Tide Tidbits - August 26, 2008

Offensive line play may determine Tide's fate
The best defense, Alabama senior Antoine Caldwell noted, is a good offense. "We know how good this offensive line can be," said one of the Crimson Tide's three fifth-year seniors who will start for the third consecutive year at center after starting his redshirt freshman year at left guard. "We just have to make sure we get it together early and make sure we can put that on display. This football team is counting on us up front to get it done and this year we really don't have any excuses not to."

Alabama backup quarterback Nick Fanuzzi plans to transfer
University of Alabama reserve quarterback Nick Fanuzzi has left the team and plans to seek a transfer, Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said today. Fanuzzi, a redshirt freshman from San Antonio, Texas, was not included among the top four quarterbacks on the depth chart Alabama released today.

Tide's Julio Jones grabs starting job
"He hasn't come in expecting anything just because of what he did in high school," Wilson said. "He's shown me and the rest of the guys that he's gonna earn his position, earn his spot and so far he's done that every day." Jones and freshman linebacker Don'ta Hightower both are listed as starters for Saturday night's game against No. 9 Clemson in Atlanta's Georgia Dome. Only nine freshmen have started a season opener for Alabama.

No more Raycom (JP) games for SEC football?
ESPN will pay the Southeastern Conference a staggering $2.25 billion over the next 15 years -- about $150 million a year -- for the conference's TV rights, giving the network all of the SEC's content that was not taken by CBS, industry sources confirm. The deal effectively ends any conversation of a conference network, and it knocks Raycom Sports (formerly Lincoln Financial and Jefferson Pilot) out of the SEC's distribution business for the first time since 1986, when JP Sports began distributing SEC basketball.

Roll Tide!