Jumbo Package: SEC relaxes intraconference transfer rule

Happy Friday, everyone. Baseball and softball are both in NCAA tournament action today, with the men playing NC State at 2pm CT and the women facing a marquee matchup with #2 UCLA at 8:30pm. If Montana Fouts keeps it up, she is going to cement herself as one of the greatest Alabama players in any sport, and still has two more years of eligibility if she wants them.

The other big news of the day is the SEC’s decision to ease some transfer restrictions.

This of course means that Henry To’o To’o will be immediately eligible as we expected when he announced his intention to come to Alabama, as will Troy transfer punter Jack Martin. The level of tampering that results is yet to be seen.

Alabama offered a scholarship to your average, run of the mill 340 lb. high school freshman.

His name is Isendre Ahfua, and is definitely one to keep an eye on. Hopefully he is able to keep the weight under control as he gets older.

Andy Staples was asked to rank Saban assistants, and he got it right.

The most successful former Saban lieutenant is Jimbo Fisher. Fisher won three ACC titles and a national title at Florida State (in 2013), and he currently has Texas A&M in the best place it has been in years. He’ll probably have to get through Saban’s Alabama team to fulfill the reason the Aggies hired him, but he seems to be on the correct trajectory. When Fisher was hired, everyone in College Station pointed to 2020 as the year Texas A&M would get competitive. That’s exactly what happened, even though the pandemic-adjusted, SEC-only schedule made it tougher to win in bulk. The Aggies still went 9-1 and won the Orange Bowl. The lone defeat was a 28-point loss to Saban’s Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa, but that might have been Saban’s best Alabama team. Fisher’s best A&M team might be this one if one of Fisher’s QB recruits (either Haynes King or Zach Calzada) pans out. The Aggies have three potential first-rounders (OT Kenyon Green, DE DeMarvin Leal and TE Jalen Wydermyer), and Fisher’s recruiting classes keep yielding hits.

DeMeco Ryans credits his time at Alabama for helping him prepare to be a NFL coach.

Ryans is only 36 years old, but he’s been preparing for the position since he was an All-American linebacker for Alabama defensive coordinator Joe Kines.

“He was the first coach who kind of when we were going through defense, were going through practice and things in the room, and he would put me on the spot, like, ‘DeMeco, you make the call. What do you want to call?’” Ryans said during an interview for the 49ers’ website. “So he kind of had me in that role back when I was a sophomore or junior in college. He put me in those positions, so I have to first thank him. He’s always believed in me, believed that I would be a coach, so that’s the first guy.”

Hopefully he figured out how to stop that inside trout along the way.

Last, it’s already Georgia’s year again.

The addition of Kendrick seemed to ease concerns about what had been Georgia’s biggest weakness. Georgia had zero starting experience at the cornerback position prior to Kendrick’s arrival.

Now Georgia doesn’t have to rely on unproven entities in Jalen Kimber and Kelee Ringo as much. Both are likely to still see the field. They’ll just be doing so with Kendrick on it.

So, they managed to add a former five-star TE with reported academic concerns who quit his team after eight games last year, and a CB who spent plenty of time in Dabo Swinney’s doghouse. Kendrick has also looked terrible on the big stage. Check out this bit of film.

Besides getting torched, take a look at the way he turns down contact. He looks like a WR playing cornerback, likely because that’s exactly what he is. Good luck with that, Kirbs.

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

Roll Tide.