ALABAMA NOTEBOOK: McCoy happy to be out of spotlight

JOHN ZENOR
Associated Press
Published: August 27, 2008

TUSCALOOSA — Mike McCoy could easily be wondering what he has to do to get a little attention.

No. 24 Alabama’s top returning receiver was overshadowed by DJ Hall last season, and now freshman Julio Jones is grabbing most of the attention. At a position that often includes some flamboyant — even cocky — players, McCoy takes the lack of attention in stride.

“It doesn’t bother me at all,” he said after politely fielding a half-dozen questions about Jones.

McCoy figures to be a leading candidate to become John Parker Wilson’s go-to receiver this season after getting 28 catches last season and waving farewell to three of the Crimson Tide’s top receivers.

He does have one key ingredient: A comfort zone with Wilson.

“Mike’s got great athleticism. He can make the moves,” Wilson said. “I’m just so comfortable throwing to Mike. We’ve been throwing for a couple years now. He’s always going to be in the right spot. I’m very confident in his routes and where he’s going to be.”

McCoy is in the rare position of being listed as a first-teamer at two receiving spots for the Tide, likely moving over when the team goes into a three- or four-receiver set.

He’s taking his new role seriously, rattling off the number of passes he dropped in practice (13) in fall camp against more than 100 catches. McCoy said he doesn’t get his motivation from the attention paid to the highly touted Jones.

“Whether he’d come here or not, I’d still be in the same position,” McCoy said. “I’m still hungry, and I still have a lot to prove.”

Clemson Ties
Tide assistant Burton Burns has plenty of familiarity with Clemson coach Tommy Bowden. Burns worked under Bowden at Tulane and Clemson, serving as running backs coach for six of the school’s top 10 offenses.

How much of an advantage is that experience?

“I think if he could play and be an effective player, it would help us a lot,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “We pretty much see what they do on offense. Certainly he can help the defensive coaches in terms of knowing what they try to do on offense and their personnel.”

Burns, who spent eight seasons at Clemson, is the associate head coach and running backs coach. Saban hired him when he got to Alabama after twice trying to lure him to LSU.

Running back Glen Coffee said Burns hadn’t brought up his Clemson ties to the team.

“He talks about us, he doesn’t talk about Clemson,” Coffee said. “In the gameplan he talks about them, but personally he keeps that aside. I know he is fired up about it, but right now he is just focused on what we have to do to help the team win.”

Mount Cody
The Tide’s biggest player will be manning the middle of the defensive line. Junior college transfer Terrence Cody, a 6-foot-5, 365-pounder starts at noseguard in his ’Bama debut.

“He’s going to take a lot of blocks,” defensive end Bobby Greenwood said. “You figure two or three guys on him leaves one of us open. He’s definitely a run-stopper, but he can move too so he’s going to rush the quarterback well.”

Cody and redshirt freshman Josh Chapman have done well enough leading up to the season that Saban was able to move last year’s starter, Lorenzo Washington, to defensive end, where the Tide must replace top pass rusher Wallace Gilberry.

Alabama center Antoine Caldwell has gotten plenty of experience going against Cody in practice.

“In most cases, it’s going to take two guys to block him,” Caldwell said. “The good thing about Terrence is a lot of teams don’t have film on him right now, so they don’t know what they’re going to get into.”