Lacy Has Good Day In Limited Work

Alabama Coach Nick Saban doesn’t really like to talk about statistics from a scrimmage because he has said the raw numbers out of context don’t mean much. Unfortunately, he doesn’t allow reporters to watch the practice – and thus put the statistics into context.

Alabama had its first scrimmage of fall camp at Bryant-Denny Stadium Saturday and Crimson Tide Coach Nick Saban revealed that tailback Eddie Lacy was restricted in the number of carries he had. We don’t know who Lacy was running against, but we do know that he had eight carries for 57 yards, which is right around the average he had last year of 7.1 yards per carry.

The reason that Lacy had restricted carries is that he is coming off surgery for a turf toe injured suffered last season. Earlier in the week, Lacy said, “The toe is coming along. I’m progredssing every day, continue always getting treatment after practice, before practice. It’s a process, but it’s coming along.”

He said he didn’t know how long it would be an issue. “We’re taking it one day at a time,” he said. “I think I’m nentally strong enough to just play through it if it hurts.”

Lacy did admit that he is not 100 per cent from a conditioning standpoint. “I’m not where I’m supposed to be due to the fact that I was out for so long, but going through camp and in the back end of summer, I’m not that far off. I’ve just go to continue to work hard, and before long I’ll be where I need to be.”

Lacy, who is 6-0, did say he was at a good weight, 225.

The scrimmage lasted roughly 125 plays and was just over two hours under sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s.

Alabama just releases statistics for the leaders. In addition to Lacy, Jalston Fowler had seven rushes for 34 yards and a seven-yard touchdown run; freshman Kenyan Drake had 10 runs for 33 yards and a three-yard touchdown run; and freshman T.J. Yeldon was 13-24 with touchdowns of three and one yards.

Quarterback A.J. McCarron completed 19 of 29 passes for 222 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. He found freshman Amari Cooper on a six-yard scoring strike and another 44-yard completion while Kevin Norwood hauled in the long pass of the day with a 45-yard grab.

Norwood led all receivers with 61 yards on two catches. Cooper was next with three grabs for 52 yards. Fowler and Lacy combined for eight catches out of the backfield and senior tight end Michael Williams caught three balls for 31 yards. Kenny Bell had two receptions for 31 yards.

On the defensive side of the ball Trey DePriest and Xzavier Dickson led the way with five tackles each with DePriest making one interception. Nick Perry had four tackles and two pass breakups while Vinnie Sunseri had three tackles and a blocked field goal he returned 68 yards for a score. Robert Lester and Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix had four tackles each.

Former Alabama football players were in attendance at the scrimmage, which was otherwise closed. Although the former players understand the agreement of not speaking specifically, one said, “It looked like a first scrimmage with good things and bad things. But overall, you’d say that this is going to be a superb football team.

“One thing that stands out is that these guys are in fabulous condition.”