Jumbo Package: Tide tops preseason AP poll

was released and confirmed Alabama as the consensus no. 1 team.

Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young, national defensive player of year Will Anderson Jr. and the Crimson Tide received 54 of 63 first-place votes and 1,566 points in the Top 25 presented by Regions Bank released on Monday.

Ohio State is No. 2 with six first-place votes (1,506 points) from the media panel and defending national champion Georgia is third with three first-place votes (1,455 points). Clemson is No. 4. Notre Dame rounds out the top five, setting up a tantalizing opener at Ohio State on Sept. 3.

The Tide’s preseason No. 1 ranking is the seventh in 15 years under coach Nick Saban. Since the preseason rankings started in 1950, only Oklahoma with 10 has been No. 1 in the initial poll more often than Alabama.

Shehan Jeyarajah at CBS thinks that Clemson is overrated.

The Tigers are starting from scratch at two key coaching positions following the departures of offensive coordinator Tony Elliott and defensive coordinator Brent Venables — both of whom served served in their roles since 2015 — to Virginia and Oklahoma, respectively. Clemson promoted internally, with QBs coach Brandon Streeter and senior defensive assistant Wes Goodwin taking over those vacancies. However, there’s no guarantee it will be smooth sailing for two coaches who have never called plays at the FBS level.

Additionally, Clemson has a big question mark at quarterback after DJ Uiagalelei ranked last among 15 qualified ACC quarterbacks in passing efficiency last year. Freshman Cade Klubnik could push for playing time, but it’s not clear yet if he’s the Deshaun Watson or Trevor Lawrence type to help Clemson reach national contention.

I’m not high on Clemson either, but you look at the other options and for that slot and none of them seem much better.

Word got around yesterday that Myles Brennan has decided to leave the LSU football program, ostensibly after learning that he would not be starting this fall. As Chase Goodbread notes, Alabama has the massive advantage of the best QB situation in the conference.

Any or all of these races could drag on until Week 1, when coaches finally have to show their hands. Until then, they’re being as coy as possible. Whatever it takes to quell the anticipation.

“We haven’t decided on the quarterback after today, so you can hold those questions,” Kelly told reporters at the beginning of LSU camp.

Sorry, coach, the questions won’t stop until your starter gets tapped on the shoulder. And it will be no different this month at Ole Miss, Auburn or A&M.

That’s a lot of upheaval for one division.

And that makes Young’s presence all the more reassuring at Alabama.

Eyabi Anoma is back on the move.

“The guy was dismissed from school, and that’s really all I can say about it,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said at the time, adding that federal privacy laws prevented him from revealing more.

Anoma then transferred to Houston, where he sat out the 2019 season under NCAA transfer rules before he was dismissed for an unspecified violation of team rules in February 2020. He landed at UT Martin, where he sat out the 2020 season for unspecified reasons before finally getting consistent playing time and making the Ohio Valley Conference All-Newcomer team last fall.

Hopefully he has put his issues behind him and can reach his NFL potential.

The 2025 and 2026 title game venues have been chosen.

Last, with apologies to Bryce Young’s ad with Dollar Shave Club, this has to be Decoldest NIL commercial to date.

This is what NIL was supposed to be. It’s a shame that players couldn’t land these types of endorsements years ago. Had they been allowed, we probably wouldn’t be in the mess we are.

That’s about it for now. Have a great day.

Roll Tide.