Alabama held its second spring football scrimmage Saturday afternoon inside Bryant-Denny Stadium, running roughly 130 plays in just over two hours.
The Crimson Tide will practice again Tuesday and Thursday before next Saturday’s A-Day game.
“When you play against yourself, when one side does good, the other side has to do not so good,” coach Nick Saban said in a news conference. “You don’t really know exactly whether you’re really that good on that side or that bad on the other. I think what we need to do here is continue to try and create our identity as a team.”
Saban again chose not to release quarterback statistics but reiterated that nobody has emerged as “the guy.” Jacob Coker, the senior who transferred last year from Florida State, has been the favorite in the five-player race, but media attending the start of the scrimmage reported that redshirt freshman David Cornwell was getting first-team work.
“Somebody has to take the bull by the horns,” Saban said.
Sophomore receiver Robert Foster led the offense with six catches for 102 yards. Saban said Foster has really come on lately and that the more he knows, the faster he plays.
Junior tight end O.J. Howard had four receptions for 45 yards and two touchdowns, while junior tailback Derrick Henry had six carries for 24 yards.
“We probably turned the ball over too much today,” Saban said, “but I thought the defense did a great job of ball-hawking, tipping balls, attacking the ball and doing a great job of creating turnovers. That is something that we have really, really emphasized, and it’s one of our goals to improve on.”
Defensive lineman Jarran Reed compiled five tackles, two tackles for loss and a pass breakup, while linebackers Dillon Lee and Reuben Foster each had three tackles and an interception.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.