TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama is No. 2 in the polls, and No. 3 in freshmen.
Only Florida State (22) and Miami (21) have played more true freshmen than Alabama this season. Both the Tide and Arkansas have played 16 true freshmen.
Wide receiver Julio Jones heads up Alabama's heralded freshman class. He leads the team in pass receptions with 22 and receiving yards with 341.
Jones, who was rated as the No. 1 receiver prospect in the nation last year, won a starting job in preseason. Linebacker Dont'a Hightower is another true-freshman starter. He has forced one fumble and recovered two more.
Freshman running back Mark Ingram doesn't start but has played a prominent role. He is Alabama's second-leading rusher with a 58.9-yard per-game average. He also leads Alabama with six touchdowns.
Six other true freshmen are listed on Alabama's second team.
Conversely, the Tide has only nine scholarship seniors, including six starters.
True Believer: Alabama cornerback Javier Arenas was confident coach Nick Saban would turn around the Tide program right away.
"I knew it because of that heavy ring on his finger," Arena said in reference to the national championship ring Saban earned at LSU in 2003. "But that was the only thing I had to go by."
Now, in his second season under Saban, Arenas has more than a ring to go by.
"When he tells me to do something, it always pays off," Arenas said. "When you do it wrong, you get negative results.
"You'd be dumb not to be a believer."
Hands On: Alabama senior safety Rashad Johnson thinks of Saban as a secondary coach as much as a head coach.
"We go in there at meetings, and he's sitting right there with us," Johnson said. "We go out on the field, the safeties go with Coach (Kirby) Smart. And the corners are right their with Coach Saban working on technique."
Johnson was asked if it bothered him having the head coach so involved with his position.
"I was kind of nervous about it at first," he said. "Now, I love it. He's so passionate about it."
Just For Kicks: Alabama placekicker Leigh Tiffin has kicked a 54-yard field goal this season but has missed four of his other five attempts from 40 yards or longer. He's 9-for-10 on field goals under 40 yards.
Last season, Tiffin was more effective from long range. He made 10 of 15 field-goal tries from 40 yards or longer.
Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com.
Tennessee's signing class for 2012
Tennessee defeats Georgia 3-2 in…
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Comments » 32
RemembertheAlamo writes:
And this my friends is how you build a NC. Enough said.
rockytoptilidie writes:
Tennessee is 1-8 when HOSTING a top 10 team in it's last 9. That, my friends, is absolutely PATHETIC.
TommyJack writes:
Yeah, but we have the Big Oval, and he has the charts.
rockytoptilidie writes:
"When he tells me to do something, it always pays off," Arenas said. "When you do it wrong, you get negative results.
"You'd be dumb not to be a believer."
Think any of our men have that level of faith in the pumpkin? The luster tends to fade after 10 years of heading south.
volaboard writes:
LMAO . . . The Big Oval. That's great!
shipperman#280095 writes:
TIDE 35 UT 13
jasonn1970 writes:
Maybe if Fulmer had been doing this with the OL they wouldn't have been so pathetic. I do expect this to be the best effort of the year though:
Alabama 16
Tennessee 13
Orange4life writes:
Way to be positive guys
If our young men didn't have faith, they would have folded tent by now.
Gota Execute to be in the game, coaches cant do it fo em
Give em hell men
99gator writes:
how many coaches, recruiting administrators (people like the fella everyone keeps mentioning who is now at georgia), etc, are still at tenn who were there in 1998?
and where are they now?
BTCHSLPN writes:
because we continue to play FOOLmers favorites or ones that have records to break,we have guys standing on the sidelines that need to be playing,its sad when you play a guy(brown) with a bum knee, but you have a perfect healthy Ben Martin just standing watching as Wes keeps getting blow off the ball,if you will go back and watch the tape on the Gerogia game when Martin and Parker were in there man they came off the corners...i just wish that we could give some other players a chance instead of 2 or 3 plays...just a thought
Ironcity writes:
Its easy to be an armchair QB. I am a big fan of Martin but I have watched enough of him that I can see why he sits. You must have missed the play against Ga when Moreno the RB flatten ole Ben with a shoulder rub. I have seen him dominated countless times when I have watch UT. Martin has a lot of work to do before he deserves to start. He does have a big upside but his present technique needs a lot of work.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
"Yo'd be dumb not to be a believer".
I became converted last year 41-17 with that rag-tag bunch he had.
The gate of he## could not prevail against the charts.
In some minds.....
BTCHSLPN writes:
lets see ,if your talking about numbers how many times have you seen Wes Brown flattened,, geting beat around the corner because his mobility sucks right now not his fault the coaches should see this and make adjustments so i guess your saying a healthy Martin is no match for an unhealty Brown,i was just saying we need to get some underclassmen in the game because right now we are paddling in a circle...have you watched the same games i have?????
99gator writes:
2005 recruiting class
Montario Hardesty
Gerald Williams
Vladimir Richard
Slick Shelley
Darrius Myers
Chris Scott
Dan Williams
Raymond Henderson
Rico McCoy
Adam Myers-White
Josh McNeil
Lucas Taylor
Malcolm Rawls
Andre Mathis
Todd Cox
Jeff Cottam
Antonio Wardlow
Josh Briscoe
Demetrice Morley
Austin Rogers
Richard Kemp
Wes Brown
Jonathan Crompton
Marsalous Johnson
LaMarcus Coker
Demonte Bolden
most of these players play or have played a significant amount of minutes at tenn, which usually would define a successful class.....but, not many were very highly rated and some of those who were (like crompton) did not pan out.
i will post the 2006 class in a second.
airvols#371403 writes:
Word on the street is Phil will be back next year to turn the ship around. He will be directed to eliminate some staff members and hire additional people including a special teams coach. The loss of seats in the stadium will be blamed on gas prices and the economy. There will be no raise and it will be announced he must be competitive to maintain his current status in the program. HERE WE GO AGAIN, I'M DONE!
99gator writes:
2006 recruiting class
Ramone Johnson
Stephaun Raines
Victor Thomas
Nick Stephens
Jarred Shaw
Brent Vinson
Cody Pope
Quintin Hancock
Chad Cunningham
Chase Nelson
Justin Garrett
Dorian Davis
LaMarcus Thompson
Blake Garretson
Daniel Lincoln
Walter Fisher
Darrius Myers
Luke Stocker
Dustin Lindsey
Jacques McClendon
Lee Smith
this class can only be described as god awful. these two classes should be your juniors and seniors and there lies the problem.
shipperman#280095 writes:
Do not believe the word on the street my friend. Mark down that I told you, we lose to Bama, Phil is out at the end of the season, likely to transfer to the AD office in charge of recruiting.
Saban_Palin writes:
I hope you guys are right, but I just don't have that 'warm fuzzy' feeling a #2 fan should have against a 3-4 (1-3). Guess I have seen too many AL/TN games.
murrayvol writes:
The word on the street just a few short weeks ago was that Wall St. would survive the downturn weakened and bloody but upright.
Not so I'm afraid. Fear the street.
murrayvol writes:
Simply review the AL/TN scores in the Fulmer era when Bama often had a small handful of players who could start for the Vols.
Excepting 1995 from the 10 wins there were few if any walkovers.
woodwr#217203 writes:
I'll still predict promoting Chavis, bringing back Steele for D-C and giving offensive staff another two years.
byobbio writes:
Why must you guys list all of the signees from years past? We still have 100 players or so and they have the same. We're losing and they are winning. I think you can break it down to x's and o's but the bottom line is we are not winning. I think you guys are the same people that pushed Johnny Majors to the junk yard and now it's Fulmer. As long as the fat guy in orange is on the sidelines you guys won't be happy. You guys are the same ones that wanted a "more wide-open offense" whatever the hell that means. Now you have that. You're not going to be happy until everything UT has built is gone and you're left there in the stands with Butch Davis at the helm and we're looking at replacing him. Alabama went through, I've lost count, many coaches. Even Tom Berringer was being considered. They still haven't won anything. They just look better for the fans. Got Nick? Who Cares. I don't want to go through a decade of "Finding our coach" like we did in basketball. That was embarrassing. Just support the program, quit booing, get a life, and leave Fulmer to do his job.
BYOBBIO
KENVOL writes:
How about we get rid of Fulmer promote Clawson and hire a special teams coach. I think Clawson could be worth a look see if not for just a year to see what he can do without Fulmer.
byobbio writes:
I think Clauson is the heir apparent, provided we win. Why else would he leave a HC position? I think everybody ought to shut up until the end of the year. BTW, Clauson says he was cheered more in one play and booed more in one play last week than he has his entire career. What is that? Is that how we support a new coach? You think that helps us if they did decide to make a change? They will have to cut out Audiology, engineering, architecture, band, and more just to afford some pudknocker from a DII school to come in here and run the team into the ground. Man, get a clue "fans".
BYOBBIO
Ironcity writes:
I do see Brown in the backfield a lot when I watch (I did not see the last game). I wish he would make more plays. I wish all of our Ends would make more plays, especially on third down. That said, it still goes back to Martin. He has to earn the job and he just hasn't done it. Once he earns the job I think he will have developed the proper technique and work ethic necessary to be a big time asset.
shipperman#280095 writes:
Thats the problem, we have left Fulmer to "do his job", and he has steadily declined our program
TommyJack writes:
On the money, PD. Last year's Bama game and this year's UCLA game were the 2 worst-prepared TN teams I've seen in 40+ years. Inexcusable.
blitzshoot writes:
Wow...Bama spending some cash...
VolEagle writes:
I agraee, 100%. What would these poor souls have to complain about if Fulmer was gone? They have all the answers, but have probably never played a down, or coached anything in their lives. Lookin from the stands, or on TV is a lot different that being on the field. Let Fulmer do his job, and quit whinning about us not winning 10 or 11 games EVERY year. It is not going to happen. Look at Alabamba, Georgia, and even Fla for past 10 years- add up the w's and l's and UT's record is not that bad.
WeLoveTennesseeVols writes:
YOU ARE NOT OUR FRIEND, YOU ARE AN IMPERSONATOR, AND WITH FRIENDS LIKE YOU! WHO NEEDS ENEMIES.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
"Inexcusable"!
Not "Phixable"?
Neck stuck out- Bama 41
Vols 16
richvol writes:
Well I'll be darned...a head coach that actually teaches on the field. Maybe if Fulmer had been more involved with his offensive linemen the last few years we would have been more effective running the ball. However, he said he didn't have time for that.
Saban's out there teaching what he knows best. He may be the highest paid college coach but he still has passion for teaching and he gets results...see Arenas quote.
Our problem has been complacency and that filters from the top down. I doubt if Saban has ever said "stay the course".
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