SEC says Alabama defender had top performance

Barron (4) celebrates interception with Nico Johnson at Penn State (AP photo by Keith Srakocic)

The weekly SEC honors have been announced and a certain opportunistic Alabama safety heard his name called.

Senior Mark Barron was named defensive player of the week after intercepting a pass, recovering a fumble and making seven tackles in the 27-11 win up at Penn State. Both turnovers came in Alabama territory with the interception at the 9-yard line. Tennessee quarterback Tyler Bray earned offensive player of the week honors.

Linebacker Trey DePriest was co-freshman of the week last Monday after leading the Tide in tackles against Kent State.

Nick Saban addresses the masses coming up at noon. Check back after that for full coverage.

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Who’ll represent Bama at SEC Media Days? List is out

This is more newsworthy to those of us who’ll spend our three days in Hoover, but the list of players appearing at SEC Media Days was released online.

For Alabama, the representatives include Dont’a Hightower, Trent Richardson, and the surprise entry Mark Barron. The senior safety appears to enjoy speaking to writers a little less than most.

Unofficial betting favorites Barrett Jones and William Vlachos liked to spar over who’d be there for the Tide. In the end, neither got the call.

SEC Media Days are July 20-22 in Hoover. Alabama’s day at the circus will be the finale. Click here for the complete list on the SEC website.

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Award season begins, Bama players on watch lists

And so another season of watch lists, semifinalists, etc., begins. The first two awards began the dance this morning.

To make it easy, the awards watch page will update these announcements as they arrive.

Today’s Maxwell Award watch list included Trent Richardson.

For the Bednarik Award, Mark Barron, Dont’a Hightower, Dre Kirkpatrick, Robert Lester, and Courtney Upshaw are in the running.

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A few notes from Monday’s football practice

Forgive me if I’m a little rusty with the football. It’s been a week since taking in one of these media viewing periods because of that NIT trip. Here’s what’s important:

• The team was inside this afternoon with severe weather headed towards Tuscaloosa.
• Mark Barron remains in the black non-contact jersey as was backup offensive lineman Tyler Love.
• Former quarterback Greg McElroy was in the building watching the practice. He’ll have individual workouts tomorrow for NFL scouts since he missed last month’s pro day.
• Javier Arenas also took in the practice. I joked with him about coming up to the interview room since he is something of a legend when the microphones come on. He politely declined.

Hopefully some video will come soon, but my computer keeps crashing when I connect the camera. Pray for a better resolution on the next try.

Robby Green suspended, Saban addresses Barron arrest

Nick Saban wrapped up his news conference a little bit ago. Here are the highlights.

• Defensive back Robby Green was not on the field this afternoon serving a suspension for violating team rules. This appears to be separate from the NCAA-mandated suspension that took him out of action all of last season.
• About Mark Barron’s arrest on misdemeanor charges of hindering prosecution, Saban said the following:

“Mark Barron used poor judgment in sorta protecting his friend, his cousin, rather than cooperating with authority and giving them the information they needed to investigate their case. We always think our players should respect people that are in a position of authority ― especially the police who do a lot to protect all of us. I think Mark learned that he did not use good judgment in this case and not saying what he could have said.”

• The issues surrounding Barron and Green were not going to be discussed in public after Monday, Saban said.

Barron practices, a few other spring practice notes

Video is coming soon of the first spring practice of the year. There were a few new faces and a lot more older ones. Here are the quick first impressions.

• Mark Barron was on the field with the defensive backs a day after his arrest in Mobile. He was wearing a block non-contact jersey and didn’t appear to be doing a whole lot after tearing his pectoral in November.
• With three new assistant coaches, the first few periods looked a lot different than in the past. Linebackers coach Sal Sunseri jumped on new defensive line coach Chris Rumph when the two units got too close to each other during the media viewing period.
• It’s hard to make inferences from the first practice of the spring, but the JUCO transfers were playing a few different places. Defensive lineman Jesse Williams was at end during the drills and offensive lineman Aaron Douglas appeared to be drilling at a few different spots.
• There was a huge group of media on hand with a bunch of faces I didn’t recognize. It’s football season again in Alabama, but when does it really end?

Video coming soon.

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UPDATED: Mark Barron arrested in Mobile

Updated 4:45 p.m.: The mystery behind the uncommon charges may be solved, according to this story from WKRG-TV in Mobile. The story says Barron lied to police to cover for a cousin who wrecked his car very early this morning.

Details are still sketchy this morning, but Alabama star defensive back Mark Barron was reportedly arrested in his hometown of Mobile.

According to the Mobile County Sheriff Office website, Barron was booked on a charge of second degree hindrance.  As of 8:53 a.m., he was listed as in custody in jail. The arrest was first reported by the Tuscaloosa News.

Alabama students were on spring break last week. The Crimson Tide football team opens spring practice tomorrow afternoon.

Barron chose to return for his senior season after considering an early jump to the NFL. He tore a pectoral muscle against Auburn last November and missed the Capital One Bowl win over Michigan State.

Update: Barron was released from jail according to the sheriff’s office website.

Check back later for more details.

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Mark Barron to make an announcement tomorrow

Still trying to find out what he’ll be saying, but Alabama’s All-American safety Mark Barron will make some sort of announcement on Saturday.

Presumably, it will be about his NFL future. Will he stay or go remains to be answered. No leaks just yet.

Saturday is the deadline for juniors to announce their intentions for the draft. They have a few days to change their minds before the Jan. 18 cutoff to withdraw their names.

Mark Ingram, Julio Jones and Marcell Dareus already announced they’d enter the draft instead of playing a final season in Tuscaloosa.

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Hightower and Barron find out they’re related

One of the interesting nuggets to come out of today’s media availability involved two Alabama family trees that unexpectedly have common branches.

Dont’a Hightower said he recently found out that he and safety Mark Barron were cousins.

“One night after a game my mom and his mom were talking…I didn’t know I had family at all down in Mobile,” said Hightower, a native of Tennessee. “But it turns out we’re down-the-line cousins.”

Small world, huh?

Four from Alabama named AP All-American

The next round of All-Americans was released this morning and Alabama had four members on the Associated Press team.

Julio Jones and Mark Barron made the second teams while Barrett Jones and Marcell Dareus were on the third teams.

Click to continue and see the complete listing of AP All-Americans

Mark Barron a first-team All-American

The Football Writers Association of America just released its All-American team that had one Alabama representative.

Safety Mark Barron, who will miss the Capital One Bowl with a torn pectoral, made the cut.

An interesting omission: No Cam Newton at quarterback. Boise State’s Kellen Moore was selected instead. Interesting.

Check out the complete team by clicking here.

Saban comments on Mark Barron’s torn pec

Mark Barron surprised us sports writers after the Iron Bowl when he told us he played the second half with a torn pectoral muscle.

Today, coach Nick Saban released a statement on the matter through UA media relations:

“Mark Barron suffered a muscle tear and had successful surgery to repair it. He’s already started the rehab process, but he will be out for the bowl game.”

Barron said after the Auburn loss that the injury was suffered trying to punch the ball out on the Tigers’ first-half touchdown. It also prevented him from making much of a play on the ball when Auburn scored on the second snap of the second half.

Alabama injury update

There were more than a few injuries for the Tide today. Here’s a quick rundown.

Greg McElroy: Concussion.
Julio Jones: Bruised knee
Mark Barron: Torn pectoral
Darius Hanks: Bruised ribs.

Barron a semifinalist for national award

The semifinalists for the Jim Thorpe Award came out today and Mark Barron was one of 10 still in the running for the honor going to the nation’s best defensive back.

LSU’s Patrick Peterson — likely a front runner was also on the list.

Check out the complete “Award Watch” database by clicking here.

Really? Another Alabama cover of Sports Illustrated

This week's SI

For the bagillionth time in the past year, Alabama football landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated. This time, Trent Richardson earned the honor and the long-debated curse.

Just a few weeks back, Crimson Tide defenders Marcell Dareus, Dont’a Hightower and Mark Barron made the cover of the football preview edition.

Before that, Mark Ingram was on there twice and Colin Peek once more.

The cover will hit news stands later this week.