AL dot com predicts which Freshmen will see meaningful time and have an impact. It’s not just Jerry Jeudy, Najee Harris and Tua either -- there are a lot of quality players reporting next week, as you’d expect from one of the best signing classes in history.
Bad news for Dont’a Hightower. Zeus, who signed a lucrative offseason deal to re-up with the Pats, is now on the unable to perform list. No word on his return.
Whaddya’ know, the Alabama basketball team is starting to come together as a team. They are forging friendships off the court, and it is starting to show with the chemistry on the floor. Said Coach Avery Johnson:
“I think the chemistry’s been great because I see our guys doing a lot more, at this stage, off the court,” Johnson said after Monday’s practice. “They tend to go out to dinners more and movies or whatever they like to do, and they spend more time together than any of the other two teams that I’ve had, at this stage. So, I think that chemistry has carried over to the floor.”
The Tide hoops team is just three practices in, but already it is being praised for its athleticism. BOL has a great photo gallery of the nascent powerhouse (GUMP GUMP GUMP). With a boost in athleticism, Alabama’s offense is much more uptempo too, which is the brand of basketball Johnson promised us three years ago. This looks to be the team to deliver.
247 goes inside the roster to take a look at Alex Leatherwood, Josh Frazier, and Ross Pierschbacher. I really think Frazier is going to step up and be a solid contributor this year, FWIW.
If you’re interested in the unfolding WAOM disaster, here are some quotes from interim coach Matt Luke’s presser. Shady-ass Ross Bjork also spoke yesterday and in essence said that Ole Miss is going to toe the party line with it meets the Committee on Infractions. But, hilariously, when asked what he looked for in the next head coach, Bjork singled out character. Take that one with a huge grain of salt since he praised Hugh Freeze’s character the night Freeze QuitFired.
Gary Patterson brought up two very good points re: the partial-year redshirt idea presently being floated about. The first is that it will deter the practice of medical hardships, a practice that he has sorta’ hinted in the past that Oklahoma has done. And, second, it will save money, because more value is being gotten out of the scholarships that are awarded. This is a great idea: I hope it passes.
Tom Herman, among others, is expressing the same concern we had with the proposal to loosen contact restrictions in tandem with transfer restrictions: it turns into a free agency period/second signing day. Lots of coaches are coming forward raising more and more questions with, what I think was, an ill-conceived sledgehammer for a ceramic nail.
“I think the concept of it sounds a little out there to me. I can’t imagine we’d ever introduce something where the end result would be other universities recruiting my players. That would seem to be really weird.”
Pro Football Focus has Shaun Dion Hamilton listed as one of its Top 5 LBs for the 2018 NFL draft. At 12:30 of this video they break down his measurables for Brent you.
Cheatin’ Vawls. UcheaT is at it again, self-reporting three bits of sheistiness in their recruiting process. SEC Country FOIA’d the Vols and got a look at what UT did.
The always-excellent Marq Burnett, formerly of the Anniston Star, has his breakdown and prediction for the UA-FSU game.
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That should hold you folks for a while as we crank out some more #dank #content a bit later. Have a good day. Row Tahd.