In one of its last spring practices before the A-Day game, the Alabama football team continues to improve on each side of the ball.
For the offense, they work to fill only a few holes, while watching the offensive line gel together to become a unit. Quarterback Greg McElroy said for him, watching the offensive line solidify so quickly has been the most impressive thing to him so far this spring.
“They continue to make strides, and that’s usually the last group to gel as far as a team is concerned,” he said, “but they’ve gelled much faster, and I feel like we’re going to have a great offensive line because of it.”
Defensive end Damion Square said the offensive line is a great group of guys that gives the team good work at practice everyday.
“The confidence that those guys have is a beautiful thing,” he said. “It’s going to be a good thing to watch those guys attack those people on the field as an offensive unit.”
On the other side of the line, tight end Michael Williams has been going against the defensive line in practice and said they’re helping to make the offense better.
“The d-line is always going to be tough, big, always fast,” he said. “Just look at Marcell Dareus. I have to block him everyday. And blocking him is getting me ready for the SEC grind that we’re going to have.”
McElroy said the defense has made great strides and that they’re playing with a vengeance.
“From top to bottom, we have so much speed,” he said. “It’s just unbelievable. We might not have the size we had last year. Our guys might be a little bit smaller now, but they’re tenacious, and they play extremely hard. I think that really comes from their effort. They’re really making it difficult for us.”
Square is still battling back from an injury he suffered last season. He tore his ACL and meniscus and had to watch the national championship game from the sideline.
He said that at this point, he’s almost back to 100 percent, and he practices like he’s back to perfect health because he’s being evaluated as such.
“It hasn’t been hurting, so I’ve been going full speed ahead,” he said. “It’s sore, but not hurting. That’s just a part of football.”
McElroy said Square has been making great strides in recovering from his injury.
“Anytime you have an injury like that, that’s tough to recover from,” he said. “That’s not an easy thing to make up, but he’s done a great job. He’s been a guy that we’ve known since day one was going to have a good motor.”
Also, for the first time in a couple of weeks, linebacker Nico Johnson returned to practice in a red jersey, going full speed.
With A-Day coming up fast, McElroy compared the practice game to a school band. The team needs its practice to get prepared for its performance.
“The spring ball is a difficult grind,” he said. “You’re competing against each other day in, day out. You get so used to seeing the same things, and really you’re never preparing for a game, so it gets a little bit monotonous. Everything we’ve worked on for the first 14 practices, we’re finally going to get to show the world what we’ve been trying to improve on.”
