Written by Ell
| 21 August 2008
So
Coach Saban threw us a curve ball by giving scholarships to 3 walk-ons at the close of fall camp. That took our previous
final analysis post and changed some things a bit.
I won't go into intense detail again, but will point out that at the present time there is a player playing football at Alabama that was thought to be on scholarship that is not.
By our numbers the Tide currently has 86 players on scholarship, 1 over the limit of 85. In our previous post we had the numbers at 84. At that time
Will Oakley was not in camp, so the number of active players was actually 83.
Sam Burnthall left the team just a couple of days later, which dropped the number down to 82.
When Coach Saban announced that
Leigh Tiffin,
Tyrone King &
PJ Fitzgerald had earned scholarships, it took the number back up to 85. When Oakley joined the team today, that number climbed up to 86.
So what gives?
Either
Wesley Neighbors is taking advantage of the Bryant Scholarship, which is the most likely possibility given that he qualifies for it.
Or, as was rumored around signing day, one (or more) of Bama's incoming players have opted to pay their own way rather than take a scholarship.
Either way it looks as though Nick Saban has proven once again that he is a master at organization, squeezing everything he could out of the scholarship numbers to have the NCAA allowed 85 guys on scholarship while still having at least 2 guys on the Bryant Scholarship (
Scott Deaton &
Morgan Ogilvie), and likely 3 (Neighbors).
Obviously Deaton & Neighbors will have to count if they play, considering that they signed letters of intent. That would seem to indicate that they were recruited. I'm not sure of the status of Ogilvie relative to that.
If either Deaton or Neighbors play, then we'll have to guess that it was option 2 from above.
More than likely, though, we won't know. That's how Coach Saban likes it.
Here's the breakdown for you:
Seniors: (9) - Antoine Caldwell, Marlon Davis, Bobby Greenwood, Rashad Johnson, Travis McCall, Will Oakley, Nikita Stover, Nick Walker &
John Parker Wilson.
Juniors: (23) - Eryk Anders, Javier Arenas, Evan Cardwell, Glen Coffee, Drew Davis, Brandon Deaderick, Brandon Fanney, Prince Hall, Baron Huber, Marquis Johnson, Mike Johnson, Mike McCoy, Colin Peek, Cory Reamer, Chris Rogers, Ali Sharrief, Andre Smith, Roy Upchurch, Lorenzo Washington & Justin Woodall... Tyrone King, PJ Fitzgerald, Leigh Tiffin.
Sophomores: (17) - Earl Alexander, Luther Davis, Preston Dial, Terry Grant, Darius Hanks, Charlie Higgenbotham, Kareem Jackson, Charlie Kirschman, Rolando McClain, Greg McElroy, Alfred McCullough, Brian Motley, Taylor Pharr, David Ross, Travis Sikes, Milton Talbert & Chavis Williams.
Freshmen: (11) - Josh Chapman, Nick Fanuzzi, Nick Gentry, Brandon Gibson, Demetrius Goode, Jeramie Griffin, Jennings Hester, Marquis Maze, Chris Underwood, William Vlachos & Alex Watkins.
Incoming Players: (26) - Mark Barron, Undra Billingsley, John Michael Boswell,
Terrence Cody (JUCO), Marcel Dareus, Robby Green, Glenn Harbin, Jerrell Harris, Don’ta Hightower, Mark Ingram, Chris Jackson (counted towards 2007), Star Jackson, Barrett Jones, Julio Jones, Chris Jordan, Alonzo Lawrence, Robert Lester, Tyler Love
, Ivan Matchett, Wesley Neighbors, Burton Scott, Brad Smelley, Corey Smith (counted towards 2007), Damion Square, Courtney Upshaw & Michael Williams.
