This is just a bizarre NFL Draft cycle. Owing to his freakish November injury, a one-time slam dunk guaranteed overall No. 1 pick is now being questioned, dissected, chewed up and chewed out. Every aspect of Tua’s game, every tweaked muscle, every second of game film is being pored over like it’s the the freaking Zapruder film.
The latest to weigh in is ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, talking about Tua’s nebulous “intangibles.”
“From an intangible (standpoint), ... he’s a 12 out of 10. The linemen will love him, the receivers will love him, the defensive linemen will love him, the coaching staff will love him, the fan base will love him. I don’t know if I covered a guy who checked every box as far as intangibles are concerned. His ability to read coverages, come off a read and go to second or third option. The only thing I’d say, since he had so much success, he doesn’t give up on a play. When he got hurt, instead of giving up, he’s trying to keep a play alive. In the SEC, he got banged up. In the NFL, he’ll get destroyed. That’s an area he’ll really need to work on. But his accuracy, his touch, his command and then his intangibles, there’s a lot there to fall in love with.”
Psssst, Herbie is right though. Tua will need to learn to turtle a lot more in the NFL. It’s okay to give yourself up on a play in the NFL. Not only is it a business decision, but league rules actively encourage it. The Shield knows where its bread is buttered, and now more than ever it is a quarterback-driven league.
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Speaking of Tua, the affable young dude is already raking in them SponsorshipBuckz (tm).
Last week, Tagovailoa landed sponsorship agreements with Muscle Milk and Bose. In last two days the popular quarterback has come to an agreement with Adidas and Wingstop. Tagovailoa is cashing in on his popularity leading up to the draft.
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In ESPN’s Last Dance, its MJ biopic, Jordan questioned a great many of Jerry Kraus’ business decisions, including trading a player the Great One absolutely loved, Alabama’s Jason Caffey.
AL.com interviewed Caffey, who spoke on the behind-the-scenes discord in the Chitown locker room and his impressions of the film.
“I’m proud to be part of something so many years later that people can still relate to,” Caffey said. “I think it opened the eyes of a lot of fans, who don’t understand the inner-[workings] of professional sports. There’s a lot more going on than just a game on the court. There’s egos clashing. There’s fighting over money. It’s a wonder we could work through all that stuff and still win championships.”
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Mike Leach has seeveral demands of his quarterbacks, but the first one is “stay in the freaking pocket.” That may explain why Keytaon Thompson is hitting the Portal. With the arrival of a pocket passer in Costello, an RPO dude with limited passing skills immediately became a bad fit.
A really intriguing quarterback has hit the transfer market.
According to Al.com and ESPN, Keytaon Thompson is leaving Mississippi State as a graduate transfer. Thompson, a top-100 recruit in the 2017 class, would be eligible immediately at his new school with two seasons left to play.
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Good story here from CBS’s Dennis Dodds on safely reopening a season; a lot of players are going to be out of shape, and heat deaths are already a constant source of concern and extensive planning.
So, how would CFB adjust to a truncated conditioning schedule?
That would put the return-to-practice date at approximately July 15. Some say the so-called “drop dead” date for starting the season on time should be much earlier.
”I think we have to be willing to be nimble while still maintaining the standards of safety,” said Brian Hainline, the NCAA’s chief medical officer.
The three camps involved in the return-to-play decision — coaches, trainers and medical personnel — don’t always mesh perfectly. They can’t afford to get this one wrong in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
”That is my biggest fear,” said Rod Walters, a hall-of-fame trainer and NFL head trauma consultant. “If we don’t handle this thing right, it’s going to be another exertional heat death.”
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Steven Orr Spurrier is a gift to the nation that we must treasure.
“They were asking me about all those things I said, the Citrus Bowl jokes and Free Shoes U stuff,” Spurrier said, via ESPN. “I told them I always thought the best one didn’t have anything to do with Tennessee or FSU. It’s the one I said about preferring to play Georgia the second week of the season because you could always count on them having two or three good players suspended every year. Everybody said, ‘Did you really say that?’ and I said, ‘Yes, because it’s true.’”
He’s a Florida grad and a Gator through and through, so naturally he’s going to single out the Cocktail Party for the greatest quip. But, for my money, the best one remains the jab he took at Auburn’s library burning down: “The real tragedy was that 15 hadn’t been colored yet.”
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ESPN, stop trying to make the FPI a thing. Just stop.
But, if you’re interested in such, they do project every Alabama game for the 2020 season.
As usual, they expect the roadie to Baton Rouge to be the toughest game, but what really struck me was who they considered to be among Alabama’s toughest opponent: Freaking USC. GTFO, FPI. The Tide is going to house that team by six touchdowns.
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Okay, that’s what we have for now. Not sure if anyone is firing off some more #content for you. But, in the meanwhile, please take this poll on the SEC’s QB Draft Class: