http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/sports/040719/hudson.shtml
Time is now for Hudson UA back wants improved season
By Gentry Estes DAILY Sports Writer
TUSCALOOSA — Ray Hudson knows enough to realize this year is different.
The Alabama senior tailback also thinks people still don't understand how awkward and rough last summer really was.
"We really don't understand, to tell the truth," Hudson said. "It's a lot easier learning a couple new things than a whole playbook. That's hard."
With head coach Mike Shula and his staff around for a second year, there's an air of comfort around a program mired in so much recent turmoil and coaching shifts.
"It's just more stable," sophomore running back Tim Castille said. "You don't have as many things to worry about."
Like the bulk of their Crimson Tide teammates, Hudson and Castille are on campus this summer, pacing through seven-on-seven drills in anxious anticipation to redeem the season gone wrong.
For Hudson, that also means making fans and teammates forget about his arrest for misdemeanor marijuana possession and subsequent suspension during a 27-3 loss to LSU in November.
Ask him and he'll tell you: this season is an opportunity he has been waiting years to seize. He finally has the chance to be the marquee tailback in Alabama's offense, a key ingredient in a team hoping to get off the mat and back into a bowl game.
That makes it tough during all these summer workouts.
"I'm just ready to put on pads, and I get kind of crazy sometimes. I think I have on pads or something," he said, chuckling. "I got the itch. If you've ever played, you would know the feeling. When the season is over with, you're ready for the season to be over with. "But when the season is about to start, you just get that itch, that killer mentality. You're just ready to hit somebody."
Hudson enters this season as the No. 1 tailback in an offense short on receivers, meaning the running game should be the featured aspect. As a junior, Hudson showed flashes of brilliance, recklessly throwing his 5-foot-10, 202-pound frame into defenders for extra yards.
Seeing third downs as Shaud Williams' primary backup, Hudson rushed for 490 yards on 100 carries. The 4.9-yards-per-carry average was the lowest he's compiled in his Alabama tenure. Through three seasons, Hudson is averaging 5.4.
Ready to step up
He brings expectations into this season. Those he puts on himself, as well as the ones Alabama's fans and coaches have on him to carry a program stepped in success from the running game.
"I'm a little nervous, because I don't want to let anyone down," Hudson said. "But I know in my heart what I can do, so I can't wait. It's been a long time waiting. I'm just ready to go out there and prove what I can do."
At first, Hudson figures to get the majority of carries in a crowded backfield that boasts sophomores Kenneth Darby and Castille, a potential star in the making who, in addition to being the son of a former Crimson Tide All-American, will line up at fullback and tailback in an effort to get him on the field.
Last season, Castille became only the eighth true freshman in school history to start his first game. He, too, will get his carries in this setup.
"I'm sure if I meet my own expectations, it will please everyone else," Castille said. "If I don't meet mine, then I'm a failure. That's kind of the way I look at it. Hard work pays off, even if it's not immediate. I'm just prepared.
"That's all you can do — prepare."
ROLL TIDE ROLL!! Rick
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