Alabama practices without Thompson
Alabama conducted its second spring scrimmage Friday afternoon in Bryant-Denny Stadium, but defensive back Deionte Thompson wasn’t able to participate.
The 6-foot-2, 193-pound redshirt sophomore was being booked in Tuscaloosa County Jail.
A warrant for felony aggravated assault had been issued for Thompson, who was involved in an incident last month in Crystal Beach, Texas, that left a man with a concussion and several broken bones in his face. KBMT-TV in Beaumont was the first media outlet to report Thompson’s involvement.
Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban stated in a release before Friday’s scrimmage that facts still were being gathered, and he addressed the situation again after the scrimmage.
“I don’t know a lot about this circumstance,” Saban said in a news conference. “We allowed him time to go do what he had to do today from a law enforcement standpoint. Once we have a better understanding, we’ll make a determination of what we shall do.”
Thompson was rated by 247Sports.com as the nation’s No. 2 safety in the 2015 signing class. He redshirted that year and collected nine tackles last season, with eight of those on special teams.
Friday’s scrimmage was Alabama’s 12th spring practice. The Crimson Tide will have Easter weekend off before having meetings Monday and resuming practice Tuesday.
“I saw a lot of progress in some areas and some other areas where we maybe didn’t have as much,” Saban said. “I thought our number twos competed a lot better, which was encouraging.”
Junior running back Bo Scarbrough, who broke his leg during January’s national championship game, didn’t scrimmage, but he is “doing about everything in practice,” Saban said. Fellow junior running back Damien Harris was held out with a sprained foot and is day-to-day.
Saban said the offense displayed good balance and the defense missed more tackles
“We allowed him time to go do what he had to do today from a law enforcement standpoint. Once we have a better understanding, we’ll make a determination of what we shall do.” – NICK SABAN
compared to last Saturday’s inaugural scrimmage. He expressed disappointment in the secondary.
Alabama’s first-team offensive line Friday in the portion of practice open to the media contained Lester Cotton at right tackle and Deonte Brown at right guard.
Davis show-cause
Former Alabama defensive line coach Bo Davis, who resigned last April, received a two-year show-cause penalty from the NCAA on Friday that will be in effect through April 13, 2019. Davis was knowingly involved in an impermissible meeting with four prospects that had been arranged by a booster, the NCAA determined.
The university received a public reprimand.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.