Who plays and who redshirts

This is My good friend ALCRtide's Take on Preseason Camp so far.

A pre-scrimmage look at who plays and who redshirts and who is playing for #2 or starting slots today and in Tuesday's final scrimmage before we turn to preparing for MTSU next week.

QB - We're pretty much set at 1, 2 & 3 with Brodie, JPW and Guillon. Jimmy Barnes redshirts for sure I believe.
Jimmy Johns - if he plays RB (and I think there is no doubt he will) - becomes the emergency #4 QB.

RB/FB - Roy Upchurch and Jimmy Johns. Glen Coffee showed his stuff in scrimmage one, but he is continuing to be evaluated. I think all three play this fall. So these three are playing for who gets what playing time in games this fall. That will likely be determined by what plays we run and who does what best. We are in great shpae with KD, McClain and Tim Castille here.

WR - The only real question is who will start and who is 1st off the bench. My guess is if we kicked off today Tyrone Prothro and D.J. Hall would start and Keith Brown, Matt Caddell and Ezekial Knight will be off the bench early. Based on fall camp it's clear we also have Will Oakley and Marcus McKnight in the mix. Oakley just needs to stay healthy and McKnight needs to cut down on mistakes. Matt Miller and Brandon Brooks are probably going to get most of their playing time on special teams, but both can play winning football at WR if needed. It's great being nine deep here with quality athletes. With Nikita Stover and hopefully Tim Hawthorne added to the rotation next year we will be the deepest, most talented receiving corp we've ever had at Alabama in 2006.

TE - Charles Hoke and Travis McCall. Both will play this fall to go with Nick Walker and Greg "Moose" McLain who is healthy and has had his best camp since being at Alabama. Get ready to yell "Moooooooosssseee" this fall. It looks like with the play of McLain, Hoke and McCall that Trent Davidson may redshirt this fall if he doesn't get back by the 3rd game or so. But one or two injuries and that goes out the window. It will take another class to get to full strength at TE.

OL - LG Justin Moon, RG Marlon Davis, RG Mark Sanders, RT Drew Davis, RT/LT Michael Johnson and C/G Taylor Britt. Today may decide who starts at RG and who the key OL back-ups are. It would help if Antoine Caldwell, Cody Davis and B.J. Stabler were healthy, but that's just a matter of time as Caldwell and Davis return to practice next week and Stabler will need another three weeks or so to heal.

DE - Bobby Greenwood, Brandon Fanney, Brandon Deaderick. My guess is all may play this fall. Greenwood is ahead, but wait until the light goes on for Fanney and Deaderick. If one redshirts I think it's Deaderick.DT - Lorenzo Washington, Dominic Lee and Byron Walton. Griffin, Clark and Britt lead at DT. Who will be the fourth and can we go three deep? Walk-on DT J.P. Adams has also had a good camp. Is Byron Walton ready or will he redshirt? We need six here so my guess is everybody may play with Adams or Walton being the 6th with Walton redshirting if he is not in the top 6.

LB - Matt Collins and Prince Hall. Collins seems to have earned a spot on the goal line defense where his toughness, aggresiveness and big hitting ability stand out. Prince Hall, even though he reported out of shape and 15 lbs heavy, has had a very good camp. Both will play at MLB this fall. Both Waldrop and Stamps have reportedly had good camps. It looks right now like Eryk Anders and Zach Schreiber may redshirt and that we have 8 or 9 LB's who will play this fall if you add in Juke King. That would be Ryans, Jones, Roach, Hall, Collins, Simpson, Stamps, Waldrop and King.

DB - With Roman Harper, Charley Peprah, Ramzee Robinson, Anthony Madison, Jeffrey Dukes and Simeon Castille everybody else is playing for 2nd and 3rd string. So this is a big scrimmage for Marcus Carter, Lionel Mitchell and Cory Reamer . It appears Eric Gray (hamstring), Chris Keys (slight concussion)and Travis Robinson (hamsting) may be held out due to minor injuries. My guess is the coaches would love to go about 9 or 10 deep this fall so with that in mind my guess is Eric Gray, Marcus Carter and Chris Keyes play (to make 9) with Lionel Mitchell or Cory Reamer the 10th possibility. That would mean Chris Rogers and Travis Robinson would redshirt along with either Mitchell and/or Reamer. Aaron McDaniel has already redshirted, but it may take another year before he gets any real playing time.

FG Kicker & Punter - My understanding from reading practice reports is that Ryan Saxby may be our FG kicker on September 3rd while it is still up in the air for punter between Schatz and Aul.

So who plays and who redshirts among the freshman? My guess today (which may change between now and the end of the 3rd scrimmage on Tuesday) would be:

Will Likely Play (12 players):
QB - John Parker Wilson
RB - Glenn Coffee, Roy Upchurch, Jimmy Johns
TE - Charles Hoke, Travis McCall
OL - Marlon Davis
DE - Bobby Greenwood, Brandon Fanney
DT - Zo WashingtonLB - Prince Hall
DB - Chris Keys

Could redshirt/Could play (7 players):
OL - Michael Johnson and/or Evan Cardwell (depends on injury situation)
DE - Brandon Deaderick
DT - Byron WaltonLB - Zach Schreiber
DB - Lionel Mitchell, Cory Reamer (I think one of these two will play)

Will likely redshirt (7 players):
QB - Jimmy Barnes
RB - Ali Sharrief
OL - Drew Davis, Scott Deaton
DE - Baron Huber
LB - Eryk Anders
DB - Chris Rogers

Other players who may redshirt (3 players):
RB - Aaron Johns (Soph)
TE - Trent Davidson (Soph)
DB - Travis Robinson (Soph)

Thoughts welcome as always.

Roll Tide