Tide preps for SEC home opener

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WALA) - The top-ranked Alabama football team (4-0, 1-0 SEC) continued to prepare for its Southeastern Conference home opener against Mississippi (3-1, 0-0 SEC) with a two-hour practice on Tuesday at the Thomas-Drew Practice Fields. Saturday’s game is slated to kick off at 8:15 p.m. CT, and will be televised nationally by ESPN.

“We are preparing hard and have had a good week of practice so far,” said senior center Barrett Jones. “They are a much-improved team and are fundamentally sound. They’ve got some really good players, and we know we are going to need to work hard to have success against them.”

This week, Alabama, along with nine other SEC coaching staffs, will be taking part in the AFCA's fifth annual Coach to Cure MD effort. In all, more than 100 FBS institutions will be wearing a Coach to Cure MD patch to raise awareness and funding for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy research, which is the most common fatal genetic disorder among boys worldwide. The program has now surpassed the $1 million mark for donations.

-- UA media relations