Jumbo Package: Gump Day!

King is responsible for more than 10,000 yards in his collegiate career: 7,611 passing yards, 1,959 rushing yards, 520 receiving yards, 29 punt return yards and 260 kick return yards — a total of 10,379 yards. He presents the Crimson Tide with a true dual-threat challenge.

“His ability to extend plays, make all kinds of throws whether it’s on the run, in the pocket, get out of the pocket,” Christian Harris said. “He keeps his eyes downfield at all times and he really helps their offense a lot, being able to extend those plays with him keeping his eyes down the field. He’s just all-around a great quarterback, so he’s definitely going to present a really great challenge for our defense, and we gotta make sure that we’re on our toes.

I have a preview of King and Miami’s offense coming up for you all later this morning, but here’s some snippets of Alabama defenders praising the dynamic QB.

For the record, Will Anderson is quickly becoming one of my favorite interviews on the team. He’s just an excitable seeming guy with some intense energy.

Give him a year or two to get used to it, and he’s going to be an absolute gem in press conferences.

Owens and Dalcourt were listed as co-starters on Monday’s depth chart, and Dalcourt received some work with the first unit again Monday. The Havre de Grace, Md., native has played in 14 career games as a backup but finds himself in competition for a role with the ones.

“He’s gotten bigger and stronger and playing with a little bit more power,” Saban said of Dalcourt. “There’s a lot of competition at the center position, which is a good thing. But he has played really well and had a good fall camp, and we’re really pleased with the progress that he’s made and excited about watching him when he gets an opportunity to play — how he actually performs out there as a young player who doesn’t have quite as much experience as some of the other players but has really shown a lot of maturity in his play throughout fall camp.”

While most of Alabama’s depth chart release was pretty expected and uneventful, the fact that 6th year senior Chris Owens was not the sure starter at center might be the most interesting bit. For a couple of seasons now, Darrian Dalcourt has been the young guy that gets a lot a praise in the offseason and expected to eventually be the successor at center... Except now he’s a junior, and if he waits another year, the “center of the future” label is only a 1-season stop gap.

So seeing the junior come in and giving his best shot to supplant the veteran and proven commodity in Owens is an encouraging sign for the health and depth of this offensive line.

The Green Bay Packers traded for the top punter in the NFL in the 2020 season and put former Alabama All-American JK Scott on waivers on Tuesday.

With NFL teams reducing their preseason rosters to the regular-season limit of 53 active-roster players on Tuesday, the Packers acquired Corey Bojorquez and a 2023 seventh-round draft choice from the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for a sixth-round selection in the 2023 NFL Draft.

I never thought I’d say these words, but JK Scott has actually been somewhat underwhelming as an NFL punter. Maybe it’s the cold weather in Green Bay, but he’s just been extremely inconsistent.

And the release wasn’t just a penny-pinching move for the Packers, either, as they made a trade for another punter— one that’s already on a contract worth over $1M per year, whereas Scott was making $920K.

Here’s to hoping he finds a new team to catch on with.

On Tuesday, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni confirmed the obvious: Hurts had earned Philadelphia’s starting-quarterback job.

“Really, nobody else got any reps with the ones,” said Sirianni, who is entering his first season as the Eagles’ coach, “and Jalen’s known ‘Hey, nobody else has gotten any reps with the ones but me,’ and Jalen’s our starter. And he’s done a great job. We wanted him to take advantage of the opportunity and take the reins of the opportunity that he got, and we feel like the preseason that he had, he did that.

With this announced, Alabama now has three (!) different starting QBs in the NFL. After a decade of the national conversation hanging on to their last hope that the Tide couldn’t put a QB into the pros, Alabama now leads the pack with nearly 10% of the league’s starters. I suppose we could give Oklahoma a 1B type share, since they have Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, and one season of Hurts. Of course, Murray and Baker were also rentals for the Sooners as well. Weird business model, but I guess it’s worked out for them.

If Jones and Tagovailoa do square off as starting quarterbacks on the opening Sunday of the 2021 NFL season, it will become the first game with opposing Alabama QBs since Richard Todd rallied the New York Jets to a 31-28 victory over Ken Stabler and the New Orleans Saints on ABC’s “Monday Night Football” on Nov. 21, 1983, at the Louisiana Superdome.

And in case you wanted to watch these Alabama QBs in action, you’re in luck, as Mac Jones and Tua Tagovailoa face off in the season opener. Two for the price of one!

The Dolphins were a team on the upswing last year and had a solid offseason, adding talent in the places they lacked. Meanwhile, the Patriots have been the best in the league for 2 decades, though they fell off a bit in 2020. However, an upgrade at QB and bringing back a significant number of defenders who opted out due to Covid should make them a much more dangerous team.

Can both teams win? I’d be fine with that.

Roll Tide!