Jumbo Package: Derrick Henry and Julio Jones Join Forces to Form Crimson Tide Superteam in the NFL

Alabama football will meet Oklahoma State in a home-and-home series that will begin in 2028, the school announced Tuesday.

The Tide will play in Stillwater on Sept. 23, 2028 before the Cowboys travel to Bryant-Denny Stadium on Sept. 15, 2029.

“We are very excited to add another excellent opponent to our future non-conference schedule with the addition of Oklahoma State,” coach Nick Saban said in a statement. “Greg Byrne and our administration have done a great job of scheduling outstanding football games that benefit both our program and our fans.”

On the heels of announcing Nick Saban’s contract extension, the Tide has now set a home-and-home series with Oklahoma State in the latter part of the upcoming decade. It’ll give the Tide a chance to right the wrong from the 2006 bowl game, and slowly chip away at Alabama’s historical losing record to the Big 12.

During his 10 seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, Jones wore No. 11. On Sunday, the Falcons traded the seven-time Pro Bowler to the Tennessee Titans, who announced on Tuesday night that Jones would wear No. 2 during the 2021 season.

Jones could not have worn that number until this season. Until a rule change adopted in April, NFL wide receivers were limited to wearing numbers 10 through 19 and 80 through 89. Under the new rule, wide receivers can wear numbers 1 through 49 and 80 through 89.

Wide receiver A.J. Brown wears No. 11 for Tennessee, and the 2020 Pro Bowler reported via his Twitter account on Tuesday that he had offered to change numbers so Jones could continue to wear No. 11, but the Titans’ newest player had declined.

Pretty cool stuff from Julio here to just go with a new number rather than force a budding superstar in AJ Brown out of the 11 jersey. Personally, I’m pumped to watch the two freak athletes in Jones and Brown play receiver for the same team this year.

I might just have to jump ship and bandwagon with the Titans.

Derrick Henry has won the past two NFL rushing titles, and now the Tennessee Titans running back has won the past two Alabama Sports Writers Association’s Professional Athlete of the Year awards.

The organization announced the former Alabama All-American as the winner of its 2020 pro award on Tuesday.

Henry became the third athlete to win the pro award in consecutive years, following a pair of baseball players – Frank Thomas in 1993 and 1994 and Tim Hudson in 1999 and 2000.

Derrick Henry already joined the prestigious group of winning Pro Athlete of the Year the previous season, and now becomes only the third to ever win it in back-to-back years. Funny enough, Shaun Alexander won the award 3 times, but never consecutively.

Henry and Alexander are joined by Julio Jones, DeMeco Ryans, Mo Williams, Cornelius Bennett, John Hannah, Ozzie Newsome, and Ken Stabler as Crimson Tide alumni to win the award (with a shoutout to Deontay Wilder, who hails from Tuscaloosa).

Finally, here’s a little bit of recruiting news:

“[Coach Saban] was telling me that he doesn’t usually offer young kids like me, but he said that I just caught his attention and that he loved the way that I threw the ball,” Belfort explained. “He said he just loved the way that I carried myself and that he’s definitely going to be watching some of my games in high school. He obviously wants to see how I play and develop in high school.

“We talked for about 5 to 10 minutes,” Belfort added. “It was a really good conversation. It was amazing to be in the same room as Nick Saban. Literally the G.O.A.T in college football. One of the best to do it. Who knows, maybe one day I will be playing for him.”

Usually, I wouldn’t consider it noteworthy to mention that Alabama offered some kid for the 2025 class. However, I’m bringing it up for one reason:

In 2006, Tennessee beat Alabama in football. And Davi Belfort, now a high school QB picking up scholarship offers, was not even alive yet.

Roll Tide!