Five observations from Alabama's wild first day of fall camp

Alabama began its fall camp with a bang Monday. The action-packed day saw Nick Saban speak, the Crimson Tide’s upcoming schedule revealed and a notable flip on the recruiting trail. Today, we’ll take a look back on the wild day as football has officially arrived in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

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It’s going to take more than a pandemic to keep Saban off the sideline. The head coach is a spry 68 years old and looked every bit himself during Monday night’s news conference with reporters.

Sure, things are different at the moment. Instead of speaking to a packed media room, Saban stood behind a podium while his audience videoed in from their homes. Thus is the socially-distanced life amidst COVID-19. Still, you won’t find Saban sweating the new circumstances.

The head coach recognizes the gravity of the worldwide pandemic, stating Wednesday that “Every player on our team has been told, you don't have to do anything that you're not comfortable with.”

But what about his own safety? After all, given Saban’s age, he’s more at risk than any of his players.

“I don’t fear this because we’re trying to do the right thing and we have great medical care here,” Saban said. “And we have great medical protocols to try to keep us safe and I feel very confident in trying to respect and do these things as well as possible.”

Saban mentioned that he’s been taking his fair share of precautions, social distancing with his wife Terry while wearing a mask both in practice and in public places. He even sits 10 feet apart from his 88-year-old mother on the park bench.

But the coach isn’t going to let the virus affect him.

As he so often likes to say, “They don’t make ‘em like they used to.”

After learning its season opener earlier in the day, the rest of Alabama’s upcoming schedule was revealed Monday evening. For the most part, the Tide’s road to an SEC West title seems pretty manageable.

Alabama’s four biggest games — Texas A&M, Georgia, LSU and Auburn — are all buffered by less challenging weeks in the schedule. After opening up at Missouri, the Tide will face the Aggies in its home opener in Bryant-Denny Stadium in Week 2. The game against Georgia comes in Week 4 after what seems like a manageable road game at Ole Miss, while a grudge match against LSU in Baton Rouge, La. in Week 8 will be preceded by its typical open week.

While Alabama plays Auburn on Thanksgiving week as per norm, the Iron Bowl won’t be played on the final week of the regular season for the first time since 2003. Instead, it will be sandwiched between a home game against Kentucky on Nov. 21 and a road trip to Arkansas on Dec. 5 — both highly winnable games for the Tide.

The toughest stretch in Alabama’s schedule comes in the month of October as Saban will face former assistants in four straight weeks starting with Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M followed by Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss, Kirby Smart and Georgia and Jeremey Pruitt and Tennessee. The two road games during that run — Ole Miss and Tennessee — could both serve as trap games for the Tide.

The three-game stretch of LSU, Kentucky and Auburn during November could also be challenging. However, Alabama will hope it is hitting on all cylinders by then.

Alabama was haunted by injuries last fall camp as running back Trey Sanders and linebackers Dylan Moses and Joshua McMillon all sustained season-ending injuries before the opener. As the Tide hopes for better luck avoiding the injury bug this year, it started its camp close to full strength.

Alabama’s injury report consisted of just one player as Saban said junior linebacker Ale Kaho has a slight injury that will keep him out for “a few days.”

Earlier this offseason, Kaho posted a video on his Instagram story with his leg in a brace. The versatile linebacker was Alabama’s top special teams player last season, recording three blocked punts, including one which he recovered for a touchdown. He also had 20 tackles on defense and served as the H-back on the Tide’s goal-line formation on offense.

Outside of Kaho, Saban said the rest of Alabama’s players were “all good to go.” That includes players who saw their season cut short due to injury last season in defensive end LaBryan Ray (foot), defensive tackle D.J. Dale (knee), kicker/punter Will Reichard (hip) as well as Sanders (foot), Moses (ACL) and McMillon (ACL).

“They’ve been going all summer, all spring,” Saban said. “Yeah, they’ve been going. Not a problem.”

Heading into Monday, Alabama’s 2021 recruiting class was already shaping up to be historic. The Tide had compiled perhaps its best-ever offensive line class while also receiving commitments from several talented pass rushers, an athletic crop of defensive backs and three-playmaking receivers. The only thing missing was an elite quarterback to lead the group.

Monday evening Alabama got just that as it was able to flip Rivals100 quarterback Jalen Milroe from Texas. Milroe, the No. 4 dual-threat quarterback and No. 78 player overall in the nation, is coming off a junior season of high school where he threw for 2,689 yards with 29 touchdowns and also rushed for 300 yards with seven additional scores.

“Dual-threat kid is a good athlete and has a whip arm," Rivals national analyst Mike Farrell said of Milroe. "Can make plays happen outside the pocket and needs to work on downfield accuracy but his ceiling is excellent. A leader type who should fit in well down the line. I like the fit as another Texas QB who could be successful at Bama.”

Milroe’s flip not only gives Alabama an elite quarterback for the future but could also improve the Tide’s odds at signing five-star defensive end Tunmise Adeleye, who decommitted from Ohio State last week. Adeleye played with Milroe at Tompkins High School in Katy, Texas last season before transferring to IMG Academy in January.

The two top prospects have previously expressed their desire to play together at the next level. Monday evening, Adeleye tweeted over Milroe’s announcement, stating the two might now get to fulfill their dream of teaming up in college.

Even with four offensive players selected in the first round of this year’s NFL draft, Alabama’s offense will be its biggest strength this season. The Crimson Tide returns two of the nation’s top receivers in DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle and will have a capable quarterback in Mac Jones providing them with passes. Meanwhile, Najee Harris headlines a deep stable of backs, while the Tide returns four of its five starting offensive linemen.

The other side of the ball is a different story. Alabama gave up 18.6 points per game last season, its most since Saban’s first season with the Tide in 2007 when it went 7-6 and allowed an average of 22 points per game. Saban pointed out that Alabama lacked leadership on defense, something that Moses should help to provide this year. However, things will need to improve in several areas if the Tide is going to make a title run.

That won’t be easy as Alabama will need to replace both of its top two pass rushers as well as four of its five starting defensive backs. Still, Saban said he’s encouraged by what he’s seen from his team so far this offseason.

“We just have to get more physical at the line of scrimmage,” Saban said. “I think the big challenge for this team, because of the four starters we lost in the secondary out of five guys, is to get that rebuilt with some good players who lack experience, but they are good players and we have confidence in them.

“So that's going to be a key to the drill, especially with the fact that we didn't have spring practice and we weren't able to work with these guys as much as we usually are. But I really think a lot of these Zoom things that we did in the offseason and the meetings that we had really helped conceptually understand the defense and what they were supposed to do.”