ALABAMA NOTEBOOK: Big plays highlight first Tide scrimmage

Several playmakers were impressive and a goal-line stand stood out during the Crimson Tide’s scrimmage Saturday.

“I thought we had a good first scrimmage today,” Tide coach Nick Saban said. “We obviously made some really good plays out there, made some big plays.”

Several of those came in the receiver corps.

“I’d say Mike McCoy made two or three really big plays, made some good catches, two or three big-play catches and scored,” Saban said. “Julio (Jones) made a couple of big plays, scored on one. Had a couple of opportunities; we just need to finish on those. ... Marquis Maze made a big play in the two-minute offense.”

Senior quarterback John Parker Wilson was 17-for-30 for 309 yards in the scrimmage. He threw two touchdown passes and was intercepted twice.

“On third (down), he made some big plays out there today,” Saban said of his quarterback. “It’s a good thing that we are making big plays on offense.”

Wilson attended graduation ceremonies Saturday at Coleman Coliseum with teammates Rashad Johnson and Drew Davis before the scrimmage.

McCoy, a junior from Rankin, Miss., caught three passes for 119 yards and one touchdown for the Tide.

Jones, a true freshman from Foley, added two catches for 59 yards and one touchdown.

Defensively, Johnson, a senior safety from Sulligent, had four tackles, two pass break-ups and an interception. Sophomore linebacker Charlie Higgenbotham led all tacklers with eight stops while sophomore linebacker Rolando McClain added five tackles and an interception.

“It’s good that we’re making some big plays on offense, but when you’re playing against yourself, something happened (on defense) that we gave those big plays up,” Saban said. “But the ‘ones’ scrimmaged against the ‘twos’ in the move-the-field stuff.

“That was one of our goals on defense, not to give up big plays.”

The defense did earn some praise near the goal line, helped by the presence of 6-foot-5, 380-pound freshman lineman Terrence Cody.

“The defense stopped them first-and-1 at the one four straight plays with him playing in the middle, knocking them back,” Saban said. “Obviously, it’s really good when you can do something like that.”

QB depth
Saban said the scrimmage went long, in part because coaches wanted to get reps to five Alabama quarterbacks.

Greg McElroy was 9-for-18 for 146 yards in the scrimmage. He didn’t throw for a touchdown and didn’t have an interception.

“I think Greg (McElroy) probably is the guy that is the most comfortable with the offense right now,” Saban said. “He is the guy that probably at this point in time can do the best job of executing the offense, although I think that all three other players — Star Jackson, Thomas Darrah and Nick Fanuzzi — all have shown ... that they can develop into pretty good players.”

What’s next
The Crimson Tide will take today off (meetings only) and return to the practice field on Monday for their third two-a-day practice. The Tide will practice at 9:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Monday.

Alabama will open the 2008 season against Clemson on Aug. 30 in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The 7 p.m. game will be televised nationally on ABC (Channel 9 in Lee County).