Tide simulates game atmosphere in scrimmage

TUSCALOOSA — Nick Saban said he wanted to make Saturday’s final preseason scrimmage as game-like as possible.

“We actually played the first 60 plays like it was a game,” Saban said. “Coaches in the press box using the head sets, all that kind of stuff. Playing the kicking situations as they came up.”

With a big exception. Place-kicker Leigh Tiffin wasn’t on the field.

“We wanted to give some other people an opportunity so Corey (Smith) did most of the kicking,” Saban said. “Leigh’s leg was a little tired, we didn’t want to push it, so he’ll get two more days off and (will be in) probably pretty good shape when we get back.”

Statistics for special teams weren’t available.

Position experiment: Running back Chris Jordan, a freshman from Brentwood, Tenn., lined up at linebacker on Saturday.

Saban said Jordan has been impressive in camp, but getting on the field at linebacker may be easier than at running back.

“We had a little bit of a logjam at running back and we’re a little thin at linebacker,” Saban shrugged. “So we talked to him just yesterday about, ‘How about, see how it goes at linebacker for a few days?’ We can always move you back to running back.”

Saban likes Jordan’s athletic ability.

“He’s another one of those guys that, if you rank the team from 1 to 95, he might be one of the guys that fit into the top half of the team,” Saban said. “He wasn’t really in that circumstance on the depth chart. ... He’s a very bright guy, a very conscientious guy.

“We scrimmaged him out there (at linebacker) some plays today. He probably didn’t know what to do, but he ran and tackled the guy with the ball — I did notice that. We’ll just see how he develops. That’s just a trial right now. We’ll see how it goes.”

Injury update: Saban said coaches continue to shuffle the front seven.

“We’ve moved a lot of guys around the defensive line, we’ve moved a lot of guys around,” he said. “We actually played Cory Reamer at ‘sam’ today and (Don’ta) Hightower at ‘will,’ but that’s just kind of an experiment. Charlie Higgenbotham pulled a groin muscle so he was out for today. He may be out a few more days; it’s kind of day to day with him.

“Josh Chapman sprained his knee today but I think he’ll be back by Tuesday. It’s not a big deal, not a serious injury. We were fortunate to stay relatively healthy.”

Golden reunion: Alabama’s 1958 football team held a reunion this weekend.

The 50th anniversary of Bear Bryant’s first Alabama team was back on campus as a group on Friday. There was a ceremony Saturday morning at Denny Chimes and the group was invited to attend Saturday’s scrimmage.

Mal Moore was a freshman at Alabama in 1958.

“No question this is a close group,” Moore said.

Gene Stallings, an assistant coach on that team, was in town Friday night but returned home to Texas Saturday morning.

Night moves at home: Alabama has released game times for the first two homes games of the season.

The Tide will play Sept. 6 against Tulane and Sept. 13 against Western Kentucky. Kickoff for both games is at 6:07 p.m. at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Pay-per-view broadcasts will be available via the Crimson Tide Sports Network. Viewers can order the game through their local cable provider. It will also be available on DirecTV and Dish Network.

The broadcast will be anchored by Chris Stewart. Tyler Watts will be the analyst and Barry Krauss will be on the sideline.