Jumbo Package: Versatility in the secondary; stability on the offensive line

Nice interview here with the do-everything Shyheim Carter:

I’m very blessed that I can say that I know multiple positions, and it’s not easy learning it,” Carter said Monday. “Me being able to know multiple positions helps me, and it helps other players on the team that I can teach the position to; knowing what they have [to do] or knowing their assignments.”

No one would expect Shyheim Carter to be Minkah Fitzpatrick, including Carter, but he doesn’t lack confidence.

“I learned a lot from Minkah,” Carter said. “He’s a great player, a phenomenal athlete, and I definitely learned a lot from him. But I try to do my own thing and try to be myself.”

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DYK: All of Saban’s previous DCs have been defensive back coaches? Tosh Lupoi is the first one that comes to the position from a DL/LB background:

Dating back to Saban’s first head coaching job at Toledo in 1990, all of his previous defensive coordinators had prior experience as a defensive backs coach, defensive coordinator and/or head coach.

Many of them have been, like Saban, considered DB guys, including the previous two Alabama defensive coordinators. More importantly, though, Saban has typically wanted his defensive coordinator to have a great understanding of each level of the defense -- from the front to the secondary.

Lupoi is admittedly still a work in progress with that.

Thank goodness for Pete Golding’s excellent secondary experience, eh?

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Does it seem as though everything has gone off the rails? Gotten a bit darker in college sports lately? You’re not alone in that belief. And Patient Zero for the surging creepiness lies in the Big 10:

There’s a horrible undertow to almost everything these days, a steady, foul flow of journalistic sarcophagus juice that seems to be running under the surface of every news story and beneath all the institutions that reporters cover. These include sports stories, which have had a particularly rough year of it. It is easy to come to the conclusion that, in the heart of everything, something has gone awfully weird and creepy.

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Like Shyheim, it took another 5-star recruit a while to get his bearings as well. This is a good interview with Dylan Moses who, by his admission, was “lost” last year:

“Last year, I didn’t know what was going on,” Moses said Monday, a few weeks before starting his sophomore season. “Last year I had to really get my feet wet. And when I did get my feet wet for the first time, I was still kind of nervous. I didn’t have the experience.”

And he felt it -- high school accolades or not -- this was a different stage. That trial-by-fire experience helped gain the comfort Moses now feels as a starting middle linebacker in 2018.

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Two Alabama offensive linemen were honored again as preseason All-Americans. By now, you should have this pair committed to memory.

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Complete media viewing period notes from AL’s Ranier Sabin. The units at LB and OL look to have been solidified going into prep week:

-- The first-team offensive line remained static. Jedrick Wills was at right tackle, Alex Leatherwood at right guard, Ross Pierschbacher at center, Lester Cotton at left guard and Jonah Williams at left tackle. At one point, Kendall Randolph joined the starters at right tackle.

Expect access to get increasingly limited now that we’re just 9 days out from the team traveling to Orlando to destroy, mollywhomp, obliterate, defenestrate face the Louisville Cardinals.

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This is quite cool (from CBS Sports press release):

CBS Sports continues its successful “Four Sides of the Story” franchise with four new documentaries airing over the next four months, showcasing memorable sports stories from the past year. Created in 2017, “Four Sides of the Story” highlights seminal sports moments through four unique points of view with each segment narrated from a different perspective.

Alabama Audible, which unpacks the stunning events of Alabama’s comeback victory in the National Championship and features interviews with both Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and head coach Nick Saban. The documentary premieres on CBS Television Network on Saturday, Sept. 22 (2:30 PM, ET) leading into the network’s SEC on CBS broadcast and will re-air on Monday, Sept. 24 (7:00 PM, ET) on CBS Sports Network.

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VIDEO: Running back drills, as Tide takes its first indoor practice of the Fall Camp.

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Don’t be so quick to slap that redshirt on freshman Jerome Ford just yet...okay, yeah. He’ll redshirt. But in Zenitz’s look at six non-starters who are having great camps, he hits the ground running with Ford’s remarkable fall:

Freshman running back Jerome Ford

As if Alabama wasn’t already loaded enough at running back, there’s now another talented young guy in the mix. While Ford probably won’t play much, if at all, this season because of having four talented guys ahead of him on the depth chart, the four-star Florida product has apparently had some standout moments in each of the Tide’s two preseason scrimmages and has continued to impress Alabama’s other running backs.

”He’s nice,” running back Josh Jacobs said, smiling. “He’s going to be nice. I’m going to let you guys see that for yourselves.”

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For those wanting more on Alabama’s facilities fundraiser — an uncertain venture which, you will note, still delays basketball’s much-needed upgrades in favor of revamping the already-palatial administration complex — AD Greg Byrne was on 102.9 FM discussing those plans.

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Flash sale on tickets! Hell, they’re practically giving away the Arkansas State game — $30.

ELSEWHERE

LOL. Another week, another unfolding fecal cyclone in Baton Rouge. LSU now has twice as many fullbacks as quarterbacks — for a team that promises to run the spread. It’s had over half a dozen players suspended indefinitely and/or arrested. And, now, two weeks out from the season’s tough opener vs. Miami, we’re already to the “players-only meeting” stage of the season.

This is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Geaux Clown Car!

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I’ve always been a bit high on Wisconsin. But the Badgers have just never gotten over the hump. If any year is custom-made for UW to break through, it’s this one: veteran QB, Heisman-candidate RB, salty defense, and more importantly — an East in transition. This is truly the year where a dark horse can wear the white hat into the playoffs.

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The Ohio State Board of Regents meets tomorrow to discuss the foregone conclusion of Urban Meyer’s fate: the slap on the wrist was always coming. But, most guessed that a suspension would be in order. (I figured he’d be back by week three — at No. 16 TCU, or Week 4 — vs. No. 10 Penn State at worst.)

But, it truly might be a slap on the wrist though:

It appears Urban Meyer could be back in Ohio State’s locker room this week.

The school’s board of trustees will meet Wednesday, but the Columbus Dispatch is reporting that “time served” could ultimately end up being Meyer’s only punishment for his role and actions surrounding former assistant coach Zach Smith.

Please punish me by making me stay inside in the air conditioning in August. B’rer Rabbit’d

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