4 Alabama Players Who Will Benefit from Extra Bowl Practices
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — An added benefit of making a postseason bowl in any capacity is the extra practice time.
Players and coaches get an extra few weeks of work in before the game that they normally wouldn’t had their season ended earlier.
Alabama coach Nick Saban has described these practices as having a “camp-like” feel—more work on basics and fundamentals, rather than an opponent-specific focus. This can be a boost to young players who were thrown into the mix in the fall and never really had time for a lot of instruction in these basics.
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Derrick Henry is the perfect example of what extra bowl practice can do for a player.
Henry enrolled early last year but missed spring practice with a fractured leg. He was never fully healthy until the fall, and by that time the season was already in full swing. Henry played sparingly but couldn’t grasp the things like pass protection that kept him from being a regular starter.
He was able to pick those back up, though, during preparation for the Sugar Bowl. The result was a breakout game against Oklahoma that he’s carried over into 2014.
Who are some candidates to make similar improvement this year? Let’s take a look.
Da’Shawn Hand
Hand was a consensus 5-star prospect out of high school and Rivals’ No. 1 player in the 2014 class. Needless to say, he came in with some hype.
Hand enrolled over the summer and has played sparingly so far at Alabama. He’s recorded seven tackles and two sacks largely in mop-up duty. For his efforts, he was named to the SEC all-freshman team, presumably because there aren’t many freshmen playing defensive end in the SEC.
Still, Hand has a chance to contribute more on a team that likes to rotate as many defensive linemen as it can to keep fresh against uptempo teams. But he is still very much raw and learning.
He told DC Reeves of TideSports.com after the SEC Championship Game that he is learning how to use his hands as a rusher, rather than just overpowering the opposition like he was able to do in high school.
"Coming in, I was so set in my ways,” Hand said, per Reeves. “I was already taught hand technique, but coming into college they emphasize it a lot because you really need hand-to-hand combat."
Those technical adjustments are things that can be ironed out with some extra practices.
Tony Brown
Brown was another top defender in the 2014 class who came in with massive expectations.
Enrolling before spring practice helped Brown see the field a lot as a true freshman, though. Brown has appeared in all but one game this season and started two.
He’s had his ups and downs along the way, as is to be expected from a true freshman.
Brown recorded nine tackles and a pass breakup as part of a rotation of cornerbacks opposite Cyrus Jones, who has started all 13 games up to this point.
He also, though, has been part of a couple of defensive breakdowns.
"We lost that game, and I gave up that last post," Brown said, referring to the Ole Miss loss, after the SEC Championship Game, according to Cliff Kirkpatrick of the Montgomery Advertiser. "That was a bad feeling, but I grew from it, I got better from it and I'll probably never let it happen again."
Good doesn’t simply cut it in the secondary, where Nick Saban coaches the defensive backs and demands perfection.
So Brown has a chance to improve and finish the season with possibly a pair of starts.
Jake Coker
No, there is no question who the starting quarterback will be heading into the postseason, as if there would be after the fantastic season Blake Sims has turned in to this point.
Still, with a brief peek ahead to next season, these next few weeks could be crucial for Coker, who is presumably the favorite to start at quarterback in 2015.
Because Coker had to first graduate from Florida State before transferring, he had to wait until May to enroll, missing out on spring practice and valuable time in the playbook and with coaches.
So Coker was, naturally, a little behind when it came down to actually picking a quarterback.
Now, though, Coker has had a full regular season to digest the intricacies of Kiffin’s playbook and watch them play out in a game. But he hasn’t really had much opportunity to apply that on the practice field, since Alabama has been in a whirlwind stretch of games to make the playoff.
To his credit, Coker has improved in each game he’s appeared in, well after the result is in hand. Last we saw him, he completed 12 of 18 passes with a touchdown and an interception against Western Carolina.
Over the next few weeks, he’ll likely get more individualized instruction within the offense, positioning himself for a starting role next season.
Rashaan Evans
Arguably the biggest recruiting storyline for Alabama in the 2014 cycle, Rashaan Evans has so far shown why he was so highly coveted by the Crimson Tide and his hometown Auburn Tigers.
Evans has appeared in all but one game for Alabama this year, either on special teams, defense or both. He’s recorded 14 tackles and a sack.
“He’s come along better than anybody expected,” defensive end Jonathan Allen said. “We just feed off the extra boost he brings. He’s a versatile edge. He’s done a great job maturing throughout the season.”
Evans, though, could see an increased role in the postseason. Alabama’s sack numbers have somewhat stagnated over the last half of the season. It hasn’t recorded more than two sacks in a game October 18 against Texas A&M.
Evans could be the spark that unit needs.
Marc Torrence is the Alabama lead writer for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Follow on Twitter @marctorrence.
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