dplafoll

Yes and no. It probably depends on the kid, if he's able to afford school otherwise. I'm fairly certain that he uses scholarships on kickers, punters, and even long snappers to guarantee that he's able to pick from the best over schools that won't do that.

To be fair, Bama under CNS has had a 1A and 1B tandem most years, both of whom you could and should consider starters, and usually the 1B becomes the 1A the next year. But in 2015, we lost our 1A (Henry) and our 1B (Drake). And, because Henry carried the ball 6549815218 times that year, we didn't have a lot of experience behind those guys. So yeah, coming into the '16 season, we didn't have any starting experience, and we really didn't know what we had with Damien or Bo, and we really didn't know what to expect out of the true freshmen. The weakness wasn't talent, it was experience, and now we have 3/6 of our RBs with significant carries from last year plus Emmons with some carries and apparently better after his rehab. Then there's Najee Harris, and an overlooked and underrated Brian Robinson. It's a good time for the Bama run game.

I always felt so bad for Harris last year in that he just doesn't have that sheer top-end speed and kept getting caught juuuuuust before getting the TD, and then we'd use someone else to get the points.

Honestly, if Jalen Hurts has 1k+ yards, we're in some serious trouble. I expect maybe around 500 yards, and a lot more passing yardage. We need to be stretching the field and being much more of a threat in the passing game. If they remain healthy, I could see Damien and Bo getting north of 1k each. More interesting will be the totals for Josh, BJ, and Najee. If we spread it around enough, we may have a large group of 500-800 yard backs. Honestly that's the way I'd do it if I were Daboll. Imagine never not having a fresh running back that's as good as any of the others...

I'm hoping this year between Daboll, Hurts, and our RB and WR groups, we can basically run whatever offense we want when we want it. Score in 45 seconds with tempo? Sure. Score in 8 minutes? Sure. Mix some tempo in with pro-style clock chewing and really screw up the opposing defense? Sure.

That was a team loss. If the offense gets more 1st downs (maybe not even any more points; just use up more clock), Clemson has fewer chances to come back, and the defense is less tired to slow/end Clemson drives. If the defense gets off the field on 3rd down more, and/or gets more TOs, the offense has a better field with which to work, and less pressure to score points. If Adam Griffith kicks more touchbacks (0/6 on the night), maybe the defense has a better time with the Clemson offense. JK Scott averaged 45.8Yds/kick, so I won't knock him here; he did all he could. But Adam completely failed this time in utter contrast to the last NCG. And yes, maybe the refs call the illegal pick play(s).There are a lot of reasons why Alabama lost. I'm just glad we lost at the wire, after a hard-fought game, against a good opponent. Even as a loss that was a better game than the UT and ND NCGs (not LSU though, because 21-0 will always be special). I'd rather have that than losing by a bunch and never really being in the game. THAT would be a lot more troubling than this last loss. Plus, this game will be some serious motivation fuel for the team for the '17 season. If I were playing Alabama this year, I'd be afraid. Now you've got Alabama which is bad enough, but now they're hungry, angry, and have a prove-themselves mentality. Good luck.... Roll Tide.

There may be teams with one, maybe two, RBs as good as Alabama's. UGA's Chubb/Michel, LSU's Guice, AU's Pettway all come to mind in the SEC(as would Arkansas's RW3 before retirement), as well as PSU's Barkley and others nationally. But nobody in the country comes close to having the combination of depth and talent that Bama has at RB, before you even consider Jalen Hurts.

You're right about everything you just said, but we still need to lock down the final starting group and get them in-sync. I really don't know where I'd put Minkah, but it really depends on who steps up at CB, SS, and Star. If Tony Brown grabs the Star spot and Diggs gets it together at CB, then Minkah will be fine at SS. It's also possible someone shows up as better at SS than Diggs is at CB, and that would put Minkah at CB instead (maybe Hootie Jones, or one of the young guys like Knott, Carter, Mayden, McKinney). I would be super shocked to see Tony Brown not start, probably at Star, but I could see where he plays CB and Knott or someone plays Star instead. The secondary is like a revolver: lots of good bullets, but only a couple are in their correct chambers (AA, Ronnie).

Disney is fine: Star Wars (and the rest of Lucasfilm) Pixar Marvel

"On Monday afternoon, Alabama’s Twitter account showed off the Tide’s new SEC Championship and College Football Playoff rings."They didn't get a ring specifically for making the championship (I assume you're referring to the national championship). They got a ring for the SEC championship, and another ring for winning the Peach Bowl, which got them to the championship but that's not the specific reason for the ring.

Holy s*** I've never even realized that little nugget. Wow.

Define "season", because that usually means the first 12 games (hence the term "post-season" for conf. CG and playoffs). So Saban has actually had 3 undefeated seasons at Alabama: 2008, 2009, and 2016. IIRC the 2008 season was the first time a team had gone 12-0 in a regular season (instead of 11-0 + bowl game), then Bama and Florida did it in '09.

That's why I want Tua to redshirt (2017). That way, he'll have a year to back up Jalen next year (2018) then he could choose 1 (2019), 2 (2020), or 3 (2021) years as the starter, assuming Jalen leaves after his 3rd year. Even if he doesn't, Tua still has 1-2 years starting after that. All of which assumes that Daboll's offense and Mac Jones don't totally sync up and Mac Jones steals the show from one or both of them (not this year though).

I can see a lot of these being very improved passing offenses. But I think you should consider Alabama here, for several reasons. 1) Brian Daboll. The new OC's offense is likely to be more balanced, but feature a powerful run game. Daboll is also likely to use a more pro-style offense, especially with TEs and the QB under-center. I think that Alabama will be passing more from a schematic perspective, and will be able to switch from RPOs and spread/tempo to under-center/play action at a flip of a switch. 2) Jalen Hurts. Jalen has shown a lot of improvement in the spring per multiple reports. If that continues, and he gets to a new level of passing ability, he's going to be pretty dangerous for opposing defenses when combined with that running ability. I also think that to keep him healthy the offense will feature fewer designed runs from Jalen, but defenses will still have to respect it. At any time, he can decide something isn't there and go get a 1st down all on his own. 3) WRs/TEs. Alabama may not have ever had a more elite group of pass catchers. Jalen will have a bevy of very, very talented targets, from true freshmen Jerry Jeudy and Tyrell Shavers to older WRs Calvin Ridley, Robert Foster, and Cam Sims, as well as excellent TEs like Miller Forristall and Irv Smith (not to mention the RBs, some of whom could just about play WR in their own right). 4) OL. Bama returns starters at Center and LG, as well as moving the best RT in SEC last year to LT. And with the talent present on the roster, the right side should be solid (probably Lester Cotton at RG and Matt Womack at RT). So the blocking should be better, which will give Jalen more time to make those throws that he has learned now how to make. 5) RBs. We have 6 RBs with an average star rating of 4.5, which is brought down by an under-recruited 3-star Josh Jacobs who had a 6.67 YPC season last year as a true freshman. Combined with an elite running QB, it will be difficult for opposing defenses to provide adequate coverage against those pass catchers AND stop the run game steamroller. All of these RBs are very good at catching passes out of the backfield as well; you really don't want Bo Scarbrough or Najee Harris (or any of them) to be catching passes out on the edges in space. This is a year where Bama goes back to "the run game opens up the passing game".

1) We have a LOT of experience in the secondary, but they still need to learn to work together, as a group, in this configuration and with this leadership. They'll be fine, and probably one of the best secondary units in the SEC in the fall. 2) Watching the highlight video from Saturday's scrimmage, I noticed that there were several really nice throws and catches in there, so some of the DBs' issues were caused by good QB/WR/TE play. See especially that sideline throw to Calvin Ridley near the end. I'm not sure Levi Wallace could've been in a much better position on it; it was just thrown right where it needed to be for Calvin to get it.

Your schedules are near-equivalent, but I think the difference comes down to the QB position, and possibly the defense. Stidham looks, right now, to be a more-proven quality QB than TAM's options, and Sean White is a better backup. So that then defines the whole season, but especially your respective marquee OOC matchups. Clemson just lost a massive chunk of their offense, especially the QB, but UCLA has a 3rd-year starter coming back. So then you look at the defense, and I think most people feel TAM lost more on defense than AU. So combine that with a near-identical schedule, but also with the differences in the OOC opponents, and AU has an easier time with their schedule compared to TAM.

Whoops, I meant ">100yds total". Morning fumble-fingers...

I'm with you there. Chubb vs. Damien Harris: 93 yards more. Michel vs. Scarb.: 28 yards more. And that's with Jalen Hurts taking 954 yards away from the RBs. So you can argue the 2-deep at RB is almost equivalent there. But behind them: UGA: 2 players w/ <100yds total, and one was a WR. Recruited 1 RB, 4-star #4 RB D'Andre Swift. Bama: 2 players w/ <100yds total, both of whom are back. Recruited 2 RBs, #18 RB 4-star Brian Robinson and 5-star #1-ish player overall Najee Harris, plus #13 ATH Chadarius Townsend who's been practicing at RB.So at the 2-deep Bama is at worst a wash from last year with the handicap of a 1k-rusher QB, and Bama clearly has better depth behind those guys. I'm not saying Harris and Scarbrough are necessarily better than Chubb and Michel, but the numbers speak for themselves.I am with bcassady: This may be Saban's most talented backfield overall, competing with the 2010 group of Ingram, Richardson, Lacey, Jalston Fowler, Corey Grant. And it's probably as good or better than 2013 with Kenyan Drake, Fowler, Dee Hart, Derrick Henry, Alvin Kamara, TJ Yeldon.

I think Herbie is still doing a good job at this. I used to dislike him but now he's my favorite ESPN personality.

I could easily see Moses playing outside simply to get him more playing time. We have two returning starters at MLB (SDH, Evans), none at OLB. Plus I think we have more experience coming back at MLB behind the starters as well, so I'd bet that Moses has more opportunity for playing time outside. But we'll see.

I can see both sides to this question. On the one hand, yeah, Dabo has built something good at Clemson and it would be hard to leave that. On the other hand, "...when Momma calls, you just have to come runnin'."

There's no reason why we can't go back to a more pro-style look, but still incorporate tempo and QB runs. All that will do is add a dimension to that pro-style attack that was lacking when we had Greg/AJ/Jake. If nothing else, we can have a pro-style attack with a QB that is much, much better at not just avoiding sacks but making some yardage happen on a busted play. I really want to see Jalen develop his passing game so we can have this. I am very excited about Tua and Mac, but they are unproven commodities at the intangible things that Jalen was excellent in all year last year, no matter how good or bad his passing was.

I would imagine that if he hasn't RS'd yet he could just take one this year. And if he has, he could apply to the NCAA for a waiver to gain a 6th year.

Other names: Anfernee Jennings, Dylan Moses, and maybe Rashaan Evans moves back outside with the middle being SDH and Mack Wilson or Ben Davis or another ILB.

True, but still in the class of 2016. Close enough for the purposes of the article.

For anyone who doubts Bradley Bozeman on this list, if I remember right, he didn't have any penalties on him personally (holding, false start, etc.) in the 2016 season, just the usual delay-of-game that may not have even been his fault to start.

I like this change. Instead of an ejection that has to be overturned, you have to confirm that an ejection is warranted. That should result in fewer pointless ejections.

I don't think this was about iPads on the sidelines, but rather electronic aids in places where the home team would have a clear and massive advantage, exacerbated by any significant difference in program income. These places are as mentioned the coaching booths and the locker room. If both teams have sideline iPads, that's fair. But if UA or UT go play each other, and the home team has a massive electronic "Halftime Meeting Room" and the visiting team is only left with what they can carry in, even the most wealthy programs will be at an unnecessary disadvantage. And then imagine if the visitor is a non-P5 team, or even a lesser P5 team. The only way to fix it would be to require programs to provide visiting teams the same capabilities on game day. Good luck enforcing it, and the visitor would still be on unfamiliar equipment. I am all for taking every advantage you can, but this sort of thing creates a very unfair situation. It would be like if a big program could pay to have an extra coach on the field or something.

I think Leatherwood will play a lot as a primary backup. But Elliot Baker has a great shot to be a starter with his talent AND experience. And I've heard rumors about Josh Casher showing some "potential starter" flashes lately. The A-Day Game will be very interesting in so many places, but O-line is a huge one. Interesting scenario: Starting O-line is Williams/Baker at OT (I have no idea which goes where), Ross P at LG, BB at C, and Leatherwood slides inside to start at RG. He has the talent to do that, and I could see them doing that just to get the 5 best on the field all at once, even if they feel that Williams and Baker are more suited to hold down the OT spots.

That wouldn't surprise me. It also wouldn't surprise me to see Rashaan Evans step up into that as well.