Alabama Crimson Tide

Robert Nkemdiche committed to Clemson, but that didn't slow down his recruiting. Kipp Adams talks with the nation’s top recruit about his recruitment since committing to Clemson, and his goals for the 2012 season.

The SEC has five teams in the 2012 preseason polls, and three of those same five teams are in the top 10 of ESPN's latest recruiting rankings .

The rich just keep getting richer.

USC is No. 1 overall in ESPN's recruiting rankings for the 2013 class. Florida is No. 2 with Alabama checking in at No. 4, Auburn No. 6, Georgia No. 9 and LSU No. 10.

Nine SEC teams are currently ranked in the top 25 of ESPN's recruiting rankings, and it's always important to remember that these are only commitments. Nothing counts until that first Wednesday in February.

But rounding out the SEC schools in the top 25 are Texas A&M at No. 13, South Carolina No. 15, Vanderbilt No. 20 and Ole Miss No. 21.

Texas A&M already has 27 commitments for the 2013 class. Georgia is close behind with 26.

Florida has the most ESPN 150 prospects committed with eight, while Alabama has seven ESPN 150 prospects committed.

From now until kickoff in Arlington, Texas, we'll be counting down the days before Alabama and Michigan get the season started. Today, we move to No. 10 and what it means to UA football. See all the previous editions here.

There's been a lot said about the 2010 Crimson Tide football team, the one that came in as the preseason No. 1 and failed to defend the title. It's been the hot topic of the summer, and much has been said about how this year's team hoped to avoid the same fate.

Here's a selection of the best quotes from players and coaches about not letting 2010 happen again:

Cornerback Dee Milliner: “Yeah, we know that it’s going to be like the 2010 season, that once again we’re going to be the young secondary. We have a lot of experience in the front seven. They say we’re going to be a weak point, but we’re going to try to be prepared for that and turn it around.”

Linebacker Nico Johnson: "It plays a lot because of the older guys who were here, we understand how everything went. We didn’t get off to a good start that summer, everything was different. We tried not to go back to that. Try to relax and have fun with everything we’re doing, and work hard. That 2010 was pretty much a letdown year, but there were a lot of things that we didn’t’ do right. We want to correct all those things now and keep moving forward."

Guard Chance Warmack: "Sometimes coach reminds us why we had the season we had in 2010. But it’s always important to never look back, but always look forward. You understand the mistakes you made in the past, but it’s always good to know that you can learn from those mistakes. Not really based off of what you’ve done in the past that caused you to fail or to be short handed, but what you can learn to improve to be better in the future. So we look at those things in 2010 and we try to act on those things now so we don’t make the same mistakes."

Quarterback AJ McCarron: "I think it fell back on the leaders back then. Coach will tell you. We didn't have a lot of leadership. We had a lot of great players coming back, but I think the team kind of felt like everybody went their own personal way, tried to look out for (themselves) following the '09 season and help their draft status personally. What a lot of guys lose is, when they're going through that process, is that if the team wins, a lot more guys get drafted. You get drafted off the success of the team, not just personal success. It's hard to do that. A lot of guys know that. We've got a lot of older guys on here, we've got a lot of younger guys. It's going to be a good mix-up. Young guys just have to come and be ready to learn. You've got to have young guys who want to listen and want to learn. We do. Hopefully we've got the ingredients for a great season. We just have to put everything together and get everybody going."

Coach Nick Saban: "I think everything was different. We lost a whole lot of good players from the 2009 team. I think in some ways, especially to start, when you lose nine starters _ your punter, your kicker, your long-sanpper, maybe four or five starters on offense. We lost like 15 starters from the 2009 and we had like 26 seniors on that team."

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The University of Alabama sustained a number of bumps and bruises last week, but none loomed larger than running back Eddie Lacy's.

The presumed starter at tailback sprained his knee and ankle during Saturday's scrimmage and is day-to-day, according to coach Nick Saban.

While the injury could prove to be minor, it is being taken seriously. The junior from Louisiana played for most of last season with turf toe that required surgery during the offseason. He missed all of spring practice and had been working himself back to 100 percent during fall camp.

The hope is that the sprain isn't symptomatic, but it has prompted questions about the Crimson Tide's depth at tailback.

(Read full post)

Now that Edward has unveiled his freshmen of influence in the East this season, I’ll take my shot at those first-year players who will make the biggest impacts in the West.

Remember, we’re picking only true freshmen.

Here goes:

Amari Cooper, WR, Alabama: One of the key questions for Alabama heading into the season was who would emerge as the big-play threat in the Crimson Tide’s passing game. Enter Cooper, who’s drawn rave reviews from coach Nick Saban and several of Cooper’s veteran teammates. Even though a foot injury has hampered the 6-foot-1, 198-pound Cooper in recent days, he’s given the defending national champions confidence that they won’t be lacking when they decide to throw the football in 2012.

De’Vante Harris, CB, Texas A&M: The Aggies were able to pry Harris away from Oklahoma during the recruiting process, and it’s a good thing. He might very well be starting in the Texas A&M defensive backfield from Day 1. In fact, one of the first players Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin mentioned following last weekend’s scrimmage was Harris, who’s been hard to miss this preseason. He’s played like a veteran, challenges the receivers and has kept his mistakes to a minimum.

I'Tavius Mathers, RB, Ole Miss: Nagging injuries have limited junior running back Jeff Scott this preseason, which has provided a big opportunity for Mathers. Needless to say, he’s taken that opportunity and run with it. So has fellow freshman running back Jaylen Walton. Mathers, who’s right around 200 pounds, has shown the power and strength to get the tough yards, but he also has breakaway speed. He ripped off a 58-yard touchdown run in last weekend’s scrimmage.

Jalen Mills, CB, LSU: He’s not the biggest guy or the fastest guy, but Mills is a fierce competitor and an excellent tackler. Sound familiar? OK, it’s way too premature to compare him to Tyrann Mathieu, but Mills has been mighty impressive during preseason camp with his instincts and nose for the ball. With Mathieu gone, Mills worked with the first-team defense last Saturday during the scrimmage and is pushing to be a fixture in the Tigers’ secondary rotation this season.

T.J. Yeldon, RB, Alabama: After enrolling early, Yeldon burst onto the scene this spring and had 91 yards receiving and 88 yards rushing in the A-Day spring game. He had the play of the game on a 50-yard touchdown reception and has picked up where he left off this preseason. The Crimson Tide aren’t short on talent at running back, but Yeldon is the kind of playmaker that demands touches. He’s explosive as a runner and also makes things happen after the catch. Saban will see to it that Yeldon is a big part of the offense.

Using a point system devised by the ESPN Stats & Information department, ESPN.com is counting down the 50 most successful programs of the past 50 years. A running list of the top 50 can be found here. For an explanation of the scoring system, read our intro.

The positives for Alabama: The Crimson Tide reached the NCAA tournament 12 times between 1982-1995, and six Sweet 16s between 1982-1991.

The negatives for Alabama: The Crimson Tide have no first-team All-Americans and just one second-teamer (Leon Douglas in 1975). They’ve never reached the Final Four.

So, where did Alabama check in? Find out here.

From now until kickoff in Arlington, Texas, we'll be counting down the days before Alabama and Michigan get the season started. Today, we move to No. 11 and what it means to UA football. See all the previous editions here.

Coach Nick Saban has made on thing clear this offseason: Alabama will be more explosive on offense. The sixth-year coach watched last season as the Crimson Tide struggled to manufacture big plays, and wants better results in 2012.

Alabama averaged 11.8 yards per catch in 2011-12. While averaging a first down every completion isn't bad, it isn't explosive. It isn't the vertical threat Saban wants from AJ McCarron and company.

"I think there are more things that can go wrong when you throw the ball," Saban said. "But there are also more things that can go right in terms of making explosive plays. Making people defend the horizontal and vertical depth of the field by attacking the middle of the field and making people defend it. Spreading people out, putting good skill players in space with the ball. I think if there is one thing we want to improve on, it's make more explosiveplays.

"I don't really care how we make them."

Individually, McCarron averaged 8.0 yards per attempts -- good enough for 24th in the country. Florida's John Brantley and Arkansas' Tyler Wilson ranked ahead of McCarron.