Jumbo Package: Every day is Jaylen Waddle Appreciation Day

Najee Harris has grown up, realizing that sometimes you do have to develop your game some more and wait your turn. His remarks yesterday are in stark contrast to his dissatisfaction after the Freshman campaign:

“Being patient. Being patient and waiting for your time,” Harris said Wednesday. “As a running back, anywhere in the country, you always want to get in the game and show people what you can do. But sometimes, you’ve just got to be patient and wait for your opportunity.

“Just really settling down and just waiting for your opportunity and showing people what you can do with the opportunities you get.”

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Here’s an overall thumbnail of how camp is going via TiderInsider’s Rodney Orr.

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Mike Gundy is still salty, y’all.

“We would have played LSU and won,” Gundy told ESPN. “They were an overload-the-box, man-to-man team on defense, and you could not play our team in man that year. We were too good. That still bothers me, that we didn’t get a shot.”

They couldn’t even move the ball on Iowa State, and they weren’t a great team against power running offenses. Their strength on defense (such as it was) came in forcing turnovers, especially interceptions — and LSU would not have had to even throw: The Pokes were 61st in total defense, gave up 4.4 yards a carry, 185 yards per game on the ground. LSU finished 21st in rushing offense, against one of the hardest schedules in recent CFB history. And, what defensive statistic Alabama did not lead in, LSU did. The Tigers also had the best special teams in the country.

Against Alabama, which averaged 100 yards more on offense than LSU — and 300 yards per game on the ground — the results would have been even more ghastly.

In all, 20 of 22 players among both defenses signed NFL contracts. And All 22 starters for Alabama’s 2011 BCS Championship team signed at least an UDFA contract.

So, I’ll let you figure out how this one would have ended.

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Before he played a snap, we did an entire post in praise of Jaylen Waddle. If you needed more verification that some people are just physical savants, here ya’ go:

Now, let’s go ahead augment those with some 2018 highlights, shall we?

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This is cool. Alabama is selling “stadium experience upgrades” — BDS tours, stadium runouts, etc. And they all look to set you back a fairly doable $25.

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From the practice notes yesterday, we (like you) were most interested in who would line up beside Dylan Moses. With the second scrimmage fast approaching, it seems Markhail Benton has the inside track:

Markail Benton was the other first-team inside linebacker next to Dylan Moses, stepping into the spot that had been manned by Josh McMillon, who is likely out for the season due to a knee injury he suffered during the Crimson Tide’s scrimmage on Saturday. Freshman Shane Lee and Ale Kaho were the second-team inside linebackers. The third group consisted of Jaylen Moody and freshman Christian Harris.

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Hank South’s podcast this week breaks down remaining five-stars that Alabama is still targeting. The class is filling up quickly though.

Already in the 2020 cycle, UA has two 247Sports Composite five-star commitments in Chris Braswell and Drew Sanders, and another just on the brink in Quandarrius Robinson.

Even though space limited in the Tide’s 2020 class, Alabama remains in the mix for a number of five-star recruits both in the 247Sports Composite and within 247Sports’ own rankings.

CBS released its 2019 All-American team yesterday. And, we’d like to thank CBS for throwing more rat poison towards Auburn with a Lake — tabbing Trevor Lawrence the Player of the Year, the First Team QB, and Dabo as CotY.

God bless you all.

In addition, Alabama was one of the few schools with multiple All-Time All-Americans on the list as well.

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I guess if there’s any SEC stadium that it’s safe to sell beer in, it’s Vanderbilt, right?

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Praise be unto Baby Cthulhu — no more hurdles for Najee.

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Finally, ESPN must render unto its behemoth rodent Caesar by screwing up College GameDay. This is going to be a debacle on par with CGD’s appearances at Boston College and New York City.

Someone better sneak the Wazzu flag in there. No flags or signs and I get to pay you $100? Sign me up!