Defense dominates Bama’s A-Day

After an A-Day Game with only one touchdown, an extra point and a field goal, Alabama coach Nick Saban warned about drawing conclusions on what happened Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

“You’ll be wrong if you do,” Saban said after the White team beat the Crimson squad 7-3.

Even so, it’s hard to escape this conclusion: Alabama defense looked awfully good in the scrimmage game, which drew 76,212 to Bryant-Denny Stadium and a national ESPN television audience.

The White team had the first-team defense, while the Crimson had the first-team offense. The Crimson offense rushed for minus-5 yards and gave up three sacks, including two by linebacker Tim Williams, with Saban telling ESPN broadcasters at halftime that the blockers needed some help against Williams before he “ruined the game.”

The Crimson offense managed only three points on a 21-yard Adam Griffith field goal with 10:55 to play.

The White offense, made up of second-teamers, had more success against the Crimson defense, driving for a touchdown and four missed field goals — all by Griffith. The Crimson defense was made up of second- and third-team players.

“I always say in the spring game when you don’t score a lot of points, everybody says you’re really bad on offense,” Saban said. “Well, how about you’re maybe pretty good on defense?”

The White team managed its touchdown late in the fourth quarter when Jalen Hurts completed a 32-yard pass to Cam Sims, handed off to Damien Harris for a 5-yard run and then threw a 5-yard scoring pass to Derrick Kief.

Even so, the Crimson defense recorded 11 sacks, including three each by linebackers Anfernee Jennings and Christian Miller. Sacks were of the “touch” variety Saturday, as Saban didn’t want his quarterbacks tackled full-speed.

Under that rule, even Saban could’ve been credited with a sack. He stations himself behind the offense during the spring game, and quarterback Blake Barnett, trying to scramble away from the Crimson defense, ran into Saban, which drew a whistle to stop the play.

“On more than one occasion, whenever there’s a scramble, everybody seems to converge on me,” Saban deadpanned afterward.

After the touchdown, the Crimson offense drove from its 30 to the White 13. On third-and-10, quarterback Cooper Bateman tried to find tight end O.J. Howard, but safety Ronnie Harrison stepped in front for an interception.

“When you see all the fans out there, it’s big,” said Crimson linebacker Rashaan Evans, who had a game-high 17 tackles and a sack. “You want to go fast and make plays.”

Even so, Saban cautioned against making too much of the defensive statistics. He mentioned that offensive tackle Cam Robinson missed the spring because of injury. In addition, starting guard Alphonse Taylor was demoted to second team as he works to get his weight down. Also, redshirt freshman Lester Cotton played guard Saturday, even though he is more experienced at tackle, because guard is where he’ll play this fall.

On top of that, Alabama is looking for a new starting quarterback. Cooper Bateman (9-of-24 for 86 yards) and David Cornwell (5-of-13 for 50 yards) played for the White offense.

“When we’ve had a new QB, the defense looks a little better than the offense,” Saban said.

Still, Saban offered praise for the second-team offense. Hurts completed 11 of 15 passes for 120 yards for the Crimson team, while Barnett completed 9 of 16 for 112 yards. In addition, Harris rushed 20 times for 114 yards for the Crimson squad. That earned him the Dixie Howell Memorial Award as the game’s most valuable player.

“When you match yourself against yourself, sometimes there are some mismatches you can’t overcome,” Saban said, before adding the drumbeat of the day: “No conclusions can be drawn from anything.”

That included quarterback, as he isn’t saying publicly who might have the edge, although Bateman started for the first-team offense.

“There were some good plays made by the quarterbacks,” Saban said. “Every one of them probably has something they want to improve on.”

This story was originally published April 16, 2016 at 7:20 PM with the headline "Defense dominates Bama’s A-Day."