ALCrimsonTide » College Football

Air Force Coaching Legend Fisher DeBerry Favors Bama vs LSU in Title Game

Alabama Crimson Tide — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 07:14:48 +0000

Former head football coach at the United States Air Force Academy from 1984 to 2006, Fisher DeBerry racked up the most wins and highest winning percentage (.608) in Air Force football history. His best year was 1985, when Air Force finished #8 in the AP with a 12-1 record. He duplicated that record in 1998, but only finished #13.

Today, in retirement, Coach DeBerry a respected coach & authority on football, he is offering his opinion on who should play in college football's biggest game.

Coach DeBerry is adamant about the fact that it "should be who we feel are the two best TEAMS" (emphasis his), regardless of conference play. He said he looks at who "week in and week out" are the best teams.

"It is clear in my mind that LSU right now should be the #1 team because they beat Alabama", Fisher then said, "yet Alabama is that (motioning with his finger close together) close to being number one. It would be an exciting national championship game."

We agree with you on this one coach!

ROLL TIDE!

Watch his video below as he expounds on the subject.

Barron and Kirkpatrick Semifinalists for Thorpe Award

Stacey Mickles, Guest Author — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:51:33 +0000

Post season nominations keep coming in for the Alabama football team, earlier last week it was announced that several Tide players were up for the Lombardi Award and today, Mark Barron and Dre Kirkpatrick were named two of the 15 semifinalists for the Jim Thorpe Award.

The Jim Thorpe Award is given annually to the top defensive back in college football; both Barron and Kirkpatrick have led the Tide’s secondary this season.

Barron so far this season has 40 tackles, with 27 solo stops; the safety also has added 3.5 tackles for a loss, one interception, broken up five passes, and recovered a fumble.

Kirkpatrick is becoming known as the Tide’s "assassin" on defense because of the hard licks he has delivered this season. Kirkpatrick has tallied 19 tackles (18 unassisted) and has added two tackles for a loss, eight broken up passes, and he has forced two fumbles.

Former Tide cornerback Antonio Langham won the award back in 1993.

Simply A”Maze”ing!

Alabama Crimson Tide — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 18:53:09 +0000

Marquis Maze has been showing up every week in a big way. On the season, he is the leading receiver for Alabama with 31 catches / 355 yards receiving and 504 yards on the return game.

He has filled in the void left by the parting of Julio Jones to the NFL quite nicely. Week in and week out, Maze has provided stability for A.J. McCarron as he begins to get acclimated to playing big-time college football.

As a reliable receiver who is NOT too afraid to go up the middle, Maze has been a comfortable set of soft hands & fast feet for McCarron's accurate (as well as often very conservative) passes. Maze often turns a short throw into a sizable gain with his speed.

When Maze first came to Alabama he showed off his blazing speed in a footrace by beating the likes of Javier Arenas, Terry Grant, Kareeem Jackson, and anyone else on the team who tried to take him on. These guys are now in the NFL making the big bucks.

Much was made about Julio being gone, but Alabama continues to play great in the passing game. No one can argue that Maze hasn't been able to step in to fill the shoes of Jones. While it is true that Maze will never fill the stature of Julio Jones' freakish body size and sheer athleticism, but in his own way he is very dominant even with his small frame. He is lightning fast, has pillow-soft hands, and is agile as a cat.

Coach Nick Saban calls Marquis Maze his "go-to receiver." Without Maze, the Alabama passing game (especially in the first 2 games) could potentially be pretty anemic. The second tier receivers at Alabama are honestly pretty mediocre in comparison to Maze.

Early on in the season, Maze became the rock of the receivers corp for McCarron (and at that point, Philip Simms). In the Kent State game, he reeled in eight passes. Against Penn State, Maze pulled in a 29 yard catch to set up Alabama’s first touchdown. The list goes on as you look at the first half of this season.

Not only that, Maze has been a game changer in the kicking game.

(Is this beginning to sound a little like Deuce Palmer or Tyrone Prothro? It does me too.)

Offensive players like Maze are invaluable as catalysts for game changing plays. Game changers that can flip the field position in a few seconds or burn a secondary for a long range TD.

Even Maze himself admitted that he was a “dangerous player” this week.

In the Florida game, Maze took a 70-yard kickoff return deep into Florida territory to set up Alabama’s first touchdown. It started as a steamroller that flattened the Gators like an Aligator pancake. Alabama never looked back.

Against Arkansas, Alabama was up only 17-7 in the 3rd quarter, until A"Maze"ing took the a punt 44 yards on an electric return. The Tide was energized on route to its dominant 38-14 win.

Against LSU, I predict that Maze will be in the wildcat & maybe even under center like Deuce Palmer back in 1992. Saban is going to pull some tricks out of the bag against the Bengal Tigers on Nov. 5th and Maze will be one of his main weapons .

Right now, Coach Saban is trying so hard to not show his poker face, but he can't help grinning. You could see it on full display after the Florida game in the post game interview.

Marquis Maze is very valuable to this team.

He is the ace in the hole for the Crimson Tide. Alabama can win WITH or WITHOUT Maze (we are that good), but Maze is there just in case we need to pull out the right card in order win in an important card match.

…and I know that Saban will use every card he has in his hand to win it all this year.

Can you say Simply A"Maze"ing!

ROLL TIDE!

New Series: The Top Ten Recruits In Alabama

Alabama Crimson Tide — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 20:30:06 +0000

It’s hard to believe, but after this weekend, a fourth of the college football regular season will be over. As fans see the weaknesses of their teams, and the players who will be leaving after this season, it’s already time to figure out which high school stars can replace seniors and fill in the talent gaps for our favorite teams.

So who are the top recruits in the State of Alabama?

It depends on whom you ask.

ALCrimsonTide.com has compiled the rankings of recruits from the State of Alabama by 7 leading groups. Listed in alphabetical order are the sources used:

The Birmingham News Super Seniors

ESPN’s top 150

The 5th Quarter

The Mobile Press Register’s Elite 18

Rivals.com top 250

Scout.com top 300

247 Sports top 247

ALCrimsonTide.com has combined these sources, and presents to you the top ten football recruits in the State of Alabama for 2011-2012:

#10 (A Tie)

Beniquez Brown

Beniquez Brown (Florence High School), a 6-foot-3, 220 pound athlete who has been dominant on both sides of the ball. He has the size to play linebacker or tight end, but his speed allows him to excel at both tail back and safety.

Alphonse Taylor (Davidson High School, Mobile), an offensive tackle with a world of potential, Alphonse stands at an imposing 6-foot-6, 330 pounds. Expected to play right tackle in college, Alphonse has committed to Florida State.

Because of the tie, 11 players made the list. This should give you a good start in understanding who the most highly sought players are, and who just might be the stars of the future.

So...what does all of this mean in the long term? The rankings today are merely a snapshot of where the prospects stand at this time. Some players will get injured, and others may encounter academic issues that prevent them from playing. The top ranked recruit, quarterback Jameis Winston of Hueytown, might play professional baseball. Other players, not as highly ranked, might grow taller, stronger, or faster and excel at the college level.

Check back with us tomorrow as we continue our countdown of the top recruits in Alabama.

Roll Tide!!

Where’s the Defense in the SEC?

Alabama Crimson Tide — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:37:37 +0000

After watching two weeks of college football one thing is certain: The defense that is being played out there is terrible. How do you explain scores like this over the weekend: 41-35, 45-42, 35-31. Even the Iowa/Iowa State game got into the 40’s.

I looked up NCAA defensive stats this morning and found only two SEC teams in the top 10 in total defense and only one (Alabama) was in the top five. What happened to defense in the SEC?

While certain media types fall all over themselves praising the great games this weekend, no one seems to care that defense in the SEC has fallen all over the league.

Teams like Mississippi State, Auburn, Georgia, and South Carolina, all ranked in the top 25 (except Georgia) and none of them are near the top 25 or even top 30 in total defense; think about that ya’ll.

Here is something else for you to chew on; Vanderbilt and Kentucky are higher ranked in total defense then the teams I just mentioned.

But the teams I mentioned garner a lot of praise because they can outscore anybody. Alabama on the other hand which just dominated a Big Ten team, basically gets no mention at all because they just went out there and did their job.

There was no exciting last minute goal line stand or a tremendous Hail Mary throw to win the game, just total dominance which no one seems to appreciate these days.

Keep this in mind folks, those great offensive teams I mentioned, probably won’t be playing for the national championship in January. Great offense might win you some games, but it’s the defense that wins championships.

ROLL TIDE!

Penn State Sends Letter to Tide Fans

Alabama Crimson Tide — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 21:08:06 +0000

In a very classy move, Steve Sampsell who is the director of college relations at Penn State, sent a very classy letter to UA’s student newspaper the Crimson White welcoming Alabama fans and students to their campus this weekend for the game against the Nittany Lions.

Sampsell was very complimentary of how he and Penn State fans were treated last year when they came to Tuscaloosa and wanted to extend the same hospitality to Alabama fans.

Here are just a few lines from Sampsell’s letter: “Our trip was a pleasure (aside from the not-unexpected outcome of the game) in large part because of Tide fans – especially students.”

“At one point, we were the only two people in Gallette’s wearing blue and white. It was just us, the live band and seemingly hundreds of Alabama students, and the students consistently asked us about our trip, encouraged us to have a good time, made recommendations on places to eat or simply thanked us for traveling south.”

As much as we all love SEC football, let’s be honest; you will probably never see a letter like this sent by LSU or Auburn’s PR department welcoming Bama fans or any fans for that matter to their campus.

Class is a rare thing among college football fans these days and it’s nice to see that some fan bases, still respect and understand the meaning of the word.

Video: Alabama’s Dominance of The 60′s

Alabama Crimson Tide — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 15:57:13 +0000

I was not even born yet, but my dad loves to talk about this era of Alabama football. It was 1960's Alabama football. He even has old year books of Alabama from that era. He can tell story after story about those days. This video below is right up his alley

With 3 official national championships (and an 11-0 season in 1966 that did not result in being #1), the Alabama football team dominated college football with Bear Bryant at the helm.

Watch this video about the Alabama teams of the 60's as presented by Keith Jackson. You will hear stories about Bear like when he kicked the locker room door off its hinges in 1965 to stories of close games. The video is a fascinating look into this dominant era of Alabama football.

ROLLTIDE!

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Danny Sheridan Meets With NCAA About The Newton “Bagman”

Alabama Crimson Tide — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 23:45:21 +0000

Gene Chizik should have kept his mouth shut. (Not that it mattered anyway!) He butted heads with the NCAA & Enforcement Officer Roe Lach in a meeting this summer over the investigation into Cam Newton. The NCAA’a response? " You’ll know when we’re finished. And we’re not finished.”

Now the juice is starting to flow. Danny Sheridan has confirmed in his Twitter account that he spoke privately with the NCAA concerning his knowledge of the "bag man" who helped recruit Newton to Auburn. Earlier this summer, he confirmed that he and the NCAA already knew the identity of the bagman. Apparently, NCAA is coming back to Sheridan to find out what he knows.

Whether all this information is going to stick in this case, it does show that the spectacular year by Auburn and Cam Newton is under a huge cloud of suspicion right now in an off-season of big scandal in college football.

Now to see if Auburn gets their hand stuck in the cookie jar.. much like the Eric Ramsey scandal, but bigger!

Anyone hungry for Tiger soup? It might be the next main course served up by NCAA Compliance Officer Roe Lach.

Stay tuned.

Roll Tide?

Video: NFL Star Le’Ron McClain Helping Clean Up Efforts in Tuscaloosa

Alabama Crimson Tide — Sat, 07 May 2011 18:47:13 +0000

Ravens fullback Le'Ron McClain and Alabama football alum has a heavy heart following the massive tornado that devastated Tuscaloosa, Ala., where he went to school.

McClain wrote on his Twitter account, "People I am good!!" "Sad as hell Just pray for my city it's bad down here man, I can believe this. Sad day. People lost their lives. We been trying to help City. Gotta come together. R.I.P. to everybody that lost their lives in the tornado."

Below you can see him talk about the restoration efforts by Le'Ron McClain & another local NFL star Frank Walker of the Minnesota Vikings. Walker played college football in Tuskegee which is also his hometown. They loaded up 2 18-wheelers full of supplies for the tornado victims.

Le' Ron said that it was "good to be able to do this and that it is only the beginning".

He is working on getting relief convoys set up in Baltimore and Denver for Tuscaloosa relief efforts. He said his goal is to "help put the smiles back on people's faces" here in Alabama.

Cyrus Kouandjio signs with Alabama!

Alabama Crimson Tide — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 01:09:23 +0000

Cyrus Kouandjio

The papers are in! Cyrus Kouandjio is going to play college football with his brother, Arie (who is already a redshirt freshman), at Alabama! The letter of intent was faxed into the office of the University of Alabama, thereford turning the Tide in recruiting between Tide and Auburn over the No. 1 offensive tackle in the nation.

Here is a quote by Cyrus Kouandjio today on his Facebook page:

"Thanks for all the love and support from the state of Alabama," Kouandjio wrote on his Facebook wall. "love all the new relationships i have made throughout this process. . but at the end of the day. . ima keep the fam together and i must say. . . . ROOLLLLL TTIIIDDDEEE!!!"

This signature only makes Alabama's recruiting class so much stronger. Before Kouandjio's signature, Alabama's class was still ranked #1 by Rivals. You can say this is the icing on the cake.

There is still one more possible signature coming if Jadaveon Clowney picks Alabama over South Carolina. We will know on February 14th, his birthday.

Coach Nick Saban had indicated Wednesday that the offensive tackle spot was a big need for the Tide, and Cyrus Kouandjio fills that need with a huge frame of 6 foot 7 and 320 pounds. Many experts are thinking that Kouandjio could easily add 50 pounds of pure muscle in the Alabama strength and training program and not lose a step.

Big pick-up for the Alabama Crimson Tide today!

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