Jumbo Package: Gump Day!

Former Alabama quarterbacks coach Dan Enos has landed a new job.

Enos has been hired as the running backs coach at Cincinnati, according to a source.

Enos worked at Alabama in 2018 before spending last year as the offensive coordinator at Miami.

Oops. In a matter of about 14 months, Dan Enos went from being viewed by pretty much everyone as a QB savant who developed Tua Tagovailoa into the nation’s best QB while making strides with Jalen Hurts’ ability to toss the ball down the field with confidence, to becoming a running backs coach for Cincinnati.

Talk about a demotion.

As it turns out, maybe leaving Nick Saban’s under dubious circumstances isn’t the best indication someone will have a successful career.

ESPN FPI ranks every SEC football team for 2020

Briefly: Alabama may have missed out on the College Football Playoff last season for the time-ever since the format’s 2014 implementation, but don’t declare Saban’s dynasty in Tuscaloosa dead just yet. The Crimson Tide does indeed have a slew of key talent to replace — quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, wide receivers Henry Ruggs III and Jerry Jeudy, and safety Xavier McKinney are just a few of the notable departures — but the return of stars among the likes of running back Najee Harris, wide receiver DeVonta Smith and linebacker Dylan Moses still gives Alabama plenty of intimidating depth in 2020. Quarterback Mac Jones, of course, is a player that everyone will have their eyes on as he transitions into the team’s full-time starter. Jones threw for 1,503 yards, 14 touchdowns and three interceptions last season over 11 appearances, including several starts down the stretch in the wake of Tua Tagovailoa’s injuries

ESPN’s FPI advanced metrics has Alabama as #4 overall, the highest SEC team. Next up is Texas A&M at 8, Georgia at 10, Florida at 11, and LSU at 12. Auburn and Tennessee are also in the top 25, while the rest of the SEC falls a bit lower.

The Aggie love is an interesting one. They have the talent for sure... Can the finally stop underachieving that talent?

Projecting SEC win totals for every team in 2020

SEC wins projection: 7

Bud’s take: “Alabama should be favored in every game, but in games against Georgia and at LSU, it could be a favorite of a touchdown or less. That suggests the SEC West is open for the taking if the Tide perhaps don’t replace Tua Tagovailoa with a high-level QB, or the bevvy of receivers off to the draft.”

The word: Anyone ready to call the 2019 campaign a one-year hiccup for the Crimson Tide, or are we witnessing a balance of power shift out West? With Dylan Moses and Josh McMillon back at linebacker and Pete Golding’s promise to “simplify” things defensively, Alabama should be better on that side of the ball and closer to what everyone has come to expect during Saban’s tenure. The return of Najee Harris isn’t being talked about enough nationally and will make the job of Mac Jones — or perhaps Bryce Young — that much easier under center. The home game vs. Georgia in September is a big one.

Projecting Alabama to lose one game is a pretty safe bet. They drop one SEC game nearly every single year. Usually to Auburn, but there was that two year stretch of Ole Miss sneaking in there instead. Plus Georgia rotating on the schedule gives Alabama four potential marquee games in LSU, Auburn, Georgia, and A&M.

Add in the wild card that is now Ole Miss with Lane Kiffin, a slightly underrated USC season opener, and Tennessee actually looking promising, and there shouldn’t be a single question about the Tide’s strength of schedule in 2020.

Not far below Tua in the mocks is former Alabama football offensive lineman, Jedrick Wills. The current projections for Wills range from a high of No. 4 to a low of No. 10.

Former Tide wideouts, Jerry Jeudy and Henry Ruggs III are not far behind Wills. Jeudy is projected from No. 12 to No. 15. Ruggs has a projected range of No. 15 to No. 21.

Xavier McKinney solidified his reputation as a top safety prospect and will likely be the first safety drafted. His projected range is No. 17 to No. 31. Most mocks have Trevon Diggs moving up after the Combine to a late, first-round selection. Diggs is projected from No. 20 to No. 32 or possibly into the second round.

The consensus is Terrell Lewis is a second-round pick but a couple of mocks have him going late in the first round. Another projected second-round selection is projected for Raekwon Davis. Anfernee Jennings is frequently projected as a third-round pick.

Most mocks have six former Alabama football players going in the first round. A few have just five, former Tiders. One mock that will delight Tide fans has seven former Alabama football players drafted in the first round.

Who doesn’t love mock drafts?

I think the media has been slightly overvaluing some Alabama players. I expect Tagovailoa, Wills, Jeudy, and Ruggs to be first round picks. Xavier McKinney has about a 50/50 chance, and I don’t think Diggs, Davis, or Lewis will be first round picks.

And Reed might be right: Spotrac.com set his market value as a four-year, $42,537,462 contract. That’s an average of $10,634,365 per season, which, based on current contracts, would be the ninth-largest deal for an NFL defensive tackle in terms of average value.

If last year had been Reed’s entry to free agency, there would have been no question his contract offers would have been at least that lucrative.

In the 2018 season, Reed registered 50 tackles, 10.5 sacks, 12 tackles for loss and 24 quarterback hits as he turned in one of the top statistical seasons for a defensive-interior player in the NFL for that year.

One year ago, Jarran Reed might well have been in the position to command a top salary for defensive tackles. In 2019, though, he missed the first 6 games of the season and then was largely ineffective as a pass rusher on a defensive line that had one of the worst pass rush outputs in the entire NFL.

So what he gets on an open market will be interesting to see. Will teams see that 2018 breakout season as an aberration, or was his 2019 disappointment the outlier?

Finally, I won’t spend any more time talking about our men’s bouncy hoops teams. I just don’t have it in me. Not on Gump Day.

So here’s our recap from last night. Read it if you want.

Yeah. That ruined things just thinking about it. Sorry about that.

Roll Tide