Bama will rise to challenge
Let’s see here.
No proven quarterback.
No proven running back.
Seven players lost to the NFL draft.
Possibly the four toughest games on the schedule away from home.
Yep, sounds like the makings of another national championship team for Alabama.
Nick Saban enters his 10th season as the Crimson Tide coach. With Steve Spurrier’s retirement at South Carolina and Mark Richt’s forced departure from Georgia, Les Miles — Saban’s replacement at LSU — is the only active SEC coach with more tenure at his school.
No SEC team lost more talent after last season than Alabama. Yet no team seems to be more loaded once again than the Crimson Tide. This is what we’ve come to expect.
“We obviously lost some really, really good players from last year’s championship team — good leadership, good people, great team chemistry,” Saban said last week at SEC Media Days. “All things that are intangibles that are difficult to build, and our challenge is to recognize as they develop, because those things just don’t happen overnight. You know, it’s a work in progress.”
Saban pointed out that the Tide was in a similar position this time last year. They were replacing their starting quarterback for the second time in as many seasons. They had lost some talented players from the team that reached the first ever College Football Playoff. The schedule was no cakewalk.
In fact, after a home loss to Ole Miss, the Crimson Tide dropped to No. 12 in both major polls. Bama played the rest of the season with no margin for error. The Ole Miss loss became the unifying moment every championship team needs. Georgia became the unfortunate victim of the Tide’s resolution.
“A year ago I didn’t know that we were going to have that kind of chemistry when I stood up here and talked to you,” Saban said. “I didn’t know we would have that kind of commitment. I didn’t know we would respond to adversity the way we did. And even though we’re trying to work on creating those things with the personality of this team, we don’t know that for sure either. But I’ve been pleased with the progress that we’ve made in the offseason, the spring practice that we had, the summer conditioning program.”
The Crimson Tide was still the overwhelming pick of the media members to win the SEC. They had the most first-team selections (seven) and most overall (13) on the preseason All-SEC team.
That itself isn’t so surprising. But three of those players were not even full-time starters at last season at their positions this season. Ross Piershbacher moved to center from guard. Defensive end Jonathan Allen and linebacker Tim Williams were pass-rushing specialists.
There are even some who believe sophomore running back Bo Scarborough might be better this season than Derrick Henry, the reigning Heisman winner. No, not “as good.” Better. Scarbrough certainly has the potential.
The players know better than to caught up in the hype.
“I think our team knows that’s last year,” said senior tight end OJ Howard. “This team hasn’t done anything yet. We’re a new team. We have to establish ourselves. Everyone is working hard and no one is complacent. New players have bought into the process already. The older guys are doing the right things. I think we’ll be fine this season.”
Said Allen: “I’ve seen a lot of hunger in this team. The biggest thing at Alabama is that if you don’t have hunger then you’re not going to start this year.”
Even Georgia coach Kirby Smart, who spent the last nine years under Saban, referred to Alabama as “a machine” the past spring.
Saban certainly isn’t buying in to the hype.
“The diversity we had on last year’s team was almost perfect for what we need in this day and age of college football. With the spread, the no huddle, you need a lot of depth. You need a lot of athletic guys who can make plays in space, can rush the passer. Then when you play some of the power teams in our conference you need some bigger, more physical guys to be able to stand in there. We kind of had all of those parts. I’m not sure we have all those parts this year, but certainly we’re working to try to develop them.”
It’s certainly not a given that all of the pieces will come together again. But there’s a short line at the window to bet against Bama.
This story was originally published July 17, 2016 at 6:50 PM with the headline "Bama will rise to challenge."