Alabama Turns Focus to San Jose State
8/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 27, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama football team hit the practice field in shells for a 90-minute training session Friday afternoon at the Thomas-Drew Practice Facility.
The Crimson Tide began installation of the game plan for the Sept. 4 season opener against San Jose State at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
With only eight days remaining until the kickoff of the 2010 season, head coach Nick Saban and his staff has turned their focus toward finalizing the list of players that will receive the most practice repetitions.
"We're still working on fundamentals but we can't do it with the whole team," Saban said in his post-practice press conference on Thursday. "Some of the team has to be ready to help get the other guys ready to play the games."
Another area of emphasis Saban has stressed to the players this week is discovering the identity this year's team will take to the field.
"I think the team needs to be making some decisions about what the identity of this team is going to be," Saban said. "It's really not about who we're playing. It's a lot more about who we are in terms of the kind of competitive spirit that we have, the kind of maturity we have as competitors to go out there and be relentless for 60 minutes in the game one play at a time, every play of the game to try to dominate the competition. I think that's how we get better."
On Friday the Rotary Lombardi Award Committee released the official watch list for the 2010 Rotary Lombardi Award given annually to college football's best down lineman. The Tide had three players named to the watch list, offensive tackle James Carpenter, defensive end Marcell Dareus and linebacker Dont'a Hightower.
Alabama will hold the week's final practice at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Thomas-Drew Practice Facility. Players will be given the day off on Sunday before game-week preparation begins on Monday. All practices are closed to the public.
