Jumbo Package: Gump Day!

Bama lands 2019 4-star OL

"What made me come to the decision was Alabama has been kind of my dream school from growing up when I was small," Hammond told BamaOnLine. "Over time I just learned that Alabama is probably the best option for me getting to the NFL. I feel like that's the best University for anybody. I feel like that program is the best program out of all the college teams."

Hammond told UA head coach Nick Saban over the phone he wanted to commit.

"He said to make sure I was ready and 100 percent before I made the decision," Hammond said. "I told him I was ready."

At 6-foot-4, 320 pounds, Hammond is rated the No. 5 offensive guard and the No. 108 overall player in the country, per 247Sports.

With the newest addition, the Tide sits at No. 6 in the 247Sports Team Rankings.

We’ll start off Gump Day with a little nugget of good news. The Tide just added Deyavie Hammond (I’ve already decided that the nickname “Déjà vu” will be his) to the class of 2019, and the way he phrased things makes me think he’ll be one of those that sticks to the end. With his commitment, the 2019 class is now just as big as the 2018 one.

It’s easy to start to worry about the 2018 class’s numbers, or lack thereof, but don’t forget how slow the 2016 recruiting class started, and how strong it ended up. The dynasty is good hands. Don’t worry.

Do 2018 college football recruits even remember your team's last national title?

Kids don’t really remember things from when they are small, thanks to a phenomenon known as childhood amnesia. Some research suggests this exists for memories formed up until the age of 7 are generally lost. But to be safe, let’s focus on what happened before they entered elementary school.

From a college football perspective, a lot happened between 2000 and 2004. Miami, Oklahoma, and USC ended title droughts of 10, 15, and 25 years, respectively. And none has won one since.

Recruits do not remember those games, nor do they remember college greats from those teams like Torrance Marshall, Josh Heupel, Jonathan Vilma, Ken Dorsey, Willis McGahee, Jeremy Shockey, LenDale White, Matt Leinart, or Shaun Cody, unless they remember their NFL careers.

And few of the players drafted during that time are still in the NFL, either. I found fewer than 10 from the 2000-02 drafts.

Imagine being a coach at one of those historic powers and explaining that no joke, we actually have recently won a title at Miami/Oklahoma/Tennessee/Michigan/Nebraska, and then looking at a kid as he decides whether to believe you without Googling it.

Wanna feel old? Just read this piece by Bud Elliot, SBNation’s resident recruitnik. The current recruits were born in 1999-2000. They very likely don’t remember the Texas/USC championship game. The earliest superstar in their memories is likely to be Tim Tebow.

And above all, they’ve only known Alabama as the true ruler of college football.

An interesting study will be 20-30 years from now. If (flagged) the Alabama dynasty has fallen into a more middling state, will we consistently be overrated? The kids whose formative memories all know Alabama as the best will be at the age where they are dictating the direction of the media. That will be interesting to watch.

NFL will have medical evaluation tent on sidelines

On a day when the NFL would have been wise to borrow college football’s overtime procedures, pro football is instead adopting something else from the amateur game.

Commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters at the conclusion of the ownership meeting in Chicago that the league will use a medical tent on the sidelines in 2017. The University of Alabama first employed the device in 2015, aimed at preventing fans or media from seeing physical examinations that otherwise would in plain view of opponents, media, and fans. Other programs began to adopt the device in 2016.

Roll Tide. It looks like those students who created the tent are likely about to be rolling in the money if they did things right.

In any case, it’s cool to see a product from the University of Alabama getting picked up by some of the biggest organizations in the nation.

Mark Barron moving again in Los Angeles Rams' defense

Barron spent the 2016 season as the Rams' weakside linebacker. Los Angeles has filled its outside-linebacker spots in Phillips' new defense with a pair of hard-rushing former defensive ends - Robert Quinn and Connor Barwin, who was signed from the Philadelphia Eagles in free agency.

But Barron won't be going back to safety in 2017. He'll be moving again as he and Ogletree handle the inside-linebacker positions for Los Angeles. Ogletree played middle linebacker in the Rams' 4-3 last season after returning from his broken leg.

"He's a linebacker," Phillips said about Barron. "He's really instinctive, he's got great speed and we can utilize his coverage ability at linebacker. It gives you more options as far as things you want to do defensively. If you get a guy like that who can cover people, then we're going to utilize that."

As offenses become more and more based around the passing game, linebackers are having to adapt and become faster and better at coverage while sacrificing size and strength. While there has been some experimenting in the NFL over the past 4 years or so with moving bigger safeties to more hybrid-linebacker roles, this move by Barron is a bit groundbreaking.

A former safety being moved to become a middle linebacker for a 3-4 defense— a formation known for having bigger linebackers? Now THAT will be interesting to watch. If Barron continues to succeed there, this could start becoming more a norm than an outlier.