TUSCALOOSA | Not every college football player has the freedom, under team rules, to exercise First Amendment rights through twitter.com. University of Alabama players have no such restriction, but that doesn't mean their activity on the social networking site isn't being watched.

UA coach Nick Saban addressed the subject Monday after wide receiver Duron Carter tweeted on Saturday morning that he would not play against Penn State due to "complications." Soon after, UA released a statement on Carter's status just before the Crimson Tide's 27-11 win over Penn State kicked off.

"We monitor guys' Twitter. We don't want guys to put any information out about what happens," Saban said. "We released the information before the game because we didn't want it to be a distraction to the team. I mean, the team knew it. We didn't want anybody to start focusing on what's happening and all that kind of stuff."

Carter missed fall camp while awaiting academic clearance, and was admitted to UA and began practicing with the team about a week before the season began. He was expected to make his season debut against the Nittany Lions, but further academic complications compelled UA to withhold Carter from playing.

More and more college coaches are invoking team-wide bans on twitter accounts for their players. South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier did so shortly before the season began. Most recently, UNLV coach Bobby Hauck did the same.

"We just decided to rein all that in," Hauck told the Las Vegas Sun.

Saban's policy more closely mirrors that of Kentucky coach Joker Phillips, who allows players to use twitter but advises them caution in doing so. Some coaches, including Phillips and Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen, have twitter accounts themselves.

"Our policy is we don't want guys to Twitter information about our team that creates an advantage for the other team," Saban added. "Secondly, we monitor guys' Twitter so that they are not putting information out that could be personally damaging in the future in terms of the kind of information that they choose to put out there. But we don't have a policy where you can't do it."

Middle linebacker Chris Jordan isn't likely to play Saturday against North Texas, Saban said, in an effort to help the senior recover from minor injuries.

"He'd been nicked up for about two weeks, and practiced a little bit, but never seems to get where he needs to be," Saban said. "We're probably going to just hold him out for a week."

Jordan has yet to play this season.

The UA coaching staff named 11 players for weekly honors against Penn State: William Vlachos and Michael Williams on offense, Dre Kirkpatrick, Mark Barron and C.J. Mosley on defense, and Trey DePriest, Vinnie Sunseri, Alex Watkins and Dee Milliner for special teams. ... UA practiced in shorts Monday.