Thursday, March 30, 2006

Leah Drury

The Southeastern Conference announced today that 330 student-athletes competing in winter sports were honored with academic All-SEC recognition by the league. Four Alabama women's basketball players were among that number, as Leah Drury, Lauren Hill, Kate Mastin and Dee Merriweather were among the list of honorees.

Drury, a junior guard from Greensboro, earned academic all-conference honors for the first time in her career. The sports fitness management major played in 25 games for the Tide last season and averaged 3.4 points and 2.4 rebounds per game.

Hill, a biology major with plans to attend medical school, was one of Alabama's best offensive players in 2005-06. Despite battling a knee injury, Hill averaged 10.3 points per game, including a career high 24 points against Vanderbilt in the final game of the season at the SEC Tournament. The New Orleans native earned her second academic All-SEC honor, having previously been honored after the 2003-04 season.

Mastin, a guard from Boaz who made and attempted more three-point shots than any other Tide player this season, earned her third academic All-SEC honor in as many seasons. The marketing major started in all 24 games she appeared in last season for Alabama and scored 9.6 points per game.

Merriweather, who graduated from the Capstone in December with a degree in consumer sciences, became an academic All-SEC performer for the third time in her career. Merriweather, who ended her career second on the Alabama career charts in blocked shots with 138, also led the Tide and finished fifth in the SEC in rebounding by pulling down 8.4 per game. She is enrolled in graduate classes at Alabama this semester.

In all, 33 athletes from Alabama made the league's winter honor roll. Florida had more honorees than any other conference school with 59

Posted at 04:26 am by eich87
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Tide Football has Final Practice before A-day

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Mike Shula

The Crimson Tide football team had its final workout of the spring season before Saturday's A-Day game.

The team worked out for just over two hours in full pads, while concentrating mostly on tackling.

"I thought it was a really good practice," said head coach Mike Shula. "We spent a lot of time basically tackling, probably a little less the last half of practice. I think that's what this football team needs. I think we did some good things on the offensive side and we did some good things defensively.

"Roy Upchurch had a good day; Jimmy Johns had a couple long runs; John Parker Wilson did some nice things and then missed out on a couple other opportunities or he could have really had a nice day."

Shula continued to praise the defense particularly the area of the red zone defense.

When asked whether he'd like to see the offense or defense prevail in Saturday's scrimmage, Shula commented that he'd like to see a little of both.

"I'd like to see the offense score points because everyone wants to see points on the board, but I want to see our defense come together. I hope you see good effort, you see good execution and we keep everybody healthy."

A-Day is scheduled for Saturday at 1:30 p.m. CT at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The team will break up into offense and defense with the first team offense going against the first team defense. The second team defense will go up against the second team offense.

Posted at 04:24 am by eich87
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Ronald Steele and Chuck Davis are named to Academic All-SEC Team

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Ronald Steele

Chuck Davis

Ronald Steele and Chuck Davis are known for starring on the basketball court, and on Thursday, the Southeastern Conference lauded the University of Alabama basketball players for their starring roles in the classroom.

The two were named to the 2005-06 SEC Winter Academic Honor Roll. It's the second time the league office has honored Steele for his work in the classroom. The All-SEC sophomore point guard made the SEC's Freshman Honor Roll last season. The Birmingham native is majoring in consumer sciences at Alabama.

Davis, a Selma native, makes his first appearance on the Academic All-SEC list. He graduated within three-and-a-half years of enrolling at Alabama, earning his degree in consumer marketing in December 2005. Before a knee injury ended his senior season in January, Davis was a preseason All-SEC player who was also a John R. Wooden National Player of the Year candidate as well as a Senior CLASS award candidate given to college basketball's top senior player on and off the court.

"I could not be prouder of these two men," said Alabama coach Mark Gottfried, himself an Academic All-SEC award winner as a communications major his senior season at Alabama in 1987. "You have to be very disciplined to play at the high level they play on the court and to achieve in the classroom like they have. It shows their commitment to making the most of this opportunity, and I'm proud of them for what they've done and how they continue to represent Alabama in such a positive light."

Gottfried has produced 19 Academic All-SEC awards since his first season in 1999, and the majority of those have been his starters. In fact, in 2003, four of his five starters were named Academic All-SEC. His starters who have won the award which requires a 3.0 or better GPA and sophomore or above status and the year they were named Academic All-SEC include Jeremy Hays (1999, 2000, 2001), Travis Stinnett (2000, 2001, 2002), Tarik London (2001), Terrance Meade (2001, 2002, 2003), Erwin Dudley (2003), Earnest Shelton (2003), Kenny Walker (2003), Antoine Pettway (2004), Steele on the freshman honor roll in 2005, and now Steele and Davis in 2006.

Posted at 04:22 am by eich87
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DJ Hall Shines at A-Day Game

Saturday, April 01, 2006

DJ Hall

Stats | Play-by-Play

Spring Awards

Mike Shula Quotes
ON A-DAY GAME
"I told the players I thought this was a great way to end spring practice. I thought the crowd was great. It's by far the largest since we've been here. I told our players these fans are really interested to see what we're going to be about. I thought we did some good things and our effort was great."

"Our execution was good at times and not good at times. Overall I was pleased with the way our younger guys handled the crowd today and kept their poise."

Player Quotes
DJ Hall
ON A-DAY GAME
"It felt good. It was good to see all the fans come out today to support the A-Day game. It makes you feel excited about the season because it was only the A-Day game and there was a bunch of people out there. You just want to go out there and make plays and make the fans happy."

ON HIS TOUCHDOWN
"I was running down field and John Parker (Wilson) stepped up because he was getting blitzed. He threw it short and I came back to the ball. Simeon (Castille) thought I was still running when I came back. I didn't see anyone across the field. Then I got a couple of great blocks and just sprang it.

John Parker Wilson
ON A-DAY GAME
"I think we had a good day. We had too many interceptions and it left a sour taste in my mouth, but I think we did good overall."

ON DJ HALL TOUCHDOWN PASS
"My arm got hit and they said it was a sack but I don't think it was. DJ came back and got it. We talked about throwing it under like that and him stopping and coming to get it. He did it and made the whole defense miss."

Juwan Simpson
THIS SPRING OVERALL
"This spring overall has been pretty good. I can't be happier with the team. I think we made great strides defensively considering we lost a lot of good players. A lot of young guys have stepped up and done a great job."

ON TERRENCE JONES' PROGRESSION
"He's always been good whether he's been a back up or starting. Now that he's in a starting role he has more exposure and he did a heck of job."

Bryan Kilpatrick
ON SPRING PRACTICE AND TODAY'S GAME
"It felt good to play and they ran the ball well. Defensively we played well because we got five interceptions."

Posted at 04:17 am by eich87
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