Jumbo Package: ‘Bama Baseball, bamboozled by betting boob Brad Bohannon, in the clear with the NCAA

Alabama has been an NFL feeder for the better part of 15 years, but I think it’s still impressive to see how many players are still in the league.

This year, that is an NFL-record 83; almost an 85-man CFB roster worth of players in the NFL. And, with just 1696 players in the NFL, that means 1 in 20 of them will be from the Crimson Tide.

USA Today’s vertical takes a stab at an inside linebacker depth chart. Here’s the one included for the Will:

Starter

Deontae Lawson

Backup

Trezmen Marshall or Shawn Murphy

Depth

Kendrick Blackshire

Deontae Lawson has all the tools and traits to be Alabama’s next great inside linebacker. After playing the WILL position last year, I expect Lawson to move over to the MIKE and be the field general for the Alabama defense. If Lawson doesn’t fill the role of the MIKE, it will likely be Georgia transfer Trezmen Marshall who put together an impressive spring in Tuscaloosa. Second-year player Shawn Murphy is a future star and veteran Kendrick Blackshire brings experience and grit to the group and is also one of the Tide’s best special teams players.

I disagree with the starter here. I think Trezmen Marshall is going to win that job, likely with Lawson at another spot. Lawson has been an off-ball ILB his entire career, and thrives when he can read and react. You don’t put kids who’ve played at Will suddenly at Mike — he was at Will, because that’s his natural position. Meanwhile, Marshall is violent finisher, and has the frame you want at the position too (6’1”, 235). He played both ways in high school, and can read and cover passes. Plus, a few years under Kirby is an on-ramp for the MLB job at Alabama (see also: Pruitt — To’oto’o).

That Iowa / Iowa State gambling probe is getting a lot wider...like Mr. Hands-wide. A total of 126 players are now under investigation for wagering, by both the NCAA and Iowa gaming authorities. And it covers the complete spectrum: Baseball at both schools. Basketball at both schools. Football at Iowa. Wresting (a very big deal in the Hawkeye state)...even track and field.

I suspect we’re merely getting a peek at the apex of the iceberg here; 9/10s of a shitstorm is submerged-but-looming in what will eventually be a national scandal.

But, hey, point-shaving would at least explain Iowa’s offense, right?

Marcus Goree, a rising corner already committed to Tennessee, received an offer from ‘Bama yesterday:

He committed to Tennessee on Feb. 18, however has received offers from Chattanooga, Penn State, and Alabama since then.

“Long fluid athlete that’s positioned primarily at the strong safety position and excels closer to the line of scrimmage. Exhibits good lateral range and closing speed. Shows the ability to play sideline to sideline. Reactionary defender that plays with very little wasted motion and shows the ability to key and diagnose in the short to intermediate part of the field. Strong run support defender. Physical tackler that will strike you at the point of attack. Possesses situational pass rush ability from the second level,” said national recruiting analyst for 247Sports Cooper Petagna.

I’m not going to reinvent the wheel here. Vawls Talk has a great video on what Goree brings to the table:

The NCAA is finally doing what it ought to have been doing a decade ago, when litigation first hit federal court: Beg congress for NIL legislation.

Yet one more dilatory failure by Mark Emmert.

Baker’s visit comes at a time in which at least some congressional lawmakers are seriously gearing up to move on a college athlete bill. Several lawmakers and Congressional aides spoke to Sports Illustrated about the latest movement on the issue:

Senate Commerce Committee leaders are working to schedule another hearing on the issue.

An early draft of a bill from Senators Tommy Tuberville (R., Ala.) and Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) is complete and has been reviewed by several executives within college athletics.

A narrow NIL-based bill is expected soon from Representative Gus Bilirakis (R., Fla.), the chair of a subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which likely controls legislation around college athletics within the House of Representatives.

Whatever they are going to do, they need to get on their horse and ride. We are rapidly approaching a patchwork NIL schemes with each state trying their damnedest to insulate Home Town U from cheating. Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Alabama are all in various stages of lawmaking on just such an effort.

Probably just a coincidence that those four states have seven of the Top 15 revenue-generating athletic departments, right?

Speaking of gambling shitstorms, for now at least, it does not look like Alabama Baseball’s postseason eligibility is in doubt, or there are potential looming NCAA issues for the program:

“We have full expectation that we’ll be able to be part of the postseason,” Byrne said. “Obviously, we know that as soon as we knew there was a challenge, we dealt with it immediately, and so we anticipate them to be able to be full participation.”

Byrne was informed of the gambling incident while attending league meetings in Florida, and on Wednesday, he was asked if he plans to bring up the NCAA-wide issue at spring meetings.

“Gambling and the acceptance of it has changed dramatically, right, with online gaming, and that’s a societal decision, that’s a societal issue,” Byrne said. “And we have obviously a lot of things that we train our student-athletes and coaches and our staff about on a daily basis or on an annual basis. I do think that from an integrity standpoint within the game, to make sure that our student-athletes, our coaches, our staff understand that there has to be a separation.

Brad Bohannon’s career is over, however. MLB isn’t touching Pete Rose 2.0. And I suspect the NCAA will make it official at some point, with a lifetime ban just by way of formality.

He won’t even be able to volunteer at Dixie League tee-ball games anymore — he could have a few bucks on that 3’10”, 62-pound spitfire first baseman going yard.

I weep.

Oh, hypocrisy, thy name is Big 10.

The conference that already wins the MAC title every year, and which allows service academies and UConn and BYU to count as Power 5 wins, may just abandon the pretense of decent scheduling altogether, and eliminate the Power 5 nonconference opponent requirement.

In what is surely a mere coincidence, the proposal begins the same year the playoff begins expanding.

Ohio State is about to make Georgia’s schedule look like Sergeant York-level bravery.

I leave you with this, one of the funnier moments in live broadcasting.

Everyone thinks it’s funny....except Lakers fans, who are a miserable lot of humorless front-runners to begin with.

Watching AD get carted off the court like he was felled by a deer rifle is hilarious to a man who played a decade with a destroyed back, and the recipient of the NBA’s most abusive defense in history.

Shaq and Chuck got battered on the nightly.
AD got brushed on his overgrown noggin.