Tide Tidbits - December 12, 2008

Four from Tide make Freshman All-SEC squad
Alabama’s football team is wrapping up final exams this week, but postseason honors keep coming for the Crimson Tide. Four Alabama freshmen — including a backup offensive lineman who didn’t start a game — were named to the All-SEC Freshman Team on Thursday.
John Michael Boswell, a 6-foot-5, 300-pound tackle from Tuscaloosa, joined Crimson Tide receiver Julio Jones, running back Mark Ingram and linebacker Dont’a Hightower on the team. “We just came in here with the attitude that we wanted to help turn this program around,” Ingram said when asked about Alabama’s No. 1 recruiting class after the SEC Championship Game.

Nick Saban: "This should be the team of the year award"
Said Saban: "This should be the team of the year award ... This team made a commitment early in the season to a little pyramid of success that we have as a team. They played together. They trusted and respected each other. Everyone was responsible for their own self-determination in terms of what they tried to do to help the team be successful. There was a lot of positive energy. There was a lot of hard work and a lot of discipline involved in what this team did in representing themselves as champions. They didn't win a championship, but they represented themselves as champions."

Firm foundation
When Utah takes the field against the University of Alabama at the Louisiana Superdome on Jan. 2, the Utes will do so with a cast of mostly unheralded players, a roster devoid of many big-name recruits. The Tide has a lineup of several big-name, five-star recruits: players like Julio Jones and Andre Smith, who both were the top-ranked players at their respective positions by Scout.com in their recruiting classes. Meanwhile, the Utes have only one player in their lineup who was a four-star recruit coming out of high school, offensive lineman Walter Watts, who was originally a commitment to UCLA. Watts ended up in Salt Lake City when it appeared he wouldn’t qualify academically for the Bruins. His father, Walter Sr., was a former basketball player under Rick Majerus for the Utes.

Alabama left tackle Andre Smith wins Outland Trophy
Andre Smith arrived at Alabama in 2006 from Huffman High School as the nation's top-rated lineman recruit. Not a bad projection. By the end of his third season, he is the top lineman in college football. Smith, the 6-foot-4, 330-pound Birmingham native, won the 2008 Outland Trophy on Thursday at the ESPNU College Football Awards Show from The Walt Disney World Resort. It was further affirmation of his coach's belief in Smith's standing.

Roll Tide!