Alabama Crimson Tide

Each week at TideNation we will speak with a writer who covers one of Alabama's 2012 opponents. Today we spoke with Tyler Norris Goode, who covers Western Carolina for Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times.

Scarborough: To start things off, give us a brief tutorial on the Catamounts. What's their style of play? What are their strengths and weaknesses as you see them?
Goode: Any summary on WCU has to begin with the program’s recent plunge from near mediocrity to utter futility. Since the Catamounts’ last winning season (5-4 in 2005), Western has lost 43 of its 46 Southern Conference games. Dennis Wagner, who stepped down as head coach before the Cats’ final game last year, had a four-year winning percentage of .182 (8-36) -- second-worst in the program’s 78-year history. The team’s greatest strength right now is probably hope and enthusiasm surrounding new coach Mark Speir and his staff, who are implementing their version of the spread offense. Weaknesses are too numerous to name, but the top one would be defensive ineptitude.

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Derrick Green is weighing his options -- all of his options. The ESPN 150 running back has already visited nine schools this summer, and he made a trip south over the weekend to check out three more.

The trip began with a stop in Tuscaloosa to visit the University of Alabama. It was the first time the Richmond, Va., resident had been on the Crimson Tide’s campus.

“It was really nice,” Green said. “I got there, spoke to my position coach, spoke to Coach [Nick] Saban, toured the campus. I had a good time seeing the facilities. I got to speak with the strength and conditioning coach. I really like him a lot. It was overall a good trip.”

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In June, ESPN 150 running back Derrick Henry decommitted from Georgia after visiting the University of Alabama. He consequently named the Crimson Tide his leader. Henry returned to Tuscaloosa over the weekend for one more visit this summer at head coach Nick Saban’s request.

“It was fun,” Henry said. “Coach Saban wanted me to get up there one more time just to be around the coaches and be with all of the players and stuff, so we can get that chemistry. I had a real good time.”

The Yulee, Fla., native has not made a decision on his commitment, but it might have seemed he had when he was hanging out with Tide players Kenyan Drake, Geno Smith and Vinnie Sunseri. He and Sunseri spent the most time together.

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In the end, Walker Jones kept it in the family.

"After much thought and prayer, I have verbally committed to play football at the University of Alabama," the athlete from Cordova (Tenn.) Evangelical Christian old ESPN in a prepared statement via email on Monday. "Coach [Nick] Saban told me he is very pleased with my decision and happy to have me as a part of the 2013 class. He said I have the size, athleticism, and intelligence to be a good player at the next level. He plans for me to play inside linebacker but told me I have the versatility to play outside [linebacker] or even h-back. He also told me I will have an opportunity to contribute on special teams."

Jones two older brothers, offensive tackle Barrett Jones and sophomore tight end Harrison Jones, both play for Alabama. Yet the youngest Jones maintained he would weigh all schools equally.

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Before last week, Jacory Washington had just four offers from the likes of Florida Atlantic, Illinois, Lafayette and UCLA, but the 2014 prospect saw his stock take off with a recent trip around the SEC West.

The Westlake, La., native visited Alabama, LSU and Texas A&M, and each stop earned him a new scholarship offer from the respective head coach.

“It’s just great,” Washington said. “I’m just taking it all in. I still can’t believe it. Finally, all my hard work is starting to pay off.”

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Just a few days earlier Alabama lost out on a top tight end when Hunter Henry (Little Rock, Ark./Pulaski) chose to stay in-state and committed to Arkansas, but the Crimson Tide rebounded very nicely and landed a verbal from another ESPN 150 tight end Friday night when Josh McNeil (Durham, N.C./Hillside) committed. Henry is a more experienced and more polished prospect at this point, but by landing McNeil, Alabama got a prospect with nice upside and arguably a higher ceiling for development who with some work should be a nice fit for them.

McNeil displays a lot of natural ability, but will very likely be a prospect who needs some developmental time when he hits Tuscaloosa as his senior year will only be his second of high school football. While still a bit raw and unpolished in areas this is a prospect who demonstrates the tools to grow into a very good and well-rounded college tight end. He is a basketball kid who has nice overall size and room for further physical development which should come with some time in the Tide’s weight program. He can be a productive part of the passing attack as he possesses good hands and with a nice reach and good body control he offers a nice catch radius. He needs development as a route runner and to learn to become a more efficient runner, but he can get into his routes quickly, has some speed, and flashes the ability to be able to pick-up some extra yards after the catch. He also has experience as an in-line blocker which is key and he demonstrates the ability to develop into a productive player in the phase which he will need to be in that offense.

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