Jumbo Package: What do opposing coaches have to say about Alabama this year?

Happy Thursday, everyone. Yesterday was the first day of classes at Alabama, and Tide 100.9 has a nice compilation of social media posts showing athletes setting an example by wearing their masks on campus. If you are on Twitter or Instagram, there are many more such posts with hashtag #FirstDayUA.

Athlon put out an “anonymous coaches” piece, and for the most part SEC opponents are quite respectful of Alabama.

“They’ll be better on defense this year, especially at linebacker. If (linebacker) Dylan Moses is healthy again, they’re going to be fantastic at that position.

“The defensive front will have to step up, because the secondary is all new. Nick Saban loves to get hands-on when this happens. They’re reworking that entire group.”

“This is going to be a Heisman campaign season for Najee Harris, go ahead and make your bet.”

One coach quipped that Butch Jones won nine games in year three while Jeremy Pruitt lost to Georgia State. Ouch.

Besides discussing his middle school humor, Nick Saban spoke with Dan Patrick about how he has handled the weirdest of offseasons.

“You have a schedule, you have a first game. Now, we’re back to investing our time in trying to create value for our team, for the individuals on our team to create value for themselves and get ready to play football. And I think that’s the only way that we can look at it.”

During his response, Saban also shared the mindset he is trying to get his players to adopt.

“You really almost have to stop thinking about this might happen, that might happen. Those things may or may not happen. No one really knows,” Saban said. “But at least we have a defined challenge now that we can look forward to, and that’s the mindset that I’m really trying to get our players to take because the uncertainty that we’ve had ever since March has created a little different mindset for everyone in terms of, ‘Hey, we’re doing all this work, but what’s it leading up to?’ And now, at least we have direction.

The Process never stops.

One Mama Bear has already noticed big physical changes in her baby from working with Ballou and Rhea.

It may not be this year, but I just have this feeling that Story is going to do special things in Tuscaloosa. He was meant to play for Alabama.

ESPN suggests rooting interests for those who have seen seasons canceled.

Rutgers

About me: Just happy to be here.

Matchmakers’ pick: Alabama

Why you’ll hit it off: Look, 151 years ago, you started college football. We love you for it, but it hasn’t always been easy for you. So live a little this season. This one’s on us.

Why not?

In the latest installment of As the Big Ten Burns, some parents of players are planning to protest outside conference headquarters today. What a mess.

Kevin Warren discusses the decision along with his own son’s decision to push forward at Mississippi State.

Warren said his son, Powers, is practicing with his teammates at Mississippi State. The SEC will try to play this fall, with its conference-only football season set to kick off on Sept. 26. That conference has relied on its own medical experts, who have expressed confidence in the ability to play a season.

“As a family, we’ve had many difficult discussions regarding this issue,” Warren said. “But the decisions we make in the Big Ten Conference we have to look at from a macro level. We need to focus on what’s right for our nearly 10,000 student-athletes at 14 institutions.”

For his part, former Buckeye and NFL LB, and current radio personality, Bobby Carpenter found a few holes in the letter Warren sent detailing the reasons for the decision.

Warren should star in one of those “Wanna get away?” commercials.

Dr. James Ackerman spoke with John Talty about his statement that cardiac concerns shouldn’t be the reason to stop college sports.

The Division I schools have been gathering together their anecdotes of myocarditis cases. What we don’t know is what do they mean by myocarditis. Is it the cardiac MRI that was positive? Or was the patient clinical where I could tell they had myocarditis just by asking them a few questions, doing a few simple tests. If we did a cardiac MRI with 18 to 24-year olds two weeks after the common cold or two weeks after influenza season, what would their MRIs look like? Current answer: We don’t know. We don’t do that.

The hunch is that influenza might cause cardiac MRI to show findings in 10 to 14 days after infection. There’s just too many unknowns to say we have new damaging, alarming evidence that COVID-19 myocarditis is the big, bad spooky thing in town now, and we need to do something about it.

This is a great point, and sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. How do we know how many asymptomatic cases of other viruses there are out there, since we don’t usually test asymptomatic people? How do we know the prevalence of cardiac issues after recovery from viruses if we don’t screen every patient for them?

Another doctor, this one from Ohio State, agrees.

“Shortness of breath, any chest discomfort, exercise, fatigue,” Borchers said. “A middle-aged runner who maybe used to be able to run an 8-minute mile that’s now only able to run 12- or 13-minute miles. These are the things that might alert our healthcare providers to looking at something more specific.

“So not that we need to be, I think, overly scared of this complication, but we need to be aware of it.”

Last, Nate Oats thinks his style of play translates well to the NBA.

We agree, Coach.

Oats also added a scout team player in Francis Marion grad transfer and walk-on Kendall Wall, who was a high school teammate of Jordan Bruner.

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

Roll Tide.