Before a crowd of 78,526, the White team defeated the Crimson team 24-15 in the annual Alabama Football Golden Flake A-Day Spring Game at Bryant-Denny Stadium Saturday.
Freshman running back T.J. Yeldon, playing for the White team, earned the Dixie Howell Award given to the game's most valuable player, after totaling 179 yards on the day (88 rushing, 91 receiving), including a 50-yard touchdown reception. Yeldon led all players in rushing and receiving yardage on the day.
Sophomore linebacker Adrian Hubbard of the White team earned the Dwight Stephenson Lineman of the Game Award given to the game's most valuable lineman. Hubbard had 7 tackles (6 unassisted) including 4 tackles for losses of 22 yards including 3 quarterback sacks for 22 yards.
Quarterback AJ McCarron finished the day completing 29 of 42 passes for 304 yards and 2 touchdowns with 3 interceptions. McCarron led the Crimson team to 367 total yards. The White team totaled 284 total yards on the day but 4 Crimson turnovers made the difference in the game as the White did not have a giveaway in the game.
The attendance of 78,526 is the fifth-largest spring game attendance total at Alabama. More than 513,000 fans have attended the six A-Day games during Saban's tenure as head coach, including 90,000 plus in three of the six years
The Alabama football team held its final practice of the spring on Thursday at the Thomas-Drew Practice Facility in full pads for roughly two hours.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban feels that the Golden Flake A-Day Game will be the first opportunity for the Crimson Tide to create their own identity as a team. The A-Day Game is scheduled to kickoff at 2:05 p.m. Saturday inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. A-Day will be broadcast live on CSS and available nationally on ESPN3.com (blacked out in local markets).
Former Alabama left tackle James Carpenter came out to practice on Thursday to support his former teammates. Carpenter was a first-round pick of the Seattle Seahawks in 2011.
Saban hopes to join the five players from the 2011 National Championship team who were invited to New York for the NFL draft at the end of this month. Mark Barron, Dont'a Hightower, Dre Kirkpatrick, Trent Richardson and Courtney Upshaw invited Nick Saban to join them for the draft in New York.
The Alabama football team practiced in full pads for a two-hour workout session at the Thomas-Drew Practice Facility on Tuesday afternoon.
Senior offensive lineman Barrett Jones is pleased with the strides the Crimson Tide has made from practice one to practice 13.
"A-Day is always a fun time, and we are excited," Jones said. "It's the first chance to see the 2012 Alabama team as a unit to go out there in a game setting and perform. I think sometimes people perform just a little bit better in a game situation than in practice, but I'll be excited to see just how we come together as a unit and perform."
The A-Day game will be held at Bryant-Denny Stadium Saturday April 14 at 2 p.m. It will be broadcast live by CSS at 2 p.m.
The Alabama football team practiced in full pads at the Thomas-Drew Practice Facility during a two-hour workout on Wednesday afternoon.
Spring drills continued for the Crimson Tide, who completed their 11th practice leading up to the A-Day Game on April 14. After watching film from Saturday's scrimmage, Alabama head coach Nick Saban felt like the team has to focus on two important factors.
"I thought the players responded very positively today," Saban said. "They had a little more energy, a little more intensity and a little more enthusiasm about what they were doing. Everybody needs to focus on what they want, and what they want to accomplish, and what they want to achieve individually and collectively."
The Crimson Tide will hold its second scrimmage of the spring on Friday inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. Alabama will take off Easter weekend before returning the practice field on Tuesday and Thursday of next week.
The Alabama football team returned to the Thomas Drew Practice Facility for the 10th practice of the spring on Monday in full pads for a two-hour workout.
It was the first practice for the Tide following the initial scrimmage of the spring on Saturday. Junior quarterback AJ McCarron was not satisfied with the performance of the team because he knows it is a process for an offense to find its identity.
"We've just got to get working to get better every day." said McCarron.
The Alabama football team held its first scrimmage of the spring on Saturday afternoon inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.
The scrimmage lasted roughly 120 plays and was just over two hours under sunny skies and temperatures in the low 80s.
“I thought this first scrimmage was better, maybe, than I anticipated in some ways,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said Saturday. “I thought the overall intensity and tempo of the offense is something we need to pick up a bit past the first team. The rest was a little sloppy at times in terms of communication, but as I said before, a lot of guys have a lot of opportunities.”
The Alabama football team practiced in shells for two hours inside the Hank Crisp Indoor Facility on Friday as thunderstorms in the area pushed the workout inside.
The focus of Alabama head coach Nick Saban during the ninth practice of spring ball was to include more game-like situations.
"Until this point somebody has been out there telling them what to do every time and trying to help them make adjustments," Saban said. "So now we want to put them in the position in practice where they have to make those decisions and they have to make those plays. We need to see who can step up and do that, and we try to prepare them."
The Alabama football team held its seventh practice of the spring Wednesday in full pads with a two-hour workout at the Thomas-Drew Practice Facility.
It was the fourth day in full pads for the 2012 Crimson Tide as the continued spring drills. Alabama defensive lineman Jesse Williams met the media following practice to discuss his move to nose guard this spring after starting 13 games a season ago at defensive end.
"It isn't too bad, I'm just trying to do whatever I can to help out," said Williams. "It's a bit more of close quarters with a lot of people, there's a lot more crunching with people rather than just going with the tackle or the guard. It's nothing too serious; I'm just trying to do everything I can to help out."
The Alabama football team returned to the practice field on Monday for a two-hour workout in full pads at the Thomas-Drew Practice Facility.
It was the third day in full pads for the 2012 Crimson Tide, who held workout No. 6 of the 15-practice spring schedule.
"We've made some progress as a team and we are getting a lot of reps out there," Alabama head coach Nick Saban said. "I didn't feel like today was one our better days in terms of the number of guys that had the mental energy, the intensity and the sense of urgency."
The Alabama football team continued its spring practice schedule on Saturday with a two-hour workout in full pads at the Thomas-Drew Practice Facility in front of an estimated 1,200 coaches from around the region who are attending the 2012 Alabama Coaching Clinic.
It was the second day in full pads for the 2012 Crimson Tide, who held workout No. 5 of the 15-practice spring schedule. Alabama will take Sunday off before returning to work on Monday afternoon. Spring practice concludes on Saturday, April 14, with the A-Day Game at Bryant-Denny Stadium. A-Day will be broadcast live by CSS at 2 p.m.
The Crimson Tide defense returns four starters on the defensive side of the football from last year's team that led the nation in all of the major defensive categories. Senior Robert Lester is the only defensive back to return and he is impressed with the young talent the Tide has on defense.
Head coach Nick Saban's Alabama football team spent two hours practicing in full pads Wednesday afternoon at the Thomas-Drew Practice Facility.
UA continued to focus on fundamentals and installation Wednesday as they got the chance to pop the pads for the first time since the BCS National Championship Game. It completed the third of 15 spring practices leading up to the 2012 A-Day Game on Saturday, April 14, at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
"It was great to be able to strap the pads on and hit someone," Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosley said following Wednesday's workout. "It has been a while since we could do that as a team, and after my injury, I'm just excited to be back out there working already. I'm not quite 100 percent but I'm getting out there and practicing and also getting my rehabbing in every day."
Head coach Nick Saban's Alabama football team spent two hours practicing in full pads Wednesday afternoon at the Thomas-Drew Practice Facility.
UA continued to focus on fundamentals and installation Wednesday as they got the chance to pop the pads for the first time since the BCS National Championship Game. It completed the third of 15 spring practices leading up to the 2012 A-Day Game on Saturday, April 14, at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
"It was great to be able to strap the pads on and hit someone," Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosley said following Wednesday's workout. "It has been a while since we could do that as a team, and after my injury, I'm just excited to be back out there working already. I'm not quite 100 percent but I'm getting out there and practicing and also getting my rehabbing in every day."
The Alabama football team returned from spring break on Monday and resumed spring practice with a two-hour session in shorts and helmets at the Thomas-Drew Practice Facility.
Monday's workout was the second of 15 spring practices that warps up with the 2012 A-Day Game at Bryant-Denny Stadium on April 14.
"It was great to get back on the practice field," Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron said on Monday. "I thought the offense got back to business fairly quickly. We ran into some speed bumps along the way today, but I thought we fought through any adversity. Guys are catching on to things and you can see everyone progressing during these first two practices."
The Alabama football team returned from spring break on Monday and resumed spring practice with a two-hour session in shorts and helmets at the Thomas-Drew Practice Facility.
Monday's workout was the second of 15 spring practices that warps up with the 2012 A-Day Game at Bryant-Denny Stadium on April 14.
"It was great to get back on the practice field," Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron said on Monday. "I thought the offense got back to business fairly quickly. We ran into some speed bumps along the way today, but I thought we fought through any adversity. Guys are catching on to things and you can see everyone progressing during these first two practices."
The University of Alabama football team began spring practice on Friday afternoon with a two-hour workout in shorts and helmets at the Thomas-Drew Practice Facility.
The Crimson Tide will now take a week off for spring break before resuming with their second of 15 spring practices on Monday, March 19.
"It was a relief to get back on the practice field because the last three or four week we have been doing straight running and conditioning," Alabama senior linebacker Nico Johnson said. "It was great to get back on the field, be around the coaches and just get back to football."
The Crimson Tide welcomed eight mid-year signees to the practice field as Ryan Anderson, Deion Belue, Chris Black, Amari Cooper, Travell Dixon, Dillon Lee, Alphonse Taylor and T.J. Yeldon strapped on the crimson helmet for the first time.
