Written by Ell | 13 August 2008

Two-a-days are over, and the worst injury period has passed with the Tide unscathed. The safety position is one less deep tonight though, as we have other departure news to report:

• There are no injuries - no one in fact even in a black jersey - but Sam Burnthall has left the team for "personal reasons". That leaves the Tide with 82 scholarship players (assuming Wesley Neighbors takes the Bryant Scholarship).
• There's been talk of working a walk-on into a scholarship with the current unexpected attrition. It seems unlikely with Bama only sporting 9 seniors on scholarship. The only senior walk-on part of the 105 man roster is Brad Pounds - a reserve defensive lineman. It seems unlikely Pounds would be in line for a scholarship given his excpetionally limited contributions on the field.
• There appears to be a seven man rotation among the wide receivers: Mike McCoy, Darius Hanks, Earl Alexander, Marquis Maze, Julio Jones, B.J. Scott and Chris Jackson. That apparently leaves Nikita Stover and Brandon Gibson with very little playing time - at this point.
• Julio Jones continues to impress. John Parker Wilson said today "Julio's a special player. He'll have an impact Day One, Game One."
• After a surprisingly quiet fall camp, Jerrell Harris worked extensively with the first groups today. Though he appears to be making more progress than this time last week, he still seems to be behind Eryk Anders and Chavis Williams at the SAM linebacker.
• Despite the fact that his family's appeal with the NCAA is still pending, Colin Peek continues to work with the first groups at tight end.

As we conclude two-a-days, the Tide sports three more days of practice on Thursday, Friday and Saturday before getting Sunday and Monday off. We will, of course, have reports from each of these practices.

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