Happy Friday, everyone. The top ten baseball team heads over to Athens this weekend to take on Georgia, while softball hosts Virginia Tech.
Of course, the NCAA Tournament started yesterday. Both of Alabama’s teams play today, starting with the women at 4:30 CT.
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Below is how you can watch the first-round matchup between Alabama and Florida State:
How to watch
Date: Mar. 22, 2024
Time: 4:30 p.m. CT
TV Channel: ESPN2
The men’s team will be on TruTV at 6:35pm, which should be about the time the women are wrapping up their game. We will have more on that one later.
SEC Gymnastics Championships are this weekend, and the Tide should be competitive.
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The Crimson Tide (12-4-1, 3-3-1 SEC) will enter the SEC Championships as the No. 4 seed for the second season in a row with a 197.76 National Qualifying Score. No. 1 LSU leads the field (198.125 NQS), followed by No. 2 Florida (197.905) and No. 3 Kentucky (197.81). The top four seeds will meet in the second session, while the bottom four seeds (No. 5 Arkansas, No. 6 Missouri, No. 7 Auburn and No. 8 Georgia) will meet in the first session.
“We’ve always said it’s a marathon, not a sprint, but now here we are, you can see the finish line,” coach Ashley Johnston said. “We’re ready to get down to New Orleans and have the opportunity to compete for a championship.”
Best of luck to all.
Kalen DeBoer spoke to media yesterday, and based on many of his comments, you can feel that we are living in a new world where Alabama football is concerned.
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“The thing you’ll hear me talk to the quarterbacks about, just constantly reminding them of is must completions, completions, completions,” DeBoer said. “And just letting all these other guys work for you. A checkdown to the running back at some point, that’s OK.”
According to DeBoer, that lets his coaches call aggressive plays without quarterbacks forcing the ball into bad situations. As the drive moves, it delivers more manageable second and third down distances, letting the playcallers be less predictable.
That’s not to say Alabama is going to be ultra-conservative offensively though.
“A lot of the routes have the opportunity to take an alert throw or some kind of shot down the field,” DeBoer said. “We just try to preach to our quarterbacks though, find a way to get a completion.”
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DeBoer elaborated Thursday that he views social media as a “big deal” for his program.
“Not just what the average fan [sees], but what the recruits and prospects that we’re looking at — what they like and what’s attractive to them,” he said. “Just trying to showcase our program. Also to get our message out and them to understand the culture we’re trying to build here and what all our resources are and who the people are that work here.”
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DeBoer on any issues with quarterback cadence like Ryan Day suggested…
“I guess I only can really go off of what we’ve done right now, and we haven’t had any problems there. We use our cadence and it’s the clap cadence. Jalen (Milroe), all the quarterbacks have done a good job. I think, from what I see, we haven’t really had any problems at all.”
DeBoer on what he’s learned about the recruiting process…
“I don’t think there’s anything new. I just think our staff’s just done a really good job. We did have to play some catchup early on, just trying to build some relationships quickly. Obviously, identify first, and then kind of get in the game with some relationships. Our staff, both on the field staff and our recruiting staff, have done a good job working hard, being on the same page. Getting these guys here to campus has been really a big deal, and once they get here and they get to know everyone, it’s led to success, as you’ve seen.”
We will see how the results look on the field, but there is little doubt that this version of Alabama football is going to look more modernized in most every facet. And Ryan Day is, in fact, an idiot.
You can watch DeBoer’s entire presser below.
Offensive tackle is obviously one of the major concerns for 2024.
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Nequil Bertrand is new to the group. The redshirt freshman transferred in from Texas A&M, where he entered as a three-star prospect in the 2023 class.
Wilkin Formby joined the Crimson Tide as a four-star prospect out of Northridge. He played in three games last season, preserving his redshirt.
“I understand that there’s a lot of great players that have gone before me and done the exact same thing,” Formby told AL.com before the Rose Bowl about playing sparingly in his first season. “So I’m just following that blueprint that they have in the program about trusting the process and understanding that I have a great opportunity here in the future.”
Formby has the right attitude. Once Proctor gets back, one would assume that the left tackle position will be he and Elijah Pritchett, same as last year. Right tackle will be quite a battle.
Last, the SEC had an alarmingly bad day in the NCAA Tournament. Mississippi State and South Carolina were handled rather easily by Michigan State and Oregon, respectively, and Kentucky became a first round upset victim yet again. John Calipari’s seat is scorching hot, but that really was a fluky game. Oakland shot 15/31 from three point range, including ten threes from this dude.
That man has shot the ball more than 300 times this season, and fewer than ten have come inside the arc. Tense times in Lexington this morning.
