Alabama softball: No. 1 Tide shuts out South Carolina. 4C
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S A T U R D A Y , A P R I L 2 , 2011
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ALABAMA FOOTBALL
First scrimmage will be big test for Tide newcomers By Chase Goodbread Sports Writer
Competitiveness, determination and focus have turned Kayla Hoffman into an All-American gymnast and leader for the Crimson Tide
TUSCALOOSA | Aaron Douglas has seen plenty of Jeff Stoutland over the last couple of weeks. Today, however, the University of Alabama left tackle won’t be able to turn to Stoutland, UA’s new offensive line coach, for answers. For Douglas and just about any other player still facing some uncertainty two weeks into spring drills, that’s exactly the way UA coach Nick Saban wants it when the Crimson Tide scrimmages for the first time this spring at 1 p.m. “The most important thing that we want to see on Saturday is how the guys compete even though there is no coach standing there encouraging them or telling them what to do, making a call for them or whatever,” said Saban. “Because the next step is ‘Can you take it to the field? Can you go out there on your own and take it to the field, apply the knowledge and experience you have to execute the plays, play with effort and toughness while you do it, and being able to execute your job?’ That’s probably the number one thing we want to see in this first scrimmage.” For a guy like freshman running back Dee Hart, there won’t be any Burton Burns, his position coach, to lean on. For nose guard Jesse Williams, UA defensive line coach Chris Rumph won’t be as accessible. Alabama left guard Chance Warmack has a year of starting experience, but even he is still has a few questions. And today’s scrimmage represents the chance to come up with the right answers on his own. “They are teaching us blitzes, blitzes I’ve never heard of before. Reading ‘backers and safeties, that’s a big key in picking up blitzes that (coach) Saban throws at us in practice,” Warmack said. “We’ve been getting at understanding how they come throughout the play, SEE SCRIMMAGE | 4C
By Alex Scarborough Sports Writer
TUSCALOOSA | Bouncing on her heels, shifting her weight back and forth, she waits. “Visualize the landing,” she tells herself as the enormity of the moment swells up from within her. “Keep on smiling. Don’t let them see you sweat,” she cautions herself. Shaking her hands, she tries to expel the anticipation eating away at her as she stares down the blank, muted-blue runway before her. “Nail this,” she mutters under her breath over and over. It’s almost time. One more deep breath and the suffocating apprehension will finally give way. “No pressure. You’ve gone through this a million times before. Since you were 6 years old, this is what you’ve done,” she whispers to herself. No pressure? Yeah, right.
Smoldering intensity Most world-class athletes tend to fall silent during heightened moments of competition. It’s not that they shrink away from the pressure. It’s a reserved focus, gained from removing themselves from the calamity around them and looking within for their next move. Michael Jordan would sulk at the top of the key with time winding down, hunching over behind the 3-point arc while planning his attack, dribbling the ball slowly at his side, waiting for his moment to strike. Barry Sanders was a master at diagramming his cuts before the football was ever snapped. Behind the quarterback, his eyes would dart side to side, checking every conceivable angle like a general calculating when to flank the enemy and where to hem in his arsenal. When University of Alabama gymnast Kayla Hoffman takes her position in preparation for a vault, she zeroes in with an intensity few can muster, but many have seen on their televisions. SEE HOFFMAN | 4C
NCAA GYMNASTICS REGIONAL ■ When: 6 p.m. ■ Where: Coleman Coliseum ■ Teams: No. 1 seed Alabama, No. 2 Penn State, No. 3 Illinois, No. 4 Auburn, No. 5 Central Michigan and No. 6 Kentucky ■ Tickets: Available through rolltide.com and the Alabama ticket office (348-2262) ■ Radio: 90.7 FM
STAFF PHOTO | MICHELLE LEPIANKA CARTER
Alabama running backs coach Burton Burns works with running back Dee Hart during Friday’s practice. Alabama will hold its first scrimmage today. STAFF PHOTO | MICHELLE LEPIANKA CARTER
NCAA TOURNAMENT
ALABAMA BASEBALL
Knight carving own path out of Wall’s shadow The Associated Press
HOUSTON | Kentucky freshman Brandon Knight was in second grade the last time he received anything other than an ‘A’ on his report card. Don’t call him a ‘nerd’ though, as teammate Terrence Jones did recently when the subject of Knight earning a mere A-minus on a sociology test came up, a grade that still angers Knight weeks later. Truth is, Knight is more perfectionist than bookworm. He simply hates to fail. At anything. An English exam. A basketball game. It’s all the same to the player who’s powered the Wildcats to their first Final Four in 13 years. Kentucky (29-8) plays Connecticut (30-9) tonight for a
Tide takes first game of series with Arkansas
NCAA TOURNAMENT
By Alex Scarborough
Butler vs. VCU
Sports Writer
■ When: 5 p.m. ■ Where: Houston ■ TV: CBS Kentucky vs. Connecticut ■ When: 7:20 ■ Where: Houston ■ TV: CBS
spot in the national title game. And the Wildcats got there behind the thrilling shotmaking of Knight, who has established his own identity among a John Calipari-coached fraternity that includes John Wall, Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans. Knight’s two game-winners SEE KNIGHT | 5C
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kentucky’s Brandon Knight (12) brings the ball up court against North Carolina in last week’s East regional final in Newark, N.J. Knight and the Wildcats play Connecticut in the NCAA tournament seminfinals tonight.
TUSCALOOSA | It wasn’t the way University of Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard would have drawn up the final innings against No. 13 Arkansas, but he’ll take the 5-3 win Friday night in the first of a three-game series against the Razorbacks. No. 21 Alabama, staked to a 5-0 lead in the fifth inning, let it slip away in the final innings, culminating with the game’s tying runs in scoring position in the bottom of the ninth inning for Arkansas. After cruising for four innings, the Crimson Tide followed a pattern its developed all season: get a lead and hold on for dear life. “We’ve done that the last two Friday’s where we have big first innings and try and continue pressure throughout,” Gaspard said. “I thought we had some
other opportunities where we didn’t deliver some hits there. The reliever came in and did a really nice job for them to settle them down.” Nathan Kilcrease, UA’s starting pitcher, went four innings without allowing a run. The trouble for him would come in the fifth, when Arkansas drove in two and swung the momentum back its way. Gaspard said he thought Kilcrease didn’t have his normal stuff after throwing 120-plus pitches the week before, pitching a complete-game shutout against Kentucky. “When you stretch them — and there’s times you have to — the next week they’re not quite as sharp,” Gaspard said. While his fastball wasn’t hitting with the same pop, Gaspard said he was impressed with the way Kilcrease battled, leaving after seven innings of work. SEE ARKANSAS | 4C