Jumbo Package: Alabama places three on Walter Camp Preseason All-America Team

Happy Independence Day, everyone. We are now less than two months away from Alabama’s opener against Utah State. The Walter Camp Preseason All-America Team was announced, and Alabama is featured prominently.

Three Alabama football players were named to the 2022 Walter Camp Preseason All-America Team, the Walter Camp Football Foundation announced on Monday.

Will Anderson Jr. (linebacker) and Eli Ricks (defensive back) earned first-team honors on defense with Bryce Young (quarterback) getting first-team recognition on the offensive side. The three student-athletes are part of 50 total named to the Walter Camp Preseason All-America Team which is comprised of 25 players apiece on the first and second teams.

Ross Dellenger highlights the disadvantage Alabama faces in the NIL arms race.

Saban is going to have to continue to sell the superior personal development. There will still be good money to be made, but the Tide won’t be winning any bidding wars. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Here’s another interesting NIL nugget.

Perhaps men’s basketball players aren’t quite as marketable as many thought.

Greg Hansen of the Arizona Daily Star examines why the Big Ten chose USC and UCLA.

Average attendance at SEC football games last year was 71,195. The Big Ten averaged 65,252. The Pac-12? A mere 43,865. Perhaps that’s why the league and so many of the rest of us were caught by surprise when USC and UCLA made the most shocking move in sports since the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants bolted for the West Coast in 1958.

I couldn’t have imagined that the Big Ten would change its world to add USC and UCLA because, frankly, the Bruins and Trojans have been mostly underwhelming for the last 40 years. Who would want them so badly to give them an equal cut of their media rights distribution each year?

All for the six million cable TV homes in SoCal.

That’s pretty much it. As he notes, Stanford is consistently better than both schools in the Director’s Cup and has been nearly as good in football, never mind the superior academic reputation. Nobody cares to watch Stanford on TV though, and therein lies the rub.

Color me surprised that a couple of New York “sportswriters” for the Wall Street Journal want to turn college football into soccer.

Bringing promotion and relegation to college football might sound crazy—or totally foreign. Maybe it shouldn’t. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, who jump-started the latest round of the conference realignment process last summer, has even said he drew inspiration from a certain book about how the English Premier League became the most popular sports league in the world.

In English soccer, the concept of relegation preceded the breakaway of powerful clubs that gave rise to the Premier League. But even during the tensest negotiations the sport had ever known in Britain, relegation was also included. It had been part of the fiber of the game for a century.

It could work in theory, as every year there are a few G5 programs that are better than the bottom tier Power 5 squads. Contractually, however, it seems impossible. Still, were it to be a reality this season, Pete Fiutak has a list of most likely schools to earn the promotion.

Bo Scarbrough helped the Birmingham Stallions win themselves a title.

Scarbrough, who lifted the championship trophy for his teammates during the postgame celebration at midfield, finished with 13 carries for 135 yards and one touchdown.

The touchdown was the first of the game, on a 36-yard carry.

Thanks to a 70-yard carry that set up a field goal, Scarbrough finished the first half with with 122 rushing yards.

Last, Lane Kiffin doesn’t sound too interested in replacing Nick Saban.

Monte Kiffin used to tell his son that the wisest career path is following lackluster coaches, not legends, at good programs.

And yet …

“I didn’t listen to him very well,” Kiffin said. “I followed two Hall of Fame coaches in Phillip Fulmer and Pete Carroll. ... Not smart. So, you see how USC ended. (Replacing Saban) would be the dumbest follow ever.”

Seems like a loser mentality from his old man, honestly.

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

Roll Tide.