Tide dons pads for first
time
Coach Fran and his staff concentrate on
getting players on the same page during Thursday's workout
03/16/01
By TOM MURPHY
Sports Reporter
Andrew Zow called it "organized chaos" but it was most
certainly a definitive new step in the re-education of the Alabama
football team.
The Crimson Tide put pads on Thursday for the
first time in the Dennis Franchione era as spring practice entered day
three at the Capstone.
"It's good to get in pads,"
Franchione said. "I thought it was an encouraging day in a lot of
ways. It took a little while to adjust.
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"The defense is getting a little better every
day and they're ahead of the offense. That's what you would expect as a
head coach. Defense is reaction and offense is assignment."
Speaking of assignments, the Alabama coaches
focused on that part of their systems and did not conduct any new
installation after going heavy on that in the first two workouts.
"Offensively, we have too many times where
we beat ourselves before the snap with assignments and that sort of
thing," Franchione said. "We did not install anything new and
that helped.
"All in all, it was a good first day in
pads. It needs to be better Saturday."
Franchione pointed out senior receiver Freddie
Milons and junior running back Ahmaad Galloway for their leadership
ability, but did not dwell on many other individuals.
"It's still too early to make many
comments about individuals," he said.
Alabama will go in pads again Saturday, Monday
and Wednesday in preparation for the first scheduled scrimmage next
Thursday.
A MESSAGE? Much was made on Internet
sites about the startling change in the weather for Franchione's first
practice on Monday, when conditions change from a deluge as late as the
noon hour to sunny and pleasant for the 3:30 p.m. practice.
Franchione said he could hardly sleep on Sunday
night in anticipation of his first practice with the Crimson Tide, and
that he woke up at 2 a.m., again and 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. before he got up
for good.
"A thunderstorm woke me once, and I was
thinking, 'It can't rain on our first practice, can it?'" he wrote
on his website, www.coachfran.com.
"I got a laugh out of a comment to one of
our assistants handing out passes at the gate. A gentleman named Tom
Danner commented, 'This is the first coach since Coach Bryant who could
make the rain stop.'"
"Well, I certainly won't take credit for
that, but I will tell you that we were walking the halls all day saying,
'It can't rain on our practice!"'
