Jumbo Package: Saban considers Jalen Hurts “still one of our players”

Happy Thursday, everyone. As you know, the Senior Bowl practices are going on currently, and Nick Saban spoke yesterday.

“My only comment is is we’re glad to be here. It’s always great to come back to Mobile for the Senior Bowl. It’s such a tradition, and I think this community really embraces this game. It’s really good for the players to have the opportunity to showcase their talent. Any player from any place, but it’s especially good to see our players be able to do it — and Jalen, who I still consider one of our players — in front of a lot of people that represent NFL teams who are going to make the decisions about their future. Always good to be here to support our players.”

When Tua Tagovailoa came along, it was evident that Saban’s respect for Jalen made putting him on the bench a gut wrenching decision. Of course, Tua’s spirit had an impact on the head man as well. What we had in these two young men, even for just a couple of seasons together, was special and unique. Hopefully Jalen will find some kind of success in the NFL, but if not perhaps coaching will be in his future. Something tells me he will have a job at Channelview High waiting for him if he needs it to get started.

Alabama won despite an ugly performance last night, and as usual Nate Oats pulled no punches.

Less confident coaches tend to downplay these kinds of performances, but not Oats. He seems to have mastered the Saban art of speaking to his team through the media, and makes no bones about the fact that lazy, sloppy play will lead them nowhere. The next practice is not likely to be a lot of fun.

Speaking of Oats, much has been made of his affinity for three pointers and layups over less efficient midrange jumpers, which is typical of coaches who have embraced modern analytics. Check this out from the NBA:

Pretty incredible to see that. The idea is to get as close to the basket as possible or as close to the three point line as possible, and shoot nothing in between. It makes for an uglier game, but it wins.

Coach O made quite a bit of cheddar when LSU won the title.

LSU COACH ED ORGERON: $1.775 MILLION

Nothing makes for a big payoff quite like winning. And no coach won like Ed Orgeron did over the 2019 season. The beloved head coach at LSU led his Tigers to an undefeated season. That saw wins in the SEC West ($100,000), SEC Championship Game ($200,000), Peach Bowl ($150,000) and National Championship ($500,000).

You know that LSU hadn’t really budgeted for that $1.8M. It will be interesting to see how much they end up paying their new DC and whoever replaces Joe Brady on the staff.

Last, in the world of helicopter parenting:

No problem whatsoever with Deion sticking up for his kid, but there is absolutely no excuse for challenging the program in this manner publicly over a personal spat with the coaching staff. That will do nothing to help his son’s relationship with his coaches in both sports, and it probably isn’t going to help his younger son who is a highly regarded QB prospect. You can bet that some will steer clear after this.

That’s about it for now. Have a great day.

Roll Tide.