Jumbo Package: “We ain’t got no gas!”

Happy Monday, everyone. If you haven’t heard, Nick Saban took his appointed leadership team to the lake for their annual event, and there were some hijinks.

Hilarious. Navy RB Myles Fells offered some assistance.

Once they got past the fuel issue, everyone seemed to have a fine time.

Several folks noticed this particular shot of Terrell Lewis, who has clearly been working hard with Scott Cochran.

Dude looks like a monster. Nutritionist extraordinaire Amy Bragg probably has a little something to do with that, too.

I’ll have some of all of that, please. It’s good to be kings, y’all.

Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa participated with the recruits at the Elite 11 competition this weekend.

NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah is the latest analyst to jump aboard the Tua Tagovailoa hype train.

Jeremiah witnessed the Alabama standout firsthand during the Elite 11 camp in Los Angeles this weekend and compared Tagovailoa to Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson.

You’re about a year late to the party on that one, Daniel. Chris Kirschner of the soon-to-be-defunct SEC Country put out some nice video content of the event.

Both guys looked great in this setting, as expected. We saw tremendous growth in Jalen’s ability to make just about every throw when the primary read was open last season. The physical part of passing the ball was much closer between the two passers than the mental side, making the reads and delivering on time.

Of course, Alabama also had two recruits at the event, and both looked strong.

Watching Paul Tyson’s stoic face as he goes to work is like seeing a ghost.

The new grad transfer rule allowing immediate eligibility in the conference passed despite Saban’s concerns.

Like several of the other rules Saban has opposed to over the last several year that have ultimately passed, the new graduate transfer exceptions — including the one allowing players on SEC teams facing NCAA-mandated postseason bans to transfer within the conference without sitting out a year — likely will work in Alabama’s favor.

Of course it will. Alabama’s returning starters will be going exactly nowhere, but let’s say Mississippi State has a starting CB who has a shot at the NFL, and Alabama loses some guys early to the draft at the position. He can now move over to Alabama and get some playoff exposure. Meanwhile, guys who haven’t been able to get on the field at Alabama may now be more inclined to transfer once they graduate, which will solve some of the tight roster numbers and allow Saban to bring in a few grad transfers at key spots plus sign full classes every year.

The concern, still, has to be the inevitable tampering that will go on among the players.

It wasn’t cheap to go the playoffs this year.

Alabama’s expenses totaled $7,591,447, meaning its postseason expenses exceeded revenue by $3,317,447.

“The fact that Alabama has earned a spot in every College Football Playoff is truly something to be proud of,” director of athletics Greg Byrne said in a statement to The Tuscaloosa News. “Certainly with those opportunities come added costs, however there are so many positives from an exposure standpoint for athletics, the University and our state. I will also say that this year we worked on addressing some of those added costs in being more efficient with our travel party size, which we will continue to do in the future.”

Needless to say, that $3M investment in the playoff trips is peanuts compared with the additional merchandising and advertising revenue that these championships create year-round. One does have to wonder how a G5 school would manage a loss of this size should they be given the opportunity to have the brakes beaten off of them on national TV, though.

Last, Alabama has apparently hired a new football marketing coordinator named Savannah French.

A 2014 Southern Miss grad, French was a football operations intern at LSU from 2014 to 2016 and a recruiting assistant at Ole Miss from 2016 until taking the job at Jones County Junior College last summer.

Congratulations, Savannah.

That’s about it for today. Have a great week.

Roll Tide.