Alabama’s receivers, cornerbacks battle in practice

Every practice is a lot like a mini battle in a season-long war. With one of the best receiving and secondary units in the nation, Alabama players square off daily in a best-of-the-best bout.

So who wins?

“I don’t know, I think we have our days,” said sophomore cornerback Marlon Humphrey on Wednesday. “Some days when you’re out there just dying, Kiffin just loves to just ‘Check, check, throw another fade, another fade.’ With Kiffin out there, he’s just a mastermind with the play-calling. If he sees you’re tired, that’s when ‘Nah, forget the route, we’re gonna check.’ ”

It might be a little unfair for Kiffin, the offensive coordinator, to take advantage of the secondary’s fatigue, especially when he has two preseason Biletnikoff Award watch list members in sophomore Calvin Ridley and graduate transfer Gehrig Dieter to work with.

“We all work hard every day, because they’re going to talk trash and we’re going to talk trash, so everybody gets after it every day,” Ridley said Tuesday. “And it’s good competition, it makes everybody better.”

While the two sides might go back and forth at times, they are quick to recognize the talent across from them.

“They’re tough,” said sophomore defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick on Sunday. “We are the best of the best, and every day we are going up against each other.”

Fitzpatrick went on to say sometimes the battles against his teammates are more taxing than the actual games. When asked if he has faced a better receiver than Ridley, the 6-foot-1, 203-pound cornerback shook his head.

“Nah, honestly I haven’t,” he said.

Alabama will have a chance to see more battles Saturday, as the Crimson Tide takes part in its first intrasquad scrimmage of the fall at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday.

“You never know who is going to win,” said junior receiver ArDarius Stewart on Wednesday. “It might be a DB, it might be a receiver. But we’re constantly going at each other and that makes both sides of the ball better.”

Got your backs

Alabama does not return a lot of experience at running back, with sophomores Bo Scarbrough and Damien Harris leading the group during practice.

Last season, the pair of former five-stars combined for just 261 yards and two touchdowns on 64 carries. To put that into perspective, Heisman winning running back Derrick Henry rushed for 271 yards and a touchdown during the Tide’s 29-13 win against Auburn.

With Henry running people over with the Titans in the NFL, Alabama will need a breakout year from one of its backs this season. While Scarbrough and Harris appear to be the Tide’s top two options to start the season, freshman B.J. Emmons is causing quite a buzz in camp.

The 6-foot, 206-pound back comes to the Tide as a four-star recruit and was the No. 35 player in the 2016 class according to 247Sports. Emmons was impressive during the Tide’s open practice on Sunday, and it isn’t too far of a stretch to say he could contribute during his freshman year.

“We've had some guys here that have not had experience that have played as freshman that have been very, very productive,” Saban said during his news conference Wednesday. “Whether it was Mark (Ingram) when he was a freshman, Trent (Richardson) when he was a freshman, Eddie (Lacy) when he was a freshman, (T.J.) Yeldon when he was a freshman, they all played when they were freshmen extremely well.

“Experience and knowledge helps at every position, but I think these guys have made nice progress, and I think they're very capable. We'll just have to see how it goes when you get the opportunity in a competitive situation and how much that experience is going to pay off for them where they'll be able to overcome their lack of experience and play with confidence and be very productive."

Former Tide greats square off in NFL

As the NFL kicked off Week 1 of its preseason, former Alabama greats squared off against each other on Thursday.

During the game between the Patriots and the Saints, former Heisman winner Mark Ingram fumbled a ball that Patriots rookie defensive back Cyrus Jones recovered. Jones, a member of Alabama’s national championship team last season, was selected by the Patriots in the second round of this year’s NFL draft.

Ingram had seven carries for 18 yards and two touchdowns for the Saints, while Jones had three tackles. Former Alabama linebacker Dillon Lee had two tackles for the Saints, while former Tide greats Dont’a Hightower and Vinnie Sunseri had a tackle apiece for the Patriots.

Alabama’s opener just three weeks away

Alabama players wrapped up practice Friday in preparation for their first scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

The scrimmage comes just three weeks before the Tide is scheduled to open up its season against Southern California on Sept. 3 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

This story was originally published August 12, 2016 at 9:59 PM with the headline "Alabama’s receivers, cornerbacks battle in practice."