Nick Saban feels optimistic about a couple of Alabama football players rehabbing from injuries that cut the availability of each during the spring, but one player still has a long way to go before contributing to the Crimson Tide in 2014. The head coach shared injury updates on cornerback Eddie Jackson, defensive lineman Darren Lake and wide receiver DeAndrew White at a charity golf tournament.
According to Saban, Lake and White are doing the best of the three. White underwent toe surgery in January and has already been cleared for football activity. Lake is rehabbing a pectoral injury and has been participating in all summer workouts to this point. Jackson is a different story. After tearing his ACL in a spring scrimmage in April, Jackson is still not ready to participate in much activity this summer.
“He’s still just rehabbing,” Saban said, according to AL.com. “He’s not full speed. He’s not been released to do football-related type activity yet. We’re encouraged by the rehab. He’s working really hard and doing a good job.”
Three members of Alabama’s recent recruiting class have not yet checked in with the Crimson Tide, but Saban said there is no reason to be alarmed about that.
“Yeah, we have three guys that have not reported for various reasons, and some of those things deal with when they graduate from high school, when they can report, whether they actually get in the window of being able to go first semester,” Saban said in a report by AL.com. “And a couple other guys have to clean up some academic issues. So we’ll see how those things go over the course of the summer.”
Saban did not name any specific players when discussing the recruiting class or academic concerns.