback, rated as the nation's No. 1 quarterback for 2015 by 247Sports, comes just one week after Town and his family took an unofficial visit to Southern Cal. Town was visited at his school this week by Nick Saban shortly after the Tide head coach paid a visit to another star California quarterback, five-star recruit Josh Rosen
This is old news by now but if you haven't heard, Bama has lost the commitment of the #1 rated QB for the 2015 class. Excuse me while I cry myself to sleep on pillow made from past Alabama #1 recruiting classes..
Losing a player like Town certainly isn't good news but just looking at the current depth chart for 'Bama you can't blame Town for looking elsewhere. And as Jtad pointed out, it's far more important to land a big time QB recruit in the 2016 class given how stacked we are at QB.
People immediately wanted to jump on Kiffin as the reason for the de-commitment, and while that may have played a part, I find the timing of all the Coker to Bama talk to be telling. Literally, Town de-committed and the same day....
Former Florida State QB Jacob Coker signs with Alabama, will join Tide after May graduation | AL.com
The long-anticipated transfer of Jacob Coker was finalized Sunday when the former Florida State quarterback signed with Alabama. Alabama confirmed Coker's transfer shortly after the news of his commitment broke. "We think a lot of Jake and we are excited to have him join our team," Alabama coach Nick Saban said in a university press release. "He is not only an outstanding football player, but he is also a fine young man who we feel will be a great fit with our program at Alabama."
Coincidence? LOLNOPE.
It's been widely known that Town was wanting to join the team in January 2015 and compete for the starting job as a true freshman. With Coker now on the team that likely wasn't going to be the situation. We already have Cornwell and Bateman, add Coker to the mix and Town likely wasn't going to see the field till 2016 or maybe even 2017. Maybe he didn't like Kiffin but the timing is just too perfect for this decision to be based on who is the OC.
And if you're surprised by the Coker signing, shame on you cause you obviously haven't been reading RBR for the past two weeks. It's been a story no one could ignore and by middle of last week him signing with Bama was inevitable.
If you're wondering how Coker will be able to compete for the starting job after missing Spring there is a plan in place to get him ready..
Coker has three overarching tasks to accomplish before he arrives for good in May: Pass his remaining classes so he can graduate as scheduled, complete his rehabilitation from a torn meniscus and prepare himself for a quarterback battle in which his competition will have a 15-practice head start. In an interview Sunday with Tider Insider, Coker said he'd receive his playbook soon and looked forward to "getting as prepared as I possibly can before I get there." That's essential, especially with his competition -- Blake Sims, Alec Morris, Cooper Bateman, Parker McLeod and David Cornwell -- receiving the advantage of spring practice.
Coker's work with Morris won't revolve around the schemes and formations of new Crimson Tide offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin's offense. Morris' focus lies exclusively on Coker. "This is more of, 'Let's be great fundamentally, let's practice that, let's get in great quarterback shape,'" Morris said. "Anything we need to clean up, let's clean it up and anything that is a strength, let's try to learn how we can put ourselves in that situation more often. Anything that may be something we really need to work on, let's try to turn that into a strong point. "Ultimately, what we're doing is getting him ready for game-type situations.
That's not my job to implement offense and all that."
Coker will have to earn the starting job but like I've mentioned before, you don't bring in a guy like Jacob and ask him to hold a clip board.
What does this signing tell us about the QB's currently on the roster? Well, at this point, it is obvious the staff has no faith in Sims to take over for AJ. He'll be given his fair share of reps during Spring practice but if they believed he was a legitimate starting QB in the SEC, we probably wouldn't be signing Coker.
However, this means little to nothing about Cornwell or Bateman. More importantly, Coker's signing allows them both more time to mature and grasp the offense. If Coker does win the starting job (which I believe will happen) I expect Cornwell to red-shirt this year and Bateman to be Coker's back-up. After a one and done year by Coker, we will watch Cornwell and Batemen fight it out in 2015 for the starting job.
Of course, this could cause Bateman to transfer and if that happens Sims will back up Coker and depending if he (Coker) stays 1-2 years, Cornwell is likely start in 2015/2016..
Cameron Sims recruit scouting report: Herman Moore clone at receiver - SBNation.com
Sims does have some issues creating separation downfield at the high school level. Probably not fair to expect that to be a prominent part of his game in college, especially early in his career. The high amount of contested catches on tape is definitely something to make note of. Sims carries some of the best ball tracking skills you'll find of any wide receiver recruit. His hands are huge and superb. He is similar to former Detroit Lion receiver Herman Moore in his ability to pluck the ball away from his frame at various angles. He seems to always win at the catch point. Has a huge catch radius considering his 6'4" frame, length, and his propensity to never let the ball get into his frame
Solid scouting report on Sims. Good info on his speed (or lack there of) and how he'll need to develop his game if he wants to be an elite WR in college.
No. 7 Gymnastics Beats No. 10 Arkansas in Front of Sold Out Crowd - ROLLTIDE.COM
In front of a sold-out crowd of 15,075 dressed mostly in pink, the No. 7 ranked Alabama gymnastics team beat No. 10 Arkansas 197.125-196.100 in the Crimson Tide's 10th annual Power of Pink meet. "I think sometimes the biggest thing I have to worry about on a night like tonight is the excitement at the beginning of the meet and the emotions, and then having the ladies, as we say, flip-it mentally, to get on track and compete after going through that," UA head coach Sarah Patterson said. "They did a great job with that tonight. We weren't perfect but we improved in a lot of different areas. I can't be more proud of this team right now. We're certainly on pace to do what we need to do."
Sell out crowd? NICE! I love that we are able to support our gymnastics team with such ferocity but I wish we could show the same love for our basketball and baseball teams. As Bama fans we have to learn to support our players (showing up to games) regardless of the team's record. For some reason I get the impression that many 'Bama fans feel if a team isn't very good, we shouldn't show up to display our displeasure and hopefully force Battle to make a change..
If you think that way, how do you think that makes our players feel? (When they look up and see a half full arena.) Do you think that helps allure elite coaches or players to our teams?
Saban complained that fans left early and we stayed for four. We still sold out football games even in the worst of times. Why don't we take the same approach to all our sports?
If you don't like basketball or even baseball, that is one thing but if you are a basketball fan, could physically attend games, and don't, then why not?
5-star defensive tackle Matt Elam set to announce decision on Thursday | AL.com
One of Alabama's top remaining recruiting targets has moved up the date of his college decision. Elizabethtown, Kentucky defensive tackle Matt Elam announced via Twitter that he will make his announcement on Thursday, moving it up from his originally scheduled date of February 5, National Signing Day.
We'll likely have a live thread up on Thursday for Elam's announcement.
Photo Gallery from Bama Softball's fan day