With the Cyrus watch over, the morning after criticism starts. Many "fans" may look at the tweets, Facebook posts, and texts as drunk dialing an old girlfriend, but lets look at this for what it is. These pleas are acts of desperation. Desperate people doing stupid things to influence a teenager. If you have a child, how would you view a complete stranger trying to communicate with him or her. Chris Hanson does shows on this all the time. Now, its too harsh to call these people predators, but what would you call it? If you feel strongly on what a high school senior should do then at least restrict it to the message boards. That keeps your vitriol at a distance. If the player wants to see what the interwebs thinks about his choice, then he can find it. Facebook and tweets are invading his space and come off as silly as John Cusack standing in their driveway with a boombox over his head.
Let's look at some of the hay that is in the barn...
This class won't make the sudden impact that 2008 did, but that has more to do with the existing team they joined, than the individuals in each class. I think we met our needs very well meaning, pass rush, nose guard, running back of the future, punt/kick off returner, and OT's. I think the impact biggest players from day one will probably be the true freshman that can find a role on special teams, a la Arenas. As far as the JUCO guys, it appears that the philosophy of Saban is only to offer guys that can start now. In fact, the outcome of James Carpenter probably helped get Williams and Douglas.
Preview Time...
Spring practice is the synapse between the neurons of different teams that are the cerebral cortex of Crimson Tide football. There are plenty of questions that we may not have a good answer to by A Day. There is no way we see clear favorite at QB. Other grey areas are going to be....
- Who is Trent's backfield mate?
- Who will become the leader on offense?
- What will O line look like?
- Can the defensive backfield be consistent for an entire game similar to the bowl game?
The last question can be asked of the whole team. Most experts commented that the Tide peaked very late, probably not until the bowl game. Injuries played their part, but it will be interesting to see if momentum created in January can be carried not only into March/April but all the way to August.
