Alabama Crimson Tide

Reuben Foster (Auburn, Ala./Auburn), the top rated linebacker and the second overall rated recruit in the ESPN 150 talks with RecruitingNation’s Jamie Newberg at the Atlanta Nike Football Training Camp. Foster is an Alabama commit.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Even as the Crimson Tide practiced in shells and shorts this April, coach Nick Saban had opening day on his mind.

While the rest of the country waited on a groundhog to usher in the start of spring, the University of Alabama coaching staff prepared for a pack of wolverines.

The colossal Alabama-Michigan matchup at Jerry Jones’ equally enormous Cowboys Stadium won’t be left wanting for anticipation or, as it turns out, preparation. Tickets for the 80,000-seat venue are nearly sold out (a handful of $30,000 suites remain if you’re into that sort of thing), hotels are slammed and travel routes are already being arranged as two of the country’s most storied programs go head-to-head for the first time in more than a decade.

Saban, who has ties to the Great Lakes where he spent 10 years as both an assistant and head coach at Michigan State, isn’t doing anything to stall the hype machine. Several times during spring practice he said he’d begin introducing next year’s opponents, specifically citing the Michigan game.

In fact, following Alabama’s A-Day scrimmage, the fiery coach let it be known just how serious he’s taking the season opener. If anyone expected a glimpse of the game plan that day, they were wrong.

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The University of Alabama coaching staff had the right plan: with the game tied and nobody on, push the outfielders back to the warning track to prevent any extra base hits.

But as the saying goes, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

In the top of the ninth with the game tied at seven and one out, Vanderbilt first baseman Conrad Gregor roped a single into right field. Ben Moore, playing a no-doubles style of defense, had the would-be extra base hit corralled -- until it popped away. Moore bobbled the ball and Gregor slid safely into second base. A sac fly sent then sent Gregor to third and a high chopper moved him across home plate for the game-winning run.

Just like that, Alabama let a series sweep of Vanderbilt go through its fingers. The Commodores rallied in the series finale to beat the Crimson Tide, 9-7, dropping UA to 16-25 overall and 6-12 in SEC play.

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ATLANTA -- Don't be fooled by Alabama coach Nick Saban's love for pounding opposing defenses with a powerful running game. The man would like to air it out a little more.

But when you have bruising running backs like Glen Coffee, Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson, it's tough not to just hand them the rock and watch them hurt people.

However, those backs are gone, and while heir to the running back throne Eddie Lacy appears more than capable of running down defenders' throats, Saban now has more of the pieces in place to get a little more vertical in his attack on defenses.

"I feel like you gotta do on offense what you have the players to do," Saban said in Atlanta Thursday during his second stop on the Crimson Caravan. "Now … we have a quarterback that I think is very capable, as long as he makes good decisions and judgments in terms of how he distributes the ball and doesn't turn it over."

That quarterback is redshirt junior AJ McCarron, who was named offensive MVP of the Allstate BCS National Championship Game and finished the 2011 season ranking third in the SEC in passing.

McCarron has all the tools to be a real star in the SEC, but he rarely looked flashy in his first year as a starter. He managed the game like his coach asked him to. There were times where he let it rip (the national title game rings a bell and so does the second half of the Tennessee game), but for the most part his job was to limit mistakes and lead the offense.

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- There’s something about Saturdays at the Joe.

For the third consecutive time this season, the University of Alabama ended a Saturday at home with a walk-off home run, beating Vanderbilt 8-6 on an Austen Smith three-run homer with two outs and the Crimson Tide trailing by one.

Smith, who came into the game with a batting average of .205, had not hit a home run since June 3 against Central Florida. But on a high fastball from Will Clinard, he got just enough to send the ball just beyond the left-center field fence.

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The University of Alabama used and abused Vanderbilt on Friday night at Sewell-Thomas Stadium, riding three Commodore errors to a 6-4 win in Game 1 of the three-game set.

Every time the Commodores made a mistake, the Crimson Tide was there to pick up pieces -- all too glad to see the ball bounce their way for one of the rare times this season. Prior to Friday’s game, the Tide were on the wrong side of the error column, booting and throwing away 13 more balls than their opponents.

But this weekend started differently as UA played clean, confident baseball.

“It just kind of worked in our advantage tonight,” said coach Mitch Gaspard. “God knows we’ve been on the other side of that enough this year. When you play clean, that’s a big part of the game: don’t beat yourself.”

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Alabama redshirt sophomore wide receiver DeAndrew White was one of two victims hospitalized overnight after sustaining injuries during an early Thursday altercation on The Strip in Tuscaloosa, Ala., a source close to the situation confirmed to the Tuscaloosa Bureau.

The source told the Tuscaloosa Bureau that White wasn't seriously injured, but did sustain a concussion.

There's no word yet on how White was involved in the fight, but university police arrested two men for firing handguns in the air during the fight, "allegedly to disperse the crowd," Tuscaloosa Metro Homicide Unit commander Loyd Baker said.

White, who caught 14 passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns, had a pretty productive spring and is expected to contribute even more this fall in Alabama's offense. Alabama hopes he can develop into a more reliable deep threat with his speed and explosiveness.