Alabama's defense stumps sluggish offense in A-Day game

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - A defensive struggle was featured during the Alabama football team's A-Day game on Saturday afternoon to conclude spring practice.

That means the Crimson Tide can be pleased it's stout defense remains intact for the coming season.

However, concern over the offense can fester the rest of the offseason.

The White team, which consisted of the first-team defense and second-team offense, defeated the Crimson team 17-13 before an announced crowd of 73,506 in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

"I didn't think the consistency on offense was what I would've liked for it to have been today," coach Nick Saban said. "We did make some plays, but there wasn't the consistency that you would like to see in the offense. However, when you play against each other, what's good for one is not so good for the other. So, you have to give the defense some credit."

Neither team could sustain drives, which led to a first-half shutout by both sides.

There were five turnovers, four from interceptions, and 15 punts by Alec Morris. Xzavier Dickson, D.J. Pettway and Reggie Ragland intercepted passes for the White, while Tony Brown picked one for the Crimson.

Pettway's interception started the scoring. He stepped in front of a shovel pass from Sims and returned the ball into the end zone from 29 yards out with 10:20 left in the third quarter.

"Once everybody got on the same page and made the right calls, everything was good for the defense," Ragland said. "The offense, they can run some stuff they wanted to run, but they did good for an A-Day. There's no concern about the offense. The offense is always going to be a little late, but once we get a few more practices and we get a fall camp in, we'll be real good."

Senior quarterback Blake Sims led the Crimson. He won the first stage of the position battle coming into the game, but didn't show well on A-Day.

No. 2 quarterback, redshirt freshman Cooper Bateman made the competition interesting with a steady performance. He led the White and was the most impressive of the five quarterbacks.

"Blake had a really good spring, and he did a really good job in the scrimmages," Saban said. "I thought in the game, he was trying to speed everything up a bit, and he tried to speed up with it rather than stay in his rhythm. I think there's a lot of things he could do to be an effective quarterback that he didn't do in this game today."

Sims struggled as he completed 13 of 30 for 178 yards. He was intercepted twice, but threw a 55-yard touchdown to Chris Black in the final minute.

Bateman was 11 of 24 for 156 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions. He put away the game with a 32-yard touchdown pass to ArDarius Stewart with 2:37 left.

Sophomore Alec Morris played some behind Bateman. He completed only 3 of 7 for 9 yards and an interception. Parker McLeod and David Cornwell were both 0-for-1.

The inconsistent offense leaves the quarterback competition open headed into training camp when Florida State transfer Jacob Coker arrives. He was at the spring game scouting his competition.

"We recruited a guy, and Blake knows this, and Blake embraced the guy before the game, but they're going to compete through the summer and through the fall," Saban said.

Part of the first-team struggles came from standout receivers Amari Cooper and Christion Jones not being overused. They caught three passes each.

Another reason for the offensive problems was they were limited in how much of the playbook was on display. New offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin hasn't installed everything.

"I think from the beginning of spring until now, especially with a new offense and new guys in there, we were kind of were going uphill," center Ryan Kelly said. "We kind of tapered off last week. Going into summer time, we want to keep progressing. I think from an offensive line standpoint, we just need to be more together. Obviously, offensive line is a big part of that, that we are all together on the same page. So communication is key and something we will work on all summer."

The running game was limited with 119 yards from Crimson and 54 from White. Starting running back T.J. Yeldon gained 95 yards and scored a 1-yard touchdown. His big play was a 36-yard run.

Yeldon's score was set up from a fumble by Kenyan Drake on the 6-yard line to give Yeldon a short field. Drake's fumble issues from last season remain.

Saban felt it was a productive A-Day and spring practice. He saw plenty of development from individuals and isn't worried about how everything will come together for the fall.

"I would've like to finish a little bit better," Saban said of the spring. "So, that is something that we have to work on. I am very encouraged by the team that we have, I'm very encouraged by the attitude that we have on our team, I am certainly looking forward to working with this group and us improving over the summer and getting a great start to the season next year when we start fall camp."

Kirkpatrick also writes for the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser.