Alabama’s first scrimmage of fall camp may not have been surprising to football coach Nick Saban, but it was still revealing. The Crimson Tide starters mostly played with poise, while many young players showed they still have a ways to go. "I think that this scrimmage was really pretty much what we thought it would be,” Saban said. “I think the players that have experience, that have played before, really played well. The first teams operated pretty well for the most part. Much better execution with the first defense, first offense, whatever it was.” No statistics were available from the scrimmage, which was closed to the public and the media. Players were put on the field in position to make calls on their own and execute on the fly. That led to mistakes from some players, which were compounded when other players tried to adjust to cover for those errors. “What happens when you're not responsible enough to do your job? It creates an issue for somebody else, then they try to make up for what you did, then they can't do what they're supposed to do, and you don't have any team execution,” Saban said. “So it all comes back to every individual having the discipline, the mental toughness, the focus to be able to effectively do their job.” Inside linebackers Mack Wilson and Dylan Moses both...Click here for the rest of the story on Tidesports.<doc-sep>“The one thing that we can control, probably can’t control our circumstances all the time or opportunities, but we can control our work ethic and how we go about things to get better, and I think that’s what we need to focus on with our players – being positive and trying to get everybody to improve. I’m sure a lot of young players learned a lot about the experience that they had today first time out there, having to make calls, coaches aren’t around telling them what to do, so it’ll be a really, really good learning experience for them. “We’re looking for guys that have toughness, and I’ve defined toughness for you before, it’s ‘what is your breaking point?’ Where do you break? I don’t care if it’s the heat, you’re tired, I don’t care what it is, but where do you break? So we have got to have enough mental toughness to stay focused to sustain things, and we also have to have some competitive character. “Anybody that has competitive character can deal with failing because the failures are what you have to compete through, what you have to learn from, the best opportunity to improve. Play the next play, don’t let it affect you, don’t let it bother you, so we have a lot of young players that need to grow and mature in all these areas so that they can go out there and play more effectively, and I think this will be a great learning experience for them today.”<doc-sep>Alabama Football: Eight players who will step up or get passed in camp Alabama Football: Eight players who will step up or get passed in camp by Ronald Evans Alabama football conducted its first fall camp scrimmage Saturday and afterward, Nick Saban gave an update including injury news. It has been serious business for Alabama football since the start of fall camp. It got even more serious on Saturday inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. Alabama football conducted the first full-contact scrimmage of camp. Alabama football camp and practices are hard as Nick Saban acknowledged Saturday afternoon. They are supposed to be hard. As Saban also said, life is hard, but that does not make it bad. The scrimmage situation is especially hard for young, less experienced players because coaches are not on the field making calls for them. So on a warm afternoon in Bryant-Denny, everyone outside the first units went through growing pains. The couple of sessions of hard hitting before Saturday already led to some player injuries. True freshman Stephon Wynn is probably out for a few weeks with a ligament problem. Jamey Mosley has a separated shoulder and will miss several days. Sophomore defensive back, Daniel Wright has a more serious shoulder problem. The medical team will continue to evaluate Wright, but there is a chance he could miss several weeks, maybe more. Saban discussed new linebacker, Brandon Kaho. Kaho did pre-scrimmage drills Saturday but will not be cleared for contact work until he gets through standard acclimatization protocol. Saban explained Kaho was able to join Alabama immediately after his scholarship release from Washington because he never enrolled. Before we get into the scrimmage buzz, enjoy the video below, compliments of the Athletics Department. Scrimmage buzz The scrimmage was closed. The extra eyes on hand were invited guests. Among those guests a few pass along information. From shared texts, to message boards to actual tweets, there is information. It is subjective information and as such sometimes contradictory. There is no way to authenticate it. That does not mean it should be ignored. Bama Hammer only passes along what is believed to be credible. If a rumor is prevalent, we may mention it, but we will call it a rumor. Former players have credibility. Below is a tweet from Will Lowery. Disclaimer: this is the first scrimmage of camp, and the only practice I’ve seen. But from what I watched today, I’ll be shocked if Tua isn’t day 1 starter, and it isn’t close. Don’t expect an announcement prior to opening kickoff tho.. — Will Lowery (@jwlowery29) August 11, 2018 In another tweet, Lowery, a former Alabama football defensive back, praised Deionte Thompson and Xavier McKinney as playing like veterans. He also complimented cornerbacks, Trevon Diggs and Saivion Smith. Taking nothing away from Lowery, whose tweets we appreciate, but often the best information comes from lower-profile sources. Based on comments from credible Alabama football insiders, the players listed below had a good scrimmage. Biggest Encouraging News Redshirt freshman defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis, redshirt senior defensive lineman, Johnny Dwight and true freshman linebacker, Jaylen Moody looked good in the scrimmage. Having Mathis and Dwight able to contribute in the defensive linemen rotation would be a major boost. On Moody, any positive report about a backup inside linebacker is great news. Other less experienced players getting positive reports Xavier McKinney; Patrick Surtain Jr.; Eyabi Anoma; Josh Jobe and Saivion Smith Good news but no surprises As expected Jonah Williams, Henry Ruggs III and Jerry Jeudy put in solid performances. Good News on Special Teams Graduate transfer, Austin Jones showed placekicking consistency as he did in his Temple career. Freshman punter, Skyler DeLong looks like an adequate replacement for J.K. Scott. What about the QBs? Nick Saban was very specific in the post-scrimmage review. One Alabama football scrimmage will not settle the QB competition. There is a lot of chatter about Tua and Jalen. Most of it centers on Tua outshining Jalen. For now, we place it all in the unconfirmed category. Except, of course, for Will Lowery’s tweet. Alabama football will rest Sunday and get back to work next week. The second and final scrimmage of fall camp will be Aug. 18.<doc-sep>
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Alabama held its first scrimmage of the preseason Saturday, but coach Nick Saban did not change his message regarding the Crimson Tide’s quarterback battle. “We’re going to evaluate the quarterback situation,” Saban said. “We’re going to keep looking at the guys. What somebody did today or didn’t do today is not going to win or lose him the job, aight. It’s going to be a cumulative effect and the consistency that they practice with and play with the whole time. And that’s in fairness to both players, who are really good competitors and really working hard and really doing a good job. So, we don’t have much more to say than that.” No stats were released, quarterback or otherwise, following the two-hour scrimmage at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Prior to the game-like practice, it was business as usual for the signal callers, as Jalen Hurts led the group through individual drills with Tua Tagovailoa, Mac Jones, walk-on Kyle Edwards and freshmen Layne Hatcher and Braxton Barker behind him. But the few that watched Saturday’s scrimmage provided some convincing takeaways. Former Alabama defensive back Will Lowery took to Twitter to share a touchdown pass from Tagovailoa to redshirt freshman wide receiver Tyrell Shavers, as well as this bold prediction: “Disclaimer: this is the first scrimmage of camp, and the only practice I’ve seen,” Lowery tweeted. “But from what I watched today, I’ll be shocked if Tua isn’t day 1 starter, and it isn’t close. Don’t expect an announcement prior to opening kickoff tho..” For now, Hurts and Tagovailoa will continue to compete for the Tide’s starting quarterback job in preseason camp. And neither the tweets spewing from the first of two scrimmages nor Hurts’ viral comments about his frustrations with the quarterback situation will affect the battle. But it will be interesting to see what happens in the days to come, especially scrimmage No. 2, with the most-discussed position competition in the country as Game 1 inches ever closer. “The rhetoric will not have anything to do with who’s the quarterback,” Saban said. “That will obviously be decided on the field by how people execute, how they do their job. The same parameters that we talked about before in terms of who wins the team. “And winning the team goes along with execution, leadership, players having confidence and belief, and that’s not really going to change. So, I don’t really have any more to say about it than that. I don’t think it’s anything that has affected our team one way or the other.” Alabama will return to practice Monday, Aug. 13, for its ninth practice session of the preseason. Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports' personal messaging or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter). *** Don't miss a VIP update with our FREE trial of BamaOnLine. Sign up HERE ***