Alabama football countdown: 10 days until kickoff

We are 10 days from Alabama football kicking off its season on the road against the Missouri Tigers to start a 10-game, SEC only schedule.

There has been a lot of uncertainty surrounding college football over the last couple of months, but as of right now, the season still looks like it’s a go for the SEC, ACC and Big 12.

So, what does that mean? It means that we can continue the Countdown to Kickoff en route to the Crimson Tide — and the rest of the SEC — getting things underway on Sept. 26.

With it now being Sept. 16, we are officially 10 days away from the start!

Like with a lot of the lower numbers, two players are currently wearing the No. 10 for Alabama. On defense, it’s junior linebacker Ale Kaho out of Reno (Nev.). On offense, it’s projected starting quarterback Mac Jones, a redshirt junior out of Florida.

In year’s past, standouts such as former quarterback AJ McCarron and linebacker Reuben Foster have worn the number.

Alabama quarterback Mac Jones (10) walks off the field after Alabama defeated Tennessee at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Saturday October 19, 2019. Mickey Welsh, Montgomery Advertiser

2020 Alabama football schedule

  • Sept. 26 at Missouri (Columbia, Mizz.)
  • Oct. 3 vs. Texas A&M (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)
  • Oct. 10 at Ole Miss (Oxford, Miss.)
  • Oct. 17 vs. Georgia (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)
  • Oct. 24 at Tennessee (Knoxville, Tenn.)
  • Oct. 31 vs. Miss State (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)
  • Nov. 14 at LSU (Baton Rouge, La.)
  • No. 21 vs. Kentucky (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)
  • Nov. 28 vs. Auburn (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)
  • Dec. 5 at Arkansas (Fayetteville, Ark.)

Stay tuned for more updates from Roll Tide Wire, part of the USA TODAY Sports College Wire network!

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Washington moves LB Reuben Foster to Injured Reserve list

Washington is holding onto LB Reuben Foster, but moving him to the injured reserve list, where he can be brought back after eight weeks.

For all of those people who were worried about the Washington Football Team cutting linebacker Reuben Foster on Saturday, you can rest easy at the moment — he is being placed on the injured reserve to start the season.

This of course means that he will be forced to sit out the first half of the season without practicing with the team, though he can still be involved in team meetings. If Washington decides that he is healthy enough to play after Week 8, they can designate him for return.

Throughout camp, Foster took a big step by being on the field in the first place, but he was not close to looking like his old self, thanks to a knee injury that has some lingering effects still. If he can’t make it back in time to return during this season, there is always still a chance that Washington keeps him around in the future.

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Reuben Foster is not a lock to make 53-man roster cut in Washington

While still recovering from a knee injury, it would behoove Washington to send Foster to the IR and open his spot on the roster for 2020.

Believe it or not, just a week from today, the 2020 NFL season will be kicked off with a Thursday Night Football game between the Houston Texans and defending champion Kansas City Chiefs. Just a few days after that, the Washington Football Team will get their season up and running with a divisional matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.

Football being so close can only mean that all 32 NFL teams are getting ready to slash their rosters and come away with the final 53 players who they feel comfortable taking onto the field. With roster-cuts due by Saturday afternoon, coaches across the league are dissecting their personnel boards and working to make all of the pieces of the puzzle fit. In Washington, we’ve pondered before who might be left on the outside looking in, but judging by some of the opinions of major beat writers with the team, there seems to be a surprise player that might get the ax before the regular season.

That player is linebacker Reuben Foster. After missing the entire 2019 season with a severe knee injury, Foster has returned to play in Washington and been working out through this entire training camp. Some player reports were that when he is healthy, Foster remains one of the best football players they’ve ever seen. However, the problem is if he can ever get back to full health, and get some of that speed and quickness back into his game.

We will admit here that Foster has been a part of every 53-man roster prediction that we’ve done this offseason. His size and tenacity on defense slots him to be one of the better players that Washington could roll out there if he were to get back to full health. It doesn’t seem that he’s close enough to that distinction yet, though, and many are starting to leave him off of their projections, rather designating him for the IR. Here are The Athletic’s Rhiannon Walker and Ben Standig’s takes on the situation.

Standig: Correct, no Reuben Foster. While Love chips away at his rust following significant inactivity, Foster’s skills appeared faded more than a year after a serious 2018 knee injury. Maybe it’s just a matter of time before the linebacker flashes his aggressive style, but the clock is ticking with the roster spot. There’s no point in a season-long IR stash since Washington didn’t pick up his fifth-year option. Keep and then IR like my Smith projection? That means exposing another player to waivers, and that would be a decent risk considering Foster looks more than a few weeks away. Release and then add to the practice squad if unclaimed on waivers? Sure. They’ve already invested time with Foster’s recovery. This would let them continue, and he could always stay next season.

Walker: Foster still isn’t 100 percent healthy yet. So the team may give him a chance to continue to rehab and build up to full strength. Anderson told reporters that when Foster takes that step into complete health, everyone will notice. He recently moved up from third-team work and played with the second team in the last two practices.

An IR designation for Foster would mean that for the first seven weeks of the season, he would be unable to play or practice with the team, though he could be involved in all meetings and team activity. He then could return to the field in Week 8 if fully healthy.

At this point, with so many other deserving players on the bubble, that might make the most sense, especially if Foster isn’t ready to play just yet. This doesn’t mean he’s off the team and doesn’t mean he’s getting cut. It just means he isn’t ready to make an impact on the field quite yet, and we need to be patient while he continues his recovery.

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Reuben Foster says knee injury was ‘really scary’ and humbled him a lot

Foster’s knee injury in 2019 threatened his football career going forward, but he’s happy to be getting back to what he was born to do.

In his first couple of years in the NFL, Reuben Foster quickly became one of the better young linebackers in the game, making a name for himself in San Francisco after being drafted in the first round.

Then legal troubles came, and suspensions came, and a significant knee injury game. Now, with a rehabilitation process behind him, and a fresh start ahead of him in Washington, Foster has had the time to reflect on both his personal and football life, and he’s ready to get back to what he feels he was born to do — play football. On Friday, Foster sat down with media members in Washington for the first time and discussed what that recovery has been like, and what it taught him along the way.

Though it was unclear to many just how serious Foster’s knee injury suffered in 2019 was, news that came out earlier this year saying he was finally regaining feeling in his lower leg shows that his football career was seriously in jeopardy at one point. Now that Foster is closer to getting back on the field, we can feel confident that his second act, this time in Washington, will be just as fun to watch as the first, and he can get back to business.

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Thomas Davis calls Reuben Foster a ‘physical specimen’ born to play linebacker

The return of Reuben Foster in Washington is highly anticipated, and expectations for his production are high.

Expectations for the defense in Washington are high this coming season, but there are a number of players in the middle that many people are cautiously optimistic about.

While most people think that veteran linebacker Thomas Davis Sr. will be a perfect leader in the middle of the defense, there are also players like Reuben Foster and Kevin Pierre-Louis who are expected to play some type of role in the defense, though it’s hard to say just what at this moment. Foster was a former first-rounder in San Francisco who was signed by Washington in 2018, though he hasn’t played since then due to injury, and Pierre-Louis came over to the team this year in free agency. Both are relatively unknown in Washington, with many wondering what type of production we can expect from them this season.

According to Davis, who talked with media members on Friday, expectations should be high.

A “physical specimen” who was born to play linebacker, and an explosive player who will be making a ton of plays on defense. Hard to find any better ways to describe a couple of new players who will likely be slotted in somewhere on Washington’s defensive rotation.

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LOOK: Former Alabama LB Reuben Foster back in action

Former Alabama LB Reuben Foster makes his return to football with the Washington Football team. Foster missed the entire 2019 season.

Former Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster has had an interesting journey in the NFL since being drafted in the first round of the 2017 draft. After not being able to play since the 2018 season, Foster is back in action.

Foster’s time with the team that drafted him, the San Francisco 49ers, was short lived after being released early in his sophomore season due to violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy.

Three days after being released by San Francisco, Foster was picked up by Washington. He was unable to play in the remainder of the 2018 season due to the ongoing NFL investigation into off-the-field allegations.

In his first ever practice with Washington, leading into the 2019 season, Foster suffered a severe knee injury. A torn ACL and LCL kept the once star linebacker sidelined for the entire season.

There have been videos posted to social media showing Foster training, a good sign that he’s back in good health, as well as coaches and staff commenting on if he’ll be available for the 2020 season.

Well, the speculation has concluded. Today, Foster was taken off the physically unable to perform (PUP) list and the Washington Football Team welcomed him back with a post to social media.

Roll Tide Wire will keep you updated on Reuben Foster’s return to football as the 2020 NFL season approaches.

Washington Football Team activates Reuben Foster from PUP list

The Washington Football Team activated Reuben Foster from the PUP list.

Some get it and others never will. Two days after releasing RB Derrius Guice following his arrest on domestic violence charges, the Washington Football Team felt it was the opportune moment to active LB Reuben Foster from the PUP list.

That is the same player who was claimed off waivers by Washington in November 2018 after being waived by the San Francisco 49ers because of an arrest for misdemeanor domestic violence.

A previous arrest in 2018 for domestic violence charges against the same woman resulted in the judge dropping the charges.

Foster landed on the Commissioner’s Exempt List after the November arrest. The decision to pick up the former Alabama star created quite the controversy.

Foster has yet to see game-action with Washington because he tore the lateral collateral ligament and anterior crucial ligament in his left knee on the first day of organized team activity work in May 2019. He also suffered nerve damage in his foot, which lengthened his recovery period.

The 49ers selected Foster in the first round (31st overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft. He was the third inside linebacker, behind Haason Reddick and Jarrad Davis, and the fifth linebacker selected in 2017.

In addition to the ugly Guice arrest, the Washington Football team also recently was the subject of a Washington Post investigation that revealed alleged widespread sexual harassment in its front office.

How much of an impact will Reuben Foster’s return have on Washington defense?

When healthy, Reuben Foster was one of the best linebackers in the NFL, but it’s fair to question how he will look after sitting since 2018.

It’s easy to forget just how good of a player Washington’s LB Reuben Foster is, but with the news of him being lifted from the PUP list on Sunday, it seems like a good time to revisit some of his past performances.

After being selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the first round of the 2017 draft, Foster quickly became one of the best linebackers in the NFL, racking up 72 total tackles in just 10 games. According to Pro Football Focus, this had him ranked as the 10th best LB in the league, and easily the best among all rookies that season.

It’s easy to say that Foster will have an impact in Washington once he gets back in the groove, but seeing as he hasn’t played in any regularl-season games since 2018, can we reasonably expect that he’ll be able to hit the ground running this season? If you’re to listen to linebackers coach Steven Mills, they’ve been treating this offseason so that he can do just that.

Getting up to game-speed will undoubtedly take a couple of games, and without a preseason to knock the rust off, we should temper expectations a bit while Foster gets re-acclimated. Still, Washington would not have made this move unless Foster is really ready to take the field soon, and it seems that he’s very close.

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Reuben Foster’s removal from PUP list is major win for Washington fans

It was announced that Reuben Foster was removed from the PUP list on Sunday, which is a rare bit of good news for Washington fans to hear.

Fans of the Washington Football Team received some great news on Sunday morning, as it was announced that linebacker Reuben Foster had been taken off of the PUP list, signaling that he is that much closer to finally taking the field in Washington.

Foster was picked up in 2018, but never played a game for Washington due to a significant knee injury that he suffered in the spring of 2019. That injury held him out of the entire 2019 season, and many believed that it could cause him to miss a good portion of the 2020 season as well, with grim details about his recovery coming out early this year.

Now though, with a string of positive news coming out about Foster, it appears that he will be ready to play sooner rather than later, and he’ll likely be able to join a staunch front-seven on the defense in Washington, operating alongside LB Thomas Davis and LB Cole Holcomb, while cleaning up behind a defensive line that consists of five former first-round picks.

It’s been a tough summer by any accounts for Washington fans, but this is a definite win. Enjoy it while you can.

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Reuben Foster is staying mentally ready to hit the ground running once cleared to play

We don’t quite know when Foster will be cleared to play, but he is doing all of the mental work to be ready for when that happens.

The Washington Football Team started out training camp with linebacker Reuben Foster on the PUP list, but that doesn’t mean that he is far away from being ready to play.

Though he failed the football part of his physical at the start of camp, it has become clear that both the player and coaches are operating under the assumption that Foster will be able to take the field at some point this season, though it’s not yet known when exactly that will take place. On Tuesday afternoon, linebackers coach Steve Russ talked to media members and said that both he and Foster are treating the situation as if Foster will take the field at some point, and doing what they can to keep him physically and mentally ready to do so when the time comes.

One major thing that will help Foster be ready to step onto the field once he is physically cleared is staying up to date on the calls and schemes that he will need to know. Russ said on Tuesday that throughout his Zoom meetings with the linebacking group, he has routinely seen Foster take it upon himself to be active in every answer, while not allowing that to detract from his fellow teammates learning process.

It’s hard to imagine that a player would be going through this much effort and mental work unless he was getting close to returning to the field. The physical side of things will come eventually, but until then, it looks like Foster is doing everything he can to be able to hit the ground running when he gets that go-ahead.

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