Jumbo Package: DeMarcco Hellams offers high praise for Ty Simpson at NFL Combine

Happy Friday, everyone. The Gym Tide will face off with Missouri in the final road meet of the season tonight, in CoMo. Softball hosts the Crimson Classic this weekend and based on the teams in the field, they should do very well. Unfortunately this team has already suffered a couple of head scratching upsets on the season, so we shall see. Meanwhile, Baseball hosts something called a UIC.

Unfortunately, the women’s basketball team completed their late season meltdown, dropping their fourth consecutive game in embarrassing fashion to a Kentucky squad that finished dead last in the SEC at 2-14. They will still make the NCAA tournament, but likely won’t be in the top half of the bracket as they were poised to be just a couple of weeks ago.

The men’s basketball team will close the regular season tomorrow in College Station, and we will of course have full coverage later. As Christopher Walsh notes, the win over Auburn to clinch the SEC title had some quirks.

1) There was only one lead change during regulation

Auburn never trailed until Quinerly made a pair of free throws with 1:37 remaining in the game, giving Alabama the lead at 74-73. They were also the final points he scored as guard Jaden Bradley led the the Crimson Tide in scoring during overtime with six points.

That is pretty interesting. Auburn held the lead for most of the game, but once Alabama took control the TIgers never led again.

The crying on Auburn Twitter was palpable last night, and Bruce Pearl’s whining did nothing to suppress it.

“Well, I’ve got to go watch the play,” Pearl said. “... There was a pass over the top and three guys kind of tackled him. That play? We’re at Alabama, they play football over there in the football stadium. We threw the ball (and) a couple of defensive backs climbed on his back. Then the ball went out of bounds, I guess. I don’t know. It was some sort of a scuffle. Our bench stayed on the bench and they had some guys come off, I guess.

“So, the explanation was (it was) his fifth foul.”

We all saw the play, but let’s post it again for a little fun, shall we?

Quinerly very clearly does not come through Broome’s back to get the basketball. It’s a clean steal. Broome, in effort not to give up on the play, fought for the ball but in the process got Quinerly’s arm instead as he was going to the ground. This action caused Quinerly to travel, which forced the official’s hand to call something: a travel or a foul. A foul was correctly called.

They were also very upset about Quinerly throwing the ball at Broome despite the fact that he clearly and consciously ensured his feet were inbounds as Broome was out of bounds, and threw the ball at Broome to maintain possession not knowing whether he’d get the foul call. Jahvon has thrown the ball off defenders and out of bounds several times this season.

Will Anderson worked out at the NFL Combine yesterday, and this seems like a pretty solid comp.

Mack became a seven time Pro Bowler and in his third season won Defensive Player of the Year, and he’s not done yet.

Eli Ricks doesn’t lack for confidence.

Former Alabama cornerback Eli Ricks played last season with both Young and Anderson, and was asked by a reporter Thursday at the NFL scouting combine which player he would take if he was an NFL general manager holding the top pick.

Ricks chose a third option.

“I’m taking Eli Ricks, to be honest,” he said.

Hope you live up to that, Eli, but you might be picked first in the third round if you really show out in pre-draft workouts.

DeMarcco Hellams was asked about the Alabama QB competition, and he had some lofty praise for Ty Simpson.

“He can play in the pocket, but Ty has great speed that not a lot of people know about,” Hellams said. “He definitely has a little, I’d say, Pat Mahomes in him, a little bit, the way he can extend plays and still look downfield with his eyes.”

The departure of Bryce Young has opened a competition between Jalen Milroe, who will enter his third season, and Simpson, entering his second, to start in the fall.

“I expect it to be a great quarterback competition [and] a great offense, no matter who’s running it,” Hellams said. “Two competitive guys. They definitely have their own style of play. But they definitely have a great leadership abilities, great playing abilities, and they’ll definitely be good.”

Seems like comparing him to Bryce would have made more sense, since extending plays is Young’s calling card. Simpson and Mahomes do wear the same number, though.

The Broncos are coming up on the deadline to pick up Jerry Jeudy’s rookie option.

“Really happy with how Jerry finished off the season, especially the last couple of games,” Paton said. “And we make those decisions, I believe, in May – right near the draft, we’ll make that decision. But really happy with where Jerry’s at.”

The deadline for the Broncos to exercise their option on Jeudy’s contract for the 2024 season is May 1.

When Jeudy joined Denver from Alabama as the 15th player picked in the 2020 NFL Draft, he signed a four-year contract worth $15.193 million. If the Broncos use their option, they would guarantee Jeudy an estimated payday of $12.987 million — the average of the third- to 25th-highest salaries for wide receivers over the past five seasons – for the 2024 campaign.

Last, you will be shocked to know that the Tennessee writers think Alabama is overrated.

Who might be overhyped in the SEC?

Alabama: Never mind its championship history. The Tide don’t know who their starting quarterback will be, don’t have a proven elite wide receiver and don’t have a dominant running back. Yet, it’s a popular pick to win the SEC West and make the College Football Playoff. It’s not overrated. It’s very overrated. – Adams

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

Roll Tide.