{"id":44594,"date":"2022-08-13T23:36:39","date_gmt":"2022-08-13T23:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/saban-sees-improvement-in-key-spot-in-an-otherwise-sloppy-scrimmage\/"},"modified":"2022-08-13T23:36:39","modified_gmt":"2022-08-13T23:36:39","slug":"saban-sees-improvement-in-key-spot-in-an-otherwise-sloppy-scrimmage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/saban-sees-improvement-in-key-spot-in-an-otherwise-sloppy-scrimmage\/","title":{"rendered":"Saban sees improvement in key spot in an otherwise ‘sloppy’ scrimmage"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The first of two August scrimmages have fairly reliable themes.<\/p>\n

Nick Saban never sounds overly bullish in the Bryant-Denny Stadium press room though it’s never a complete disaster. That held serve again Saturday as the Crimson Tide hit that patch of grass for the first time since the A-Day Game in April.<\/p>\n

The annual spring scrimmage was mostly forgettable since an injury-riddled offensive line had almost no resistance for what could be a historic pass rush. Now healthy, Saban saw a reason for optimism.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, it’s really hard to evaluate but I thought the first offensive line was improved,\u201d Saban said. \u201cI thought the second offensive line struggled, struggled in protection, struggled to run the ball. But I was encouraged by the running backs and some of the plays that they were able to make, some of the runs that they were able to run.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I would say all in all I thought the first line made some improvement, I thought the second line struggled a little bit at times, but I think every unit had its ups and downs and I think that’s what I’m talking about when I talk about maintaining consistency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alabama played the spring without returning starters Darrian Dalcourt and Emil Ekiyor while also replacing both starting tackles. That contributed to the 10.0 total sacks recorded by the first-team defense that also benefitted from the two-hand touch rule on quarterbacks. The Tide also added transfer Tyler Steen from Vanderbilt to help beef up the left tackle position with JC Latham emerging as the top prospect on the right side.<\/p>\n

It was the inability to maintain acceptable energy levels that became the carrot on the stick for the week before the second scrimmage in seven days. Plow didn’t like the way his team seemed to fade late in the action after coming out fast.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a lot of good things out there on the field today,\u201d Saban said, \u201cbut we got sloppy at times, had way too many penalties and a lot of undisciplined type penalties, whether they were illegal formations, offsides on defense. All things that are correctable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alabama players will get Sunday off from practice before returning to the field Monday as classes begin later in the week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m not disappointed in any way,\u201d Saban said Saturday, \u201cbut I think at this point you would expect to need to practice to improve on a lot of things, and after only having eight, nine practices, whatever we’ve had at this point, I’m sort of ok with where we are but also very much enthused about the challenges that we have to try to work to try to get guys better so that we have more guys who can play winning football.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter <\/i>@ByCasagrande<\/i><\/a> or ten <\/i>Facebook<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n