Tide Tidbits - November 28, 2008

Bama seniors want to finish season the right way
He is Alabama’s alpha dog. Out front, leading the way, screaming at his teammates. “Tiger Week!” senior center Antoine Caldwell barks as the rest of the Alabama Crimson Tide stretches. “C’mon! Let’s go! We don’t eat! We don’t sleep!” His teammates hide smiles. Andre Smith calls Caldwell “The Show” for just this kind of performance. “As far as practice, he’s always enthusiastic, cracking jokes, things of that nature,” Smith said. “He’s a great guy. He’s going to be missed.” “We have a great group of seniors. They have done a fantastic job,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “Regardless of what happens in the future, this senior class is going to be, in my mind, the group that sort of turned it around.”

Alabama ready to stop Auburn's returner Dunn
The challenge of limiting Robert Dunn's explosiveness is an immense one. No Alabama player doubts that. Yet the answer for how to stop Auburn's electric punt returner comes easily. They'll do what they do during the week in chasing around their own star, Javier Arenas. "Playing against Javy every day gives us a good practice in going against a good returner," said junior Marquis Johnson, a gunner on the punt coverage unit. "We work on it, so Saturday, it's like second nature."

Iron Bowl pits veteran quarterback versus youngster
It’s your first Iron Bowl. You’ll remember it forever. Some fans will, too. No. 1 Alabama’s quarterback John Parker Wilson has a little advice for his Auburn counterpart and first-time Iron Bowl participant Kodi Burns. Don’t think of it that way. “You can either go in there thinking it’s just another game or that it’s the Iron Bowl and it’s huge and everybody’s going to be watching it and they’re going to remember it,” Wilson said. “You can make it bigger than it is.”

Roll Tide!