Jumbo Package: Former Penn St. players speak well of O’Brien

Happy Monday, everyone. Wasn’t a great weekend on the hardwood as both the men and women took losses. Both are still in good shape where the NCAA tournament is concerned.

In football news, Brett Hudson spoke to some formerPenn State players were very happy with Bill O’Brien when he coached there.

“The single best characteristic he has is he’s never afraid to tell you what he thinks, he’s never afraid to tell you how he thinks things should be,” Urschel said. “If you have a good game, he’s going to be the first person to let you know how well you played; if you have a bad game, he’s going to be the first person to let you know and he’s going to let you know every single way you need to improve.

“When he’s making decisions about game plans and when he’s making decisions about playing time, everything is transparent, everything has a reason. You might not agree with what he thinks and what he says, but there’s really full transparency. That level of honesty and transparency was something we really valued as players.”

This is great to hear. Hope for the best.

Some Senior Bowl notes:

As Saban would say, all of those guys created value for themselves this week.

Urban Meyer’s staff in Jacksonville will include Tosh Lupoi.

Per Feldman, the Jaguars are bringing in ex-Alabama defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi to be the team’s defensive line coach. Lupoi, who spent five seasons working under Saban, served as the Crimson Tide’s DC in 2018. More recently, Lupoi was the D-line coach for the Cleveland Browns (2019) and the defensive line coach and run-game coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons (2020).

Feldman reported that Lupoi was a strong candidate for several college defensive coordinator positions this winter. The last time he was a DC at the collegiate level, Alabama ranked fifth nationally in sacks and sixth in tackles for loss.

Charlie Strong was hired to coach the LBs.

Last, this is a funny read.

With Saban at the helm, Alabama’s been atop the weekly CFP rankings in more than 50% of the polls since its inception. Oh, and Bama’s won 92% of its games in the CFP era and captured six titles in 12 years. And no, I don’t think Alabama cheats any worse than any other program.

Bottom line, it’s Alabama and then everybody else. Ohio State is firmly in that next tier with Clemson but decidedly behind the Tide. Saban having a five-year headstart on Urban is something Ryan Day will have to overcome if the Buckeyes want to catch up.

So yeah, Saban’s on this list out of pure envy.

It’s normal to be envious of the GOAT.

That’s about it for today. Have a great week.

Roll Tide.