Alabama Practice Report 8/25: Crimson Tide Takes Practice Indoors

Alabama started looking toward its season opener against West Virginia late last week, but Monday’s practice was the first official one of game week.

The Crimson Tide again went inside the Hank Crisp Indoor Facility for practice, just as it had this past Saturday.

While the team sometimes moves inside due to heat, it's likely the team is also trying to better simulate its upcoming game environment, which will be played in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

Observations:

- Like on Saturday, Blake Sims was the first quarterback up in passing drills with receivers. Jake Coker, Alec Morris and Cooper Bateman followed in that order, while David Cornwell was handing the ball off to running backs during run-blocking drills with the offensive line.

- Senior linebacker Trey DePriest is still working to get back up to speed from a knee injury suffered earlier this fall. According to the team depth chart released earlier in the day, it would not be surprising if sophomore Reuben Foster took DePriest’s place if he is not yet game ready.

- Linebacker Dillon Lee was again practicing with the middle linebackers rather than with his usual outside linebackers. Lee was listed as the backup SAM linebacker on the depth chart Monday, but due to a lack of experience and depth at inside linebacker that even has Saban concerned, he may be more needed there right now.

- The running backs went through drills holding two footballs – one in each arm – high and tight to help with ball security issues, a problem for the unit last season. Strength and conditioning coach Scott Cochran, who sneaks up behind the running backs during this drill, managed to punch at least one ball away from T.J. Yeldon.

- An Indianapolis Colts scout was also watching the running backs from the sidelines.

- As Alabama coach Nick Saban announced during his noon press conference earlier in the day, sophomore tight end Kurt Freitag (toe) was the only missing from practice.

The Crimson Tide returns to practice tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.

Take a look at a couple videos from Monday below: