Gump Day: Actual sports! Tide Football begins mandatory workouts!

Boils and Ghouls, we have actual honest-to-god sports news today.

Yesterday, the University of Alabama Crimson Tide began its mandatory workouts for the TBD fall season. But, not everyone was attendance...and aside from that, there’s not much to report from these conditioning workouts.

Still, I wouldn’t read too much into player absences. On Monday, Cecil Hurt reported that most players would be available, but that some would not be around.

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Though it had been expected, the pickup of 4-star Texas LB Kendrick Blackshire was nevertheless a big one.

The recruiting plan for the Tide has been pretty self-evident leading into the meat of the ESP recruiting fights: Linebackers and Wideouts. Seven of the 12 commits to date have come from those two personnel groups.

And, with Blackshire’s commitment, Alabama’s class now moves into the Top 10.

If you missed CB’s writeup on Blackshire, that is here — including an updated NSD class and some highlights of the newest pickup.

And, you can watch him commit here.

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One of the biggest beneficiary of a season in turmoil? Coaches in trouble. With everyone facing a significant loss of revenue, firing coaches with massive buyouts becomes a near-impossibility. And more than a few underperforming coaches with seats warmer than expected can always point to the chaos as an easy-out.

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For some UA summer sports, seasons will begin later than usual. Three programs announced that their seasons will not begin until August 31.

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Alabama’s incumbent quarterback and likely first-game starter, Mac Jones, was named to the Davey O’Brien watchlist yesterday, awarded annually to the nation’s standout QB regardless of class.

But, Jones was not alone. The Chuck Bednarik Award (a/k/a the Defensive Heisman) also tabbed two ‘Bammers as potential players to watch in 2020: Dylan Moses and Patrick Surtain II

Details here.

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For followers of high school football, and especially recruiting, here’s a great piece by SI on its High School All-American candidates.

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How much of an impact do the NLI rights have for players? As expected, for some elite prospects it will be the determining factor. Indeed, Clemson for a fact is using it as a pitch.

“I considered it a lot,” five-star defensive end Jack Sawyer said. “Ohio State has such a great fan base and arguably one of the biggest followings in the country, so I always had that in the back of my mind.”

Clemson four-star linebacker commit Barrett Carter

said: “A lot of consideration for sure. I had to pick a school that’d develop me as an athlete, but (also) a school that will promote my brand is where I want to be. Clemson talked about it a lot and always brought up how I would thrive there.”

For other players and programs, not so much.

USC pledge Miller Moss said: “It honestly did not play a huge role in my decision. I feel that it’s something you look at as an added bonus, but not a major player in terms of making or breaking a school’s recruitment of you. USC definitely harped on the idea of building my brand and having that opportunity, especially in a city like Los Angeles, but it did not play a large role in me ultimately choosing them.”

Read this.

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And, finally, we leave you with a story that had been on the periphery for months, but we questioned whether someone would actually do it. Would someone actually drag Tubby’s sorry football coaching performances into his bid for a Senate seat?

Welp. No sooner had Wingnut defeated Jeff Sessions in last night’s GOP runoff, than the attacks on precisely that began.

And, I gotta’ say...even for Alabama politics, dragging bringing up his 11:00 JP games and losing to Vanderbilt are exceptionally low blows.

#BreakfastWithTheBarn — a tradition unlike any other. LOL.