Alabama's game against Ole Miss will be televised nationally by ESPN2.   Here are the kickoff times and television networks for other SEC games that day:

<ul>
<li>Georgia at Vanderbilt, 6 p.m. CDT, Fox Sports Network.</li>
<li>Florida at Auburn, 6 p.m. CDT, ESPN</li>
<li>LSU at Tennessee, 2:30 p.m. CDT, CBS</li>
<li>South Carolina at Mississippi State, 11:21 a.m. CDT, SEC network.</li>
</ul>

Hey everybody! Hope you had a great 4th of July! I know I did. I ate too much and took in the local fireworks here in Crossville. We had a great time & I hope you did too. Just looking at the calendar and seen that we are 60 days away from Alabama's kickoff.

What to Look For In Fall

Next month will be opening of fall camp and there will be lots of competition for playing time for the Crimson Tide players. One spot that is especially intriguing is at quarterback. QB is the leader of the offense and it will be interesting to see whether AJ McCarron or Phil Simms rises to the top.

The defense will be packed with talent as senior Mark Barron leads this impressive group of players. Look for Don'ta Hightower, Dre Kirkpatrick, Robert Lester, & Courtney Upshaw to make big plays all fall. This group is very talented and deep. The big question marks will be on defensive line. Hopefully someone will step up and provide great run-stopping-ability up-front.

Freshmen

As always, it will be interesting to see if any freshmen will step right in and contribute immediately. If they do, they are very good. I have a feeling even though Trey Depriest is behind some stiff competition at LB... he will be one of the freshmen that will see lots of playing time. It is also very possible that Cyrus Kouandjio will be an impact player if he learns the offense. He has a very imposing frame & athletic ability. The key will be his ability to learn the offensive line schemes. Don't forget Dee Hart. He has the speed that can make a difference on offense and punt returns.

This upcoming year will be exciting. I am getting revved up thinking about it being ONLY 60 DAYS away! I hope you are too!

ROLL TIDE!

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The report states that the game will be the 2013 Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game that will open the season in Atlanta's Georgia Dome.

The announcement will come soon according to Virginia Tech AD Jim Weaver, however official word will come from the organizers of the Kickoff game.

Coach Nick Saban seems to love these intriguing early match-ups of a non-cupcake non-conference team early on in the season. It really goes on to prove the metal of his teams to go through an early fire. This year, the best we could do was the second game verses Penn State, but next year Alabama will start the 2012 season out against Michigan in Dallas, TX. (It could be debated on whether Michigan is now a cupcake, however.... thanks to Rich. Rod!)

I am pumped to get the opportunity to open the 2013 season against one of the best in the business in Frank Beamer and I am sure that Coach Saban also relishes the opportunity to play the stiff competition early on in from of the nation's spotlight. It really ends up paying big dividends in terms of recruiting and national exposure. Not only that, a win can vault Bama higher in the rankings early on & a loss can be made up over a long season. It is really a good way to start the season.

ROLL TIDE!

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Coach Nick Saban is doing last-minute preparations with the special teams of Alabama prior to the national championship game. In this video, you will see that determination by Coach Saban to excel in every phase of the game.

Listen to the video as Coach Saban extorts his players to play at full speed in preparation for kickoff coverage. The video is below.

ONE PLAYER FOR SURE STOOD OUT YESTERDAY...

To quote a famous Mississippian... Mark Twain once said,

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."

Looking back at yesterday's 22-3 victory over Ole Miss, there was an unlikely senior contributor on defense who really really showed that he had the "fight in the dog" in Twain's home state.  This player definitely made his presence known in a big way in the victory by simply playing with more of his heart rather than his physical talents for the Crimson Tide.  That player is Corey Reamer.

Although Reamer was not a walk-on,  only comparison I could think of was the walk-on player from Notre Dame, Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger,  whose life that the movie "Rudy" was made from.  (See it if you haven't already.  You won't regret it!)   Like the overachieving "Rudy",  Reamer was all over the field despite his size and speed.   All day long he was making plays disturbing the Ole Miss offense and kickoff return team.

Last week, the overachieving Reamer has stepped up to fill the shoes of the injured star linebacker Dont'a Hightower.  This week he moved back to his more familiar position at Sam linebacker.  Nico Johnson filled in at inside linebacker and the entire defense seemed to gel back to its pre-Kentucky form.

Cory Reamer's a player that plays a lot heart and it shows.  Yesterday he finished with four solo tackles (one for a loss of 3 yards), blocked a punt, delivered a bone crushing hit on kickoff return and forced and recovered a fumble, and over all involved in a number of defensive coverages and blitzes.  He was seemingly all over the field and Oxford, Mississippi.

When Nick Saban came to how Alabama, he really didn't foresee a great deal of contribution coming from Reamer lead to some of his speed limitations at safety.  Simon said at the Ole Miss game about Reamer, "For a guy that was a safety that, to be honest, I didn't know if he'd ever play here, he's played a lot of good football for us over the last two years," Saban spoke further of Reamer. "Especially now that his role has increased, he's elevated his game tremendously."

Saban went on to praise the veteran linebacker's overall play, “Reamer’s on about every special team. He’s probably the best core special teams player we have in terms of his execution and all that he does,” coach Nick Saban said. “And he’s playing more defense now and has done a really good job in both regards."

Reamer was glowing in the hard-fought victory over the Ole Miss Rebels in the locker room following the game Saturday, but is not satisfied, a characteristic of this entire football team. "It's a great way to start," Reamer said. "Now we've got to continue doing what we've been doing to see the rest of the season out."

Keep it up Cory, let's go get a crystal football in Pasadena California!

There's a new "hog" in town in Fayetteville, Arkansas who knows a bit about tossing the pigskin.  His name is Ryan Mallett and he has the pedigree to prove he's not a runt of the litter.  Georgia dodged the bullet facing the gunslinger originally from Texas... but never forget Bama has their own Texas gunslinger, Greg McElroy.  Next Saturday is high noon and it will be more than 10 paces on the town square.  It will be who will win the SEC "WEST!"

Arkansas Ryan Mallett (he should be wearing the black hat of course) facing the good sheriff in town, Greg McElroy, will be facing off to see who will be the last man standing tall.  Greg with his sidekick Julio are ready for battle.  Coach Saban said the knee bruise of last week that kept #8 himself out of the lineup against North Texas, will not hinder the Freshman All American Receiver.  Check...first bullet in gun.  Second thing that is looking good is the secondary receivers.  11 receivers in all caught passes so there are are a couple more bullets.  Ingram, Trent, and the line account for a couple more bullets.  Overall, it is looking that G.M. is well armed on defense for the shootout at the T-town coral...but is that all of the story? 

Lets look at our defense.

I will sing the praises of our defense, but if there's one reason to be concerned about any spot in the Alabama defense, it is the pass coverage.  Alabama ranks number three in total defense in the country, and is ranked number two in run defense, but it ranks number 13 in pass defense.  This is the weakest link besides kickoff coverage.

Up until this point in this year, we have not faced a pass oriented team that could pass with any kind of success.  In the two losses that Alabama had last year, Florida and Utah, pass defense proved to be the dagger in the heart of Bama's vaulted defense. 

Alabama will absolutely have to do better this week than it has done all year on pass coverage because there is the hogs coming to T-town this week.  If you aren't worried about this game, then you simply haven't paid attention to what is going on an Arkansas. 

No pigs are flying in Arkansas, but the pigskin is!  Just watchout BAMA!   Only a sophomore, the QB Recruiting Phenom Ryan Mallett just last week set school records against Georgia in passing yards and touchdown passes in their loss to Georgia.  In that game, he had 408 yards and five touchdowns.

With that said I believed that Alabama's defense is tougher than Georgia's and our running game can control the clock, keeping Mallett off the field.  The most important thing that Alabama can do this week against Arkansas is to rush the quarterback into throwing the football faster than he wants to throw it.

Our defense and the ends need to really pinch down and rushed the quarterback in passing situations while the interior line collapses the pocket.  This will release the pressure off of the defensive backs to maintain tight coverage for such a long time. 

Don't Fool Yourself... Mallett Has Skills To Throw

Keep in mind, Mallett is very talented and is starting to come into his own.  He was one of the top quarterbacks to come out of high school as a senior in 2006.  He was right to number two quarterback in the nation and the number four overall player by Rivals.com.  He was the Gatorade player of the year in Texas.  This guy is a stud quarterback and Bama is going to make him pay for standing in the pocket.  We need to make him run, and make him run often. 

Mallett originally went to Michigan and later transferred to Arkansas.  This is his first season as a starter after a redshirt season for coach Bobby Petrino.  Petrino has been credited with training top quarterbacks such as Brian Brohm and Jake Plummer of NFL fame.  Petrino knows offense and he simply has more weapons this year at his disposal than last year's dreary team. 

Add this to the fact that the arm strength of Mallett is out of this world with him reportedly being able to toss the football 80 yards.  Bama will be tested, but I believe we can keep the pigs from flying!   And we have our own gunslinger, Sheriff McElroy, who is amazingly good at hitting his target, as well!  If we will rush the QB, use McElroy effectively in a balanced attack, we will win the shootout at 2:30 (not high noon) in T-Town! 

Roll Tide!