Lane Kiffin trolls Ole Miss over NCAA sanctions
One person who was excited to hear this news was former Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin. As he is wont to do, Kiffin’s first instinct was to do some trolling after the news broke. Kiffin opened up his Twitter account and called for Nick Saban’s coaching record to be amended and also declared that now he and Saban had only lost one game together.
“We didn’t lose to [Ole Miss] at [Alabama]. Change Coach Saban’s record!!! We only lost once together [to Ohio State]. 3 seasons 1 loss,” Kiffin tweeted after learning of the sanctions levied against Ole Miss.
Lane is definitely enjoying the news about Ole Miss. Vacating victories may be a pretty useless punishment in the grand sense, but it definitely gives the trolls of the world some ammo. And few coaches are better at trolling than Lane Kiffin.
Alabama football: First-look 2019 depth chart projections
Yes, they are going to be losing some top-tier talent, but this is Alabama we’re talking about. Even when they lose key contributors, the recruiting wheel keeps on turning and they have another batch of 4- and 5-star players coming behind them to replace them.
For 2019, though, that’s more prescient for the defense than it is the offense, the latter being a group that will return the core of playmakers that made the Crimson Tide look like a juggernaut for much of this past season. The hope with that being the case is that the offense can hit the ground running in 2019 as inexperienced defenders find their footing in college football.
It’s going to be interesting to see how this Alabama team rebounds from their loss in the title game. But before we get there, let’s take a look at every unit on the Crimson Tide roster and break down the early depth chart for Saban’s team in 2019.
Fansided takes a stab at predicting the Alabama depth chart for 2019. There is some uncertainty along the offensive line and the successor to Mack Wilson, but most of the depth chart is pretty straight forwards. Though the upcoming freshmen will be doing their best to shake up the depth during the offseason.
Allen helped Alabama ‘in other ways’ while injured in 2018
“I’m feeling pretty good, but cutting, it still hurts. It still hurts a bit,” Allen said. “So, there’s still a ways to go, but I feel like I’m ahead of schedule. I had surgery a little over five months ago, and I’m feeling pretty good. I’m not swelling or anything, and it doesn’t hurt really bad.”
With spring practice starting next month for the Tide, Allen will be closer to full health than when we last spoke in Miami Gardens, Fla. But those that closely monitor the recovery process of Alabama’s athletes aren’t rushing to get Allen ready for the A-Day Game on April 13.
“I think with ACLs, nobody’s trying to set records with them at all, and I think to play at a high level, it takes close to a year,” head athletic trainer Jeff Allen told BamaOnLine. “You can certainly be back in less than a year -- plenty of people do that. It happens in the NFL, it happens across all sports. But it really takes a year, I think, for an athlete to feel fully comfortable back from an ACL.”
Alabama’s injury misfortune at the linebacker position the last two years has been absolutely unbelievable. Christopher Allen got playing time as a freshman and looked talented, if totally lost half the time, but then tore an ACL coming into his sophomore year, ending the year before it started.
With Terrell Lewis trying to return from his 2nd season ending injury in a row, Allen’s health will be necessary to be a dependable back up and future replacement as an edge rusher for a Tide defense that still hasn’t found a good edge rush solution since Ryan Anderson and Tim Williams left for the pros after the 2016 season.
Collin Sexton: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
Collin Sexton was the 8th pick in the 2018 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Collin, like most rookies, have had his shares of up and down play. Collin though has largely been labeled as “one of the worst players in basketball”. While I’m not sure that’s fair, considering the awful coaching, roster construction and overall youth of our team, Collin does have a lot of flaws. Collin also has quite a few strengths. Throughout this I will explore a recent game -- highlighting things that were good, bad and ugly about his offense.
This is a little different, as I’m linking to a Reddit post rather than a real article. That said, it’s a nice piece that highlights some of our own Collin Sexton’s best and worst plays this season. Give it a read.
Alabama’s top 10 NFL rushers: Derrick Henry joins the list
Derrick Henry joined Shaun Alexander, Bobby Humphrey, Mark Ingram and Eddie Lacy as Alabama alumni who have rushed for more than 1,000 yards in an NFL season with 1,059 in 2018. The performance allowed the 2015 Heisman Trophy winner to join those running backs in the Crimson Tide’s top 10 for NFL career rushing yards, too.
Henry’s 2018 output boosted his rushing yards in three seasons with the Tennessee Titans to 2,293 and jumped him to seventh on Alabama’s all-time NFL list. Henry had ranked 14th after his first two campaigns. He passed Bart Starr, Le’Ron McClain, Billy Jackson, T.J. Yeldon, Trent Richardson and George Gulyanics in the Tide rankings during the 2018 season.
Shaun Alexander’s record will be tough to top, especially in today’s NFL that focuses much more on the passing game and multiple running backs that all contribute as receivers as much as runners. But, given a little time, Derrick Henry is the type of back to shatter records... he’s done it at every level of football so far.
If you like historical stats, the article itself is loaded with them.