Roll Tide Nation

Nate Oats’ first staff at Alabama is slowly coming together.

Assistant coach Bryan Hodgson has been removed from the Buffalo website and has changed his Twitter profile to read “Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach at The University of Alabama. #Rolltide”

“Bryan Hodgson came with me from Buffalo,” Oats said Monday. “Bryan and myself, for the most part, recruited the entire roster at Buffalo. He’s an unbelievable recruiter. We were getting Top100 players at Buffalo, so I can’t wait to see what we do down here. When you walk in with this on, you get some credibility right out of the gate playing in an unbelievable league. He’s been my right-hand man for four years. He’s coming. We’re getting the support staff put together.”

Hodgson flew to Tuscaloosa, Ala., with Oats last Wednesday and has since been recruiting for the Crimson Tide. In four seasons, Hodgson helped guide the Bulls to a trio of NCAA Tournament appearances. He led the Buffalo recruiting efforts and oversaw the 2018 class that was ranked 76th nationally, according to the 247Sports Composite -- the highest ranking in program history.

Along with Hodgson, Oats is bringing his director of operations Adam Bauman to Tuscaloosa. Like Hodgson, Bauman has edited his Twitter bio to reflect the career change. Prior to his stint at Buffalo, Bauman was a video coordinator at Mississippi State from 2012 to 2015.

ByCharlie Potter 3 hours ago

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Alabama head coach Nick Saban held a press conference Wednesday evening following the Crimson Tide's 10th practice of the spring. Below is everything Saban said in his fifth press conference of the spring and only one before Saturday's second scrimmage.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Nick Saban was pleased with how his Alabama team responded on the practice field Monday following the first scrimmage of the spring. Wednesday? Not so much.

“To summarize the week, I thought the players were really good on Monday,” Saban said. “We had to go inside because the field was a little too wet. Today, every now and then, as a coach you feel like people get the ‘Poor mes.’ If you know what the ‘Poor mes’ are, they’re exactly what I said. ‘Poor me, my leg hurts. Poor me, my shoulder hurts. Poor me, it’s hot out here today. Poor me, I don’t feel like practicing. To me, I’m not big on the ‘Poor mes.’

“I like people not to do what they feel like doing but to choose to do what they need to do to get better, and that has been very, very good all spring. Today, it could have been better. I think practice went better as we went. We need to keep working on that.”

Early in Wednesday’s practice, Saban said the players sent him a signal that the “mental toughness” and “ability to sustain in difficult circumstances” need to be points of emphasis this offseason.

The Crimson Tide is two-thirds of the way through its spring season and will have one more practice Friday, April 5, before returning to Bryant-Denny Stadium for its second scrimmage this Saturday.

ByDenon McMillan 5 hours ago

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Alabama was back outside for Day 10 of spring on Wednesday.

Check out photos from Wednesday evening's session.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Tua Tagovailoa put together a record-breaking season in 2018. But in all likelihood, it could have been even more impressive had Tagovailoa stayed healthy the entire year.

This time last year, the stunning sophomore was dealing with a hand injury after the first day of spring drills. During the season, he sustained a lingering knee injury in Week 6 at Arkansas and an ankle injury that knocked him out of the SEC Championship Game against Georgia.

With that idea in mind, have Alabama head coach Nick Saban and new offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian reworked the Crimson Tide’s offense to reduce the exposure of the quarterback?

“No,” Saban said earlier this spring. “I mean, we can seven-man protect every time and send three guys out so that they could double cover them all.”

About the answer one would expect, right?

ByHank South 15 hours ago

Alabama sits atop the 247Sports Composite Team Recruiting Ranking thus far in the 2020 recruiting cycle, a position it’s held for quite some time.

The Crimson Tide, however, is still in need of a quarterback in the class after Carson Beck backed out in the wake of both Brent Key and Dan Enos leaving the staff for other opportunities. 

Luckily for the Tide, there is no shortage of options on the table that the staff has been in pursuit of this spring.

Here, BamaOnLine takes a look at a handful of the more intriguing names at the quarterback position to track this offseason. 

It wasn't long ago that Alabama landed a five-star running back from California when Najee Harris opted for the Crimson Tide as a part of the 2017 recruiting class.

The Tide is back in the Golden State in 2020 with its sights set on five-star ball carrier Kendall Milton.

Alabama offered the Clovis (Calif.) Buchanan product over a year ago, but has yet to get Milton on campus for a visit. That will change April 17 when the nation's No. 2 running back plans to make it out to Tuscaloosa.

Originally, Milton told BamaOnLine earlier this year that he planned to be on campus April 16.

The five-star back had a connection to the program though former defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi who played at Cal with Milton's head coach. And even though Lupoi is no longer on the staff, there's still a connection with the aforementioned Harris who Milton has a relationship with due to the relative proximity of their hometowns.

ByKirk McNair Apr 2, 4:30 PM

Many years ago I was making the rounds of the Waldorf Astoria in New York with Alf Van Hoose, the late sports editor of the Birmingham News. We were there for the annual National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame induction banquet, at that time a black tie, stag affair attracting virtually all of the head coaches and athletics directors in the nation.

Prior to the banquet we were visiting various rooms hosted by the likes of ABC and Sports Illustrated. We had been to a reception in the elegant apartment of W.W. “Foots” Clements, a Tuscaloosa County native who had been a back-up end to Don Hutson and Paul Bryant at Alabama and had risen to CEO of Dr Pepper. (There are apartments in the Waldorf and Clements’ was across the hall from the widow of Gen. Douglas MacArthur.)

We planned to make one last stop before the banquet and joined a group boarding an elevator. A well-dressed woman was already on the elevator. Noting that the hotel was full of men in tuxedos, she asked if it was “some sort of football thing.”

A small man in our group replied, “Yes ma’am, it is.”