The Alabama Crimson Tide football team began practice this week in preparation for its game against the Vanderbilt Commodores this Saturday in Bryant-Denny Stadium. After big wins against Arkansas and Florida, head coach Nick Saban spoke of how he was happy with what his team was made of, but how the team needs to eliminate mental errors.

“In boxing, you never know when you have a good fighter until the guy gets hit and gets staggered and see how he takes a punch,” Saban said. “In a tough environment, in a tough situation, I was really pleased with the way our team sort of competed through a lot of things that happened early. But, the biggest thing we have to do is eliminate mental errors that give other teams opportunities. Whether it’s how we block them, how we run routes, how we get in the right formations, or how we play coverages.”

Change of Practice Schedule

The Tide took to the practice field Monday for a lighter practice focused on walk-throughs. Coach Saban said it was planned to be this way, but not because of the outcomes of past games or because of who the upcoming opponent is.

“This sort of change of schedule for today was something that was planned,” Saban said. “It had nothing to do with outcomes, and it has nothing to do with opponents. We have done this every year. We are going to do some walk-throughs today, but I just think that it’s important after so many games that they have a little extra recovery time, and I think that it’s important that everybody knows that regardless of what happened in the last game, this was planned for this week, and we have done it every year.”

Team pleased with quarterback play

            Redshirt-sophomore quarterback AJ McCarron has opened the season strong, completing over 62 percent of his passes for 919 yards. He hasn’t thrown an interception since the season opener against Kent State. Junior offensive lineman Barrett Jones spoke highly of McCarron and said the team is very pleased with his progression.

“I think we feel great about it,” Jones said. “AJ, I was really impressed with this past game, with his poise. Especially when something like that happens, where they go out there and score a touchdown way early, and he never panicked. I think we’re really impressed with the way he is coming along and with how poised he was in a hostile environment like that.”

Injury Report

Coach Saban gave the current statuses of sophomore linebacker C. J. Mosley and sophomore running back Eddie Lacy, who rushed for 32 yards and a touchdown Saturday against Florida.

“From an injuries standpoint, C. J. Mosley will do some things on the practice field this week,” Saban said. “I don’t know where he’ll be by the end of the week. Eddie (Lacy) will probably be in a boot for a couple days, but we will make a determination on him by the end of the week, as well.”