Jumbo Package: Cometh the hour, cometh the man — Bryce Young wins ESPY for Best Male College Athlete

Bryce Young has started just fifteen games, and already his trophy case is the envy of the nation. Add another to his list, as the reigning Heisman winner took home the ESPY Award last night for Best Male College Athlete. Young threw for program records in yards (4,872) yards and touchdowns (47) last year en route to an unlikely Iron Bowl comeback victory, SEC Championship, and National Championship appearance.

Alas, the Iron Bowl was not named GOTY, but it’s hard to top the Chiefs-Bills AFCG barnburner (and, unlike the Iron Bowl, that one had the benefit of actually being fun to watch).

You can watch the Awards stream on ESPN here.

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Alabama landed an elite player at a position of need yesterday, as the Tide was able to reach into the Peach State and poach highly-coveted 4-star TE Martavious Collins away from Notre Dame, Georgia, and Ohio State among others.

Collins’ commitment came as some bit of a surprise, given he had only made two trips to Tuscaloosa. Just as surprising was that Collins’ commitment was secured by the two newest members of the Tide coaching staff:

“I picked Alabama because everybody is held to a high standard,” Collins said of his decision. “The competition level, I’ll be competing every day against top-notch people. The practices are different from a lot of colleges I’ve seen. I would love to be a part of those types of workouts and practices.”

Offensive line coach Eric Wolford is credited with adding the 6-foot-3, 241-pounder as his area recruiter, along with new tight ends and special teams coach Joe Cox. Nick Saban also played a large role.

I love his attitude too. Collins sounds like a business-minded player unafraid to compete.

He is a physical, big target with very soft hands, and is unafraid to put his head down and make tough yards. The biggest deficit to his game at this level is route-running, but Alabama has one of the very best in the business coaching receivers, so I expect those skills to improve drastically over the coming years.

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Thank. God.

The year-round circus of the Transfer Portal looks to be gaining some sanity, as a two-tiered window is almost certainly a done-deal now.

INDIANAPOLIS — Division I college football players would have two periods of time – one in the winter and one in the spring – to enter the transfer portal and be immediately eligible to play if a proposed rule change gets final approval.

The Division I Council endorsed on Tuesday several of the Transformation Committee’s initial proposals and passed them on to the D-I Board for approval.

The Board meets again early next month.

If approved, the measure goes before the entire body for ratification, and then would be in force effective with the 2023 recruiting cycle.

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Martavious Collins was not the only crucial pickup yesterday, as the Tide finally found Will Reichard’s replacement, 6’1” Conor Talty out of Illinois.

The dual-threat is an outstanding kicker and can serve as an emergency punter.

As a junior he nailed 49-of-50 PATs and converted eight field goals. He averaged 47.5 yards per kick on 63 kickoffs and on 43 punts he’s averaging 38.2 yards.

Talty was ranked as the No. 3 kicker and No. 5 punter at this summer’s Chris Sailor kicking camps. He also performed well competing in the Kohl’s Kicking, Punting and Long Snapping Underclassmen Challenge Camps.

Even better news: Just as Collins’s commitment was secured by new coaches, so too was Talty — he was a Coleman Hutzler recruit.

Which reminds me, since all of the Tide’s new commitments have been targets of new coaches, I did a writeup on each and every one of them this offseason. If you missed one, or want a refresher, here ya’ go.

The Manball Mercenary: Meet Alabama offensive line coach, Eric Wolford

The Up-and-Comer: Meet Alabama Tight End Coach Joe Cox

The perfect fit for Alabama’s Special Teams needs: Meet new coach Coleman Hutzler

Home Run Hire: Meet Cornerbacks Coach Travaris Robinson

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That’s all for this morning, dig in and feel free to chime in below.