2012 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

Previous season

In 2011, Alabama came into the season ranked No. 2 in both preseason polls. The Crimson Tide won eight consecutive games to open the season before they lost to then No. 1-ranked LSU 9–6 in overtime. Alabama then won its remaining games and finished the regular season with eleven wins and one loss (11–1) and secured their fourth consecutive ten-win season. The Crimson Tide then finished No. 2 in the final BCS rankings over both Oklahoma State and Stanford to set up a rematch against LSU in the 2012 BCS National Championship Game. In the game, Alabama defeated LSU 21–0, allowed only 92 yards of total offense, and became the first team in BCS bowl history to shut out their opponent. The victory gave Alabama their 9th consensus national championship and Nick Saban became the only coach in college football to win three BCS Championships.

Spring practice

Spring practice began on March 9 and concluded with the annual A-Day game on April 14. The only players that did not compete during the spring practice period were Eddie Lacy, Blake Sims and Arie Kouandjio due to injuries; and Duron Carter, Michael Bowman and Ronald Carswell due to team suspensions.

In the annual A-Day game at the conclusion of spring practice, the White team composed of defensive starters defeated the Crimson team of offensive starters 24–15. The Crimson team opened on offense and on their first offensive play, AJ McCarron threw an interception to Robert Lester. Each team then traded punts and the first quarter ended tied at zero. On the first offensive play of the second quarter, T. J. Yeldon was tackled in the endzone for a safety to give the Crimson team a 2–0 lead. The White team responded on their next possession with a 48-yard Cade Foster field goal and took a 3–2 lead before McCarron threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Christion Jones that gave the Crimson team a 9–3 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, the White team scored a pair of touchdowns on successive possessions and took a 17–9 lead. Both were made on a pair of long Phillip Sims touchdown passes to Chris Black on a 44-yard reception and to Yeldon on a 50-yard reception. The Crimson team responded with a two-play, 70-yard drive that saw a Demetrius Hart run of 23 yards and a 47-yard McCarron touchdown pass to Kenny Bell. After the unsuccessful two-point conversion, the White team led 17–15 at the end of the third quarter. In the fourth, both defenses again held both offenses scoreless. The only points came late in the game when Vinnie Sunseri recovered a Michael Williams fumble and returned it 21 yards for a touchdown and a 24–15 White victory.

For his performance, Adrian Hubbard earned the Dwight Stephenson Lineman of the A-Day Game Award. In the game, Hubbard had seven tackles that included four tackles for a loss and three quarterback sacks. On offense, Yeldon earned the Dixie Howell Memorial Most Valuable Player of the A-Day Game Award for his 179 all-purpose yards on the day that included 88 rushing and 91 receiving, and a 50-yard touchdown reception.

Fall camp

By August, Alabama had a combined 31 players on 13 different preseason award watch lists. These players included Nico Johnson, Robert Lester, C. J. Mosley and Jesse Williams for the Chuck Bednarik Award; Johnson and Mosley for the Butkus Award; Barrett Jones and AJ McCarron for the Walter Camp Award; Jeremy Shelley for the Lou Groza Award; D. J. Fluker, Johnson, Jones, Mosley, Chance Warmack and Williams for the Lombardi Award; Michael Williams for the John Mackey Award; Eddie Lacy and McCarron for the Maxwell Award; Johnson, Lester, Dee Milliner, Mosley and Williams for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy; McCarron for the Davey O'Brien Award; Fluker, Jones, Warmack and Williams for the Outland Trophy; Jones for the Rimington Trophy; Lester for the Jim Thorpe Award; and Lacy for the Doak Walker Award. On August 3, the first official summer practice was held at the Thomas-Drew Practice Facility, and on August 28, Saban released the depth chart for the game one starters against Michigan.

Coaching staff

Alabama head coach Nick Saban was in his sixth year as the Crimson Tide's head coach for the 2012 season. During his previous five years with Alabama, he led the Crimson Tide to an overall record of 50 wins and 12 losses (50–12) and both the 2009 and 2011 national championships. On January 18, 2012, Alabama officially hired Doug Nussmeier from the Washington Huskies as offensive coordinator and Lance Thompson from the Tennessee Volunteers as outside linebackers coach. Nussmeier took the place of Jim McElwain who left to become the head coach at Colorado State, and Thompson took the place of Sal Sunseri who left to become the defensive coordinator at Tennessee.

Departed starters

At the conclusion of the 2011 season, of all the draft-eligible junior starters, Dont'a Hightower, Dre Kirkpatrick and Trent Richardson declared their eligibility for the 2012 National Football League (NFL) Draft. In addition to those who declared early, several other starters graduated after the 2011 season. Graduating starters on Alabama's offense included Darius Hanks and Marquis Maze at wide receiver, Brad Smelley at tight end and William Vlachos at center. Graduating starters on Alabama's defense included Mark Barron at safety, Josh Chapman at nose guard, Jerrell Harris and Courtney Upshaw at linebacker and DeQuan Menzie at cornerback. The only graduating starter on Alabama's special teams was Maze as the return specialist.

Depth chart

Starters and backups:

Recruiting class

Prior to National Signing Day on February 1, 2012, six high school players that graduated early and two junior college transfers of the 2012 recruiting class enrolled for the spring semester in order to participate in spring practice. These early enrollments included: defensive lineman Ryan Anderson, wide receivers Chris Black and Amari Cooper, linebacker Dillon Lee, defensive tackle Alphonse Taylor and running back T. J. Yeldon from high school and defensive backs Deion Belue and Travell Dixon from junior college. On February 1, seventeen additional players signed their National Letter of Intent to play at Alabama that completed the 2012 recruiting class.

Alabama's recruiting class was highlighted by thirteen players from the "ESPN 150": No. 6 Landon Collins (safety); No. 11 Eddie Williams (athlete); No. 20 Cyrus Jones (athlete); No. 22 Chris Black (wide receiver); No. 30 Brandon Greene (offensive tackle); No. 31 Geno Smith (cornerback); No. 49 Amari Cooper (wide receiver); No. 55 T. J. Yeldon (running back); No. 59 Dillon Lee (outside linebacker); No. 93 Ryan Anderson (outside linebacker); No. 100 Korren Kirven (defensive tackle); No. 109 Reggie Ragland (inside linebacker); and No. 121 Tyler Hayes (outside linebacker). The Crimson Tide signed the No. 1 recruiting class according to Rivals.com and the No. 2 recruiting class according to Scout.com. In recognition for his accomplishments in helping Alabama land its highly rated 2012 class, Jeremy Pruitt was named Recruiter of the Year by 247Sports.com.

Schedule

The 2012 schedule was officially released on December 28, 2011. With the addition of both Missouri and Texas A&M to the conference, the SEC abandoned its previous scheduling format to accommodate its expansion. As such, Alabama faced all six Western Division opponents: Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Texas A&M. They also faced two Eastern Division opponents: official SEC rival Tennessee and Missouri. Alabama did not play SEC Eastern Division opponents Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Florida or Vanderbilt as part of the regular season. Alabama also played four non-conference games: Michigan of the Big Ten Conference, Western Kentucky University (WKU) and Florida Atlantic of the Sun Belt Conference and Western Carolina of the Southern Conference. Alabama had their only bye week between their games against Ole Miss and Missouri.

With their victory over Auburn, Alabama won the SEC Western Division championship and qualified to play in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia. In the SEC Championship Game, Alabama defeated the Bulldogs 32–28 and captured their 23rd SEC championship in football. On December 2, the Crimson Tide qualified to play in the BCS National Championship Game against Notre Dame after they finished in the No. 2 position in the final BCS standings.

In addition to weekly television coverage, radio coverage for all games was broadcast statewide on The Crimson Tide Sports Network (CTSN). The radio announcers for the 2012 season were Eli Gold with play-by-play, Phil Savage with color commentary and Chris Stewart with sideline reports.

Rankings

Entering the 2012 season, the Crimson Tide was ranked No. 2 in both the AP and Coaches' Preseason Polls. After their 41–14 victory over Michigan to open the season, Alabama moved into the No. 1 position in both polls on September 4. When the first BCS rankings were unveiled on October 14, the Crimson Tide were in the No. 1 position. Alabama remained in first place in all the major polls through their loss to Texas A&M on November 10 when they dropped to No. 4 in the AP, Harris and BCS standings and to No. 5 in the Coaches' poll. Prior to the loss, the ten weeks spent as the No. 1 team in the AP Poll set a school record for consecutive weeks ranked No. 1. The week after the loss to A&M, the Crimson Tide moved up into the No. 2 position as a result of upset losses for both Kansas State and Oregon on November 17. On December 2, the final BCS rankings were released with the Crimson Tide in the No. 2 position to qualify for the BCS National Championship Game. After their victory over Notre Dame in the BCS National Championship Game, Alabama finished in the No. 1 position unanimously in both the AP and Coaches' polls as consensus national champions.

After the season

After their victory over Notre Dame for the national championship, the team arrived at Tuscaloosa Regional Airport on the afternoon of January 8, and several hundred fans were there to greet them upon their arrival. On January 19, a championship parade was made through the streets of Tuscaloosa in recognition of the 2012 championship season. The parade concluded with Eli Gold as the master of ceremonies for an event on the Walk of Champions at Bryant–Denny Stadium that honored the 2012 team. On April 16, the team made their trip to the White House, where President Barack Obama offered congratulatory remarks for their championship season. As part of the A-Day celebrations on April 20, the 2012 team captains Barret Jones, Damion Square and Chance Warmack were honored at the Walk of Fame ceremony at the base of Denny Chimes.

Final statistics

After their victory over Notre Dame in the BCS National Championship Game, Alabama's final team statistics were released. On the defensive side of the ball, of the 120 FBS teams, the Crimson Tide was ranked near the top of all major defensive categories nationally and first in all categories in conference. They ranked first in total defense (250.00 yards per game), scoring defense (10.93 points per game) and rushing defense (76.36 yards per game) and ranked seventh in passing defense (173.64 yards per game). Individually, C. J. Mosley led the team with 107 total tackles, 41 of which were assisted, and 66 solo tackles. Adrian Hubbard was tied for 73rd nationally, 8th in conference and 1st on the team with 7 quarterback sacks. Hubbard was also 20th in conference and 1st on the team with 11 tackles for loss. Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix was tied for 30th nationally, 3rd in conference and 1st on the team with five of Alabama's 18 total interceptions of the season.

On offense, of the 120 FBS teams, Alabama ranked 12th in scoring offense (38.71 points per game), 16th in rushing offense (227.50 yards per game), 31st in total offense (445.50 yards per game) and 75th in passing offense (218.00 yards per game). In conference, they ranked second in rushing and scoring offense, fourth in total offense and eighth in passing offense. Individually, AJ McCarron led the nation with a pass efficiency rating of 175.28. McCarron also led the team in passing offense and completed 211 of 314 passes for 2,933 passing yards and 30 touchdowns. Amari Cooper led the team with 59 receptions for 1,000 yards and 11 touchdown receptions. Eddie Lacy led the team with 204 rushing attempts for 1,322 yards and 17 touchdown runs. T. J. Yeldon was second on the team with 175 rushing attempts for 1,108 yards and 12 touchdown runs. Nationally, their total rushing yards placed Lacy 40th (3rd in conference) and Yeldon 65th (9th in conference).

Awards

Following the SEC Championship Game, multiple Alabama players were recognized for their on-field performances with a variety of awards and recognitions. At the team awards banquet on December 2, Barrett Jones, Damian Square and Chance Warmack were each named the permanent captains of the 2012 squad. At that time C. J. Mosley was also named the 2012 most valuable player with Nico Johnson and Dee Milliner named defensive players of the year and AJ McCarron and Jones named offensive players of the year.

Conference

The SEC recognized several players for their individual performances with various awards. On December 5, Barret Jones was named the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year. On December 3, Jones, Dee Milliner, C. J. Mosley and Chance Warmack were named to the AP All-SEC First Team. D. J. Fluker, AJ McCarron, Eddie Lacy and Jesse Williams were named to the AP All-SEC Second Team; Robert Lester and Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix were named to the AP All-SEC Honorable Mention Team. Fluker, Jones, Lacy, Milliner, Mosley and Warmack were named to the Coaches' All-SEC First Team. Lester and McCarron were named to the Coaches' All-SEC Second Team. T. J. Yeldon, Amari Cooper, Ryan Kelly and D. J. Pettway were named to the SEC All-Freshman Team.

National

After the season, a number of Alabama players were named as national award winners and finalists. Finalists for major awards from the Crimson Tide included: Dee Milliner for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and the Jim Thorpe Award, C. J. Mosley for the Butkus Award, AJ McCarron for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and the Manning Award and Barrett Jones for the Lombardi Award and the Outland Trophy. On December 4, Jones was awarded the William V. Campbell Trophy, often referred to as the "Academic Heisman," and on December 6 he was awarded the Rimington Trophy as the top center in college football and named as the Academic All-America of the Year. On the coaches' side, defensive coordinator Kirby Smart was named the 2012 AFCA FBS Assistant Coach of the Year.

For their individual performances during the regular season, several players were named to various national All-American Teams. Dee Milliner, C. J. Mosley and Chance Warmack were named to the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) All-America Team. Barrett Jones, Milliner, Mosley and Warmack were named to the Walter Camp All-America First Team (WC). D. J. Fluker was named to the Walter Camp All-America Second Team. Jones, Milliner, Mosley and Warmack were named to the Sporting News (TSN) All-America Team. Amari Cooper, Denzel Devall and T. J. Yeldon were named to the TSN Freshman All-America Team. Milliner, Mosley, Jones and Warmack were named to the Associated Press All-American First Team; Fluker was named to the Associated Press All-American Second Team; and AJ McCarron was named to the Associated Press All-American Third Team. Jones, Milliner and Warmack were named to the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) All-America Team.

The NCAA recognizes five All-America lists in the determination of both consensus and unanimous All-America selections: the AP, AFCA, the FWAA, TSN and the WC. In order for an honoree to earn a consensus selection, he must be selected as first team in three of the five lists recognized by the NCAA, and unanimous selections must be selected as first team in all five lists. As such, for the 2012 season both Milliner and Warmack were unanimous selections and Jones and Mosley were consensus selections.

All-star games

Several Alabama players were selected by postseason all-star games. Nico Johnson, Robert Lester, Carson Tinker and Michael Williams were selected to play in the Senior Bowl. Invitations were also extended to Barrett Jones, Chance Warmack and Jesse Williams to participate in the game. Additionally, D. J. Fluker and Justin Pugh of Syracuse were invited to compete in the Senior Bowl as fourth-year juniors and became the first non-seniors to participate in the history of the game. Seniors Quinton Dial, Kelly Johnson, Jeremy Shelley, Damion Square and Carson Tinker participated in the inaugural Raycom College Football All-Star Classic. Alabama did not have players participate in the East–West Shrine Game, Casino del Sol College All-Star Game or the National Football League Players Association Collegiate Bowl.

Coaching changes

In the weeks that followed the conclusion of the season, several changes were made to the Alabama coaching staff. On December 20 defensive backs coach Jeremy Pruitt was officially hired as defensive coordinator at Florida State as the replacement for Mark Stoops. Pruitt remained on staff through the 2013 BCS National Championship Game. On January 9, 2013, former Colorado defensive coordinator Greg Brown was hired as Pruitt's replacement for secondary coach. On February 8, 2013, offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland resigned his position and took an assistant coaching position with the Philadelphia Eagles. On February 18, former Florida International head coach Mario Cristobal was hired as Stoutland's replacement for offensive line coach. On February 21, Mike Groh resigned from his position as wide receivers coach and took the same position with the Chicago Bears. Florida State's tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator Billy Napier was later hired as Groh's replacement as wide receivers coach.

NFL Draft

Of all the draft-eligible juniors, D. J. Fluker, Eddie Lacy and Dee Milliner declared their eligibility for the 2013 NFL Draft on January 11. At the time of their announcement, Milliner was projected to be a first-round pick and both Fluker and Lacy were projected to be no lower than second-round picks. Adrian Hubbard, AJ McCarron, C. J. Mosley and Anthony Steen had each previously indicated they would not declare for the draft and would return for their senior seasons. In February 2013, ten Alabama players, seven seniors and three juniors, were invited to the NFL Scouting Combine. The invited players were defensive linemen Quinton Dial, Damion Square and Jesse Williams, linebacker Nico Johnson, defensive backs Robert Lester and Dee Milliner, running back Eddie Lacy and offensive linemen D. J. Fluker, Barrett Jones and Chance Warmack.

In the first round, three Crimson Tide players were selected consecutively: Milliner (9th New York Jets), Warmack (10th Tennessee Titans), and Fluker (11th San Diego Chargers). Lacy was selected in the second round (61st Green Bay Packers); Johnson (99th Kansas City Chiefs) and Jones (113th St. Louis Rams) were selected in the fourth round; Jesse Williams (137th Seattle Seahawks) and Dial (157th San Francisco 49ers) were selected in the fifth round; and Michael Williams (211th Detroit Lions) was selected in the seventh round. In the days after the draft, four players from the 2012 squad that were not drafted signed as undrafted free agents. These players included Lester (Carolina Panthers), Carson Tinker (Jacksonville Jaguars), Damion Square (Philadelphia Eagles) and Jeremy Shelley (Atlanta Falcons).