The Crimson Tide’s first fall scrimmage Saturday afternoon at Bryant-Denny Stadium allowed the first-team athletes to match up against many second and third-team players for an evaluation on the progress made thus far in preseason camp. The scrimmage, which was marked intermittently by rain, gave head coach Nick Saban an opportunity to present his thoughts on how the differing units matched up.

“Overall, the first teams on both sides of the ball looked pretty good, executed pretty well,” Saban said. “They made some good plays, showed the sort of mental toughness and disposition that you have to have to be a good football player.”

Sophomore wideout Amari Cooper’s statistics stood out from his teammates, as the former freshman All-American caught four passes for 182 yards and three touchdowns. Though Cooper’s totals were largely compiled against the second-team defense, Saban made it clear the young receiver has not stepped off the gas in his second year.

“He’s a hard worker, he’s got a really good attitude, and he plays fast every day in practice,” Saban said. “We do the summer conditioning tests when we come back, and we do the cumulative points of the three tests, and he won. He had the most points of anybody on the team. Vinnie [Sunseri] was second. So, it means the guy’s really worked hard, he’s in great shape and he’s had a really good camp so far. And he had a really good day today.”

Junior Jalston Fowler, who has lined up extensively at H-back in the preseason, caught three passes for 38 yards.

Leading the way on the ground was quarterback Blake Sims, who rushed four times for 53 yards and one touchdown. Freshman Derrick Henry also had one touchdown off of 11 carries for 38 yards. TJ Yeldon rushed six times for 35 yards, and freshman Tyren Jones compiled 38 yards from five touches.

However, Saban expressed displeasure in the offensive line’s performance Saturday despite the numbers from the running backs.

“I don’t think we really got a lot of movement in the offensive line today,” Saban said, later mentioning that he also didn’t feel the position group played with enough power.

Senior linebacker CJ Mosley led the way on the defensive side of the ball, notching four tackles and grabbing one interception. Junior defensive back Jarrick Williams had four tackles, and safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix had three tackles and one interception.

Saban praised the vaunted first-team defense but held back when discussing the second and third-team groups.

“Defensively, I thought the first team played pretty well,” Saban said. “I thought after that we were really, really sloppy.”

His comments on the defensive line, which is reloading after losing starters Jesse Williams, Damion Square and Quinton Dial , echoed his remarks on the unit as a whole.

“The defensive line looked pretty good,” he said. “We obviously got to work some young guys to get the kind of depth that we need. I thought the first team played pretty well; after that, we didn’t play as well.”

The special-teams unit, especially senior punter Cody Mandell exhibited a positive reaction from Saban, though he did issue a challenge for some of the younger players to step up and contribute on special teams.

Additional notes:

• AJ McCarron suffered a bruised foot after being stepped on at one point. Saban stressed that he will not miss any practice time. His totals from Saturday were 13-of-21 for 267 yards with three touchdowns and an interception.
•  Senior Cornerback Deion Belue was held out of practice due to a strained hamstring.
•  Reuben Foster had a “stinger”, but it doesn’t appear to be serious.