Alabama football players got the day off from practice Sunday after what sounded like a taxing scrimmage Saturday in the stadium.
A few players came up to the interview room to meet with the local media to discuss a number of topics facing this Crimson Tide with 19 days left until kickoff with Louisville in Orlando.
Here's a taste of what we learned from those chats:
-- Junior running back Josh Jacobs said he's feeling great and any reports about lingering injury issues disrupting his practice time are not accurate. "I've been practicing every day, taking every rep since camp started," Jacobs said. "So, wherever that source came from, I don't know. But I'm just ready to get back in the mix."
-- Jacobs had a cliffhanger answer for a question about freshman running back Jerome Ford. "He's nice," Jacobs said with a smile. "He's going to be nice. I'm going to let you guys see that for yourselves."
-- Jacobs is still on kickoff return as part of four groups auditioning. He said it's not clear whose job it is just yet.
-- Asked about the new kickoff return rule that allows a fair catch inside the 25, Jacobs said: "We definitely hit about it, but at the end of the day, its football. We're going to play our game."
-- Kobe Bryant's visit to speak to the team made an impression on the guys. Jacobs said you can get desensitized at times but "you're just looking at him like 'man, that's a walking legend.' It was crazy."
-- What Mack Wilson saw in the first workout he had with new freshman five-star middle linebacker Ale Kaho: "I feel like he's got potential to be a great player. I was just watching him as we were doing individual. He seems to have high energy. He seems to be happy. He was going through a lot and we're just trying to make him feel at home and just trying to take him in and show him how we do things at Alabama and the brotherhood at Alabama."
-- New middle linebackers coach Pete Golding reminds Wilson a lot of former defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt in his high- energy level and coaching style.
-- Left tackle Jonah Williams disagreed with the premise of a question that insinuated the defense outplayed the offense in the scrimmage. "I wouldn't go so far as to say that," he said. "I think both units had good days. I mean, I think that's kind of what you want to see out of a balanced team. You want to have the offense making plays and the defense making plays. I'd say it was a good combination of both."
-- Williams said he likes to focus on three things to improve every time he takes the practice field. He's a really interesting interview because he's just so well thought out. His three things: "Keep my shoulders square in pass pro after three sets; your right foot starts to turn outside and your shoulders start to turn, so keeping that forward. Left hand inside on the frontside outside zone in man blocks. Stuff like that.
-- Williams on why he thinks this way: "I try to be very specific with it instead of just going in there and say, 'I just want to create movement.' You know what I mean? You're just going to go out there and try to hit a guy way hard, and he's going to get his hands in your chest and you're going to get blown back. That's not how it works."
Michael Casagrande is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.