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Happy Monday, everyone. News in the college football world is essentially non-existent right now, but former Alabama players were making plays on the biggest stage last night.
First, you had Courtney Upshaw using an offensive tackle to sack Tom Brady:
#Falcons Courtney Upshaw (@334Upshaw41; #RollTide) with the sack. Bull rushes the blocker into Brady! #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/6cdwETxhGP
— DLineVids (@DLineVids) February 5, 2017
Then, Dont’a Hightower changed the whole game with this sack/fumble:
Matt Ryan is SACKED.
— NFL (@NFL) February 6, 2017
And FUMBLES!@Patriots ball! #SB51 #Patriots https://t.co/o1lgQktgrI
Lastly, Julio Jones has to wonder what might have been if he had received more targets since he hauled in all four of those he got for 87 yards, including three that were highly contested. This was the gem of the night:
ARE YOU KIDDING, @juliojones_11?! #SB51 #RiseUp pic.twitter.com/2CEH927VGO
— NFL (@NFL) February 6, 2017
That play put Atlanta well into field goal range late for what would have been the clincher. Alas, a holding penalty and a sack backed them up, setting up a punt and the Pats’ inevitable drive to tie the game.
It was an unbelievable game that had a little of everything and will go down as one of the all-time classics. Congrats to Dont’a on getting another ring. Courtney already has one from his days in Baltimore. Hopefully Julio will join that club at some point soon.
As for news, we’ll give you what we have:
Aaron Suttles seems to be implying what we had already speculated:
Read into this what you want, but Mike Locksley spoke about the wide receiver signees during a recruiting event yesterday. Not surprising.
— Aaron Suttles (@AaronSuttles) February 2, 2017
Sounds like Locksley will indeed be the new WR coach.
There was a piece of recruiting “news” that kicks off the 2018 recruiting silly season:
Epps told 247Sports on Saturday at the regional that Alabama is still his No. 1 school, but he wanted to get the full recruiting experience and didn't believe he could do that as a committed player.
Hey, we beat Clemson!
The Alabama men's tennis team won a 5-2 decision over the Clemson Tigers on Sunday afternoon at the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility. The Crimson Tide improves to an overall 5-2 record, while Clemson recorded its first loss on the year moving to 7-1.
Take that, Tigers.
Unfortunately, we close with some awful news:
Perrin played safety at Alabama under Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant from 1978-81. The Crimson Tide won two national championships during that period.
The St. Louis Cardinals selected Perrin in the third round of the 1982 NFL draft. Perrin played for the Cardinals from 1982-85. He was selected to the 1982 all-rookie team and was an alternate selection to the 1984 Pro Bowl.
Perrin was among more than 4,500 former NFL players who sued the NFL concerning concussions. The players received a $765 million settlement from the NFL in 2013.
Celebration of Life for Benny Perrin will be Sunday, Feb. 12 at 5:23 p.m. at Epic Church in Decatur. Perrin wore #23 https://t.co/3YT1k4iX6p pic.twitter.com/MOaVgHUvLx
— David Elwell (@DD_DavidElwell) February 5, 2017
Perrin reportedly took his own life. He was, by all accounts, a great person and an institution in Decatur. Our condolences go out to his family.
That’s about it for today. Have a great week.
Roll Tide.