Well, y’all, I’m officially a girl dad! My daughter was born last Tuesday, and both mom and baby are healthy and strong.

Now the lack of sleep is starting to get to me, but I’m powering through to answer some hard-hitting Mailbag questions this week!

Please forgive me if my answers start to ramble at any point. Just blame it on the baby!

Here are your questions for this week’s SDS Mailbag:

Mark:

With Alabama’s spring game coming up on Saturday, who do you think will stand out? Who will lead the Crimson Tide in receiving yards in 2023?

In past years, guys like Agiye Hall and Christian Leary have stood out as rising stars at the receiver position during the A-Day scrimmage. So I’ll side with my SDS colleague Connor O’Gara on this one, as he recently wrote that we shouldn’t overreact to any big spring performances from the Alabama receiving corps.

As for this fall, though, last year’s top 2 receivers – Jermaine Burton (677 yards) and Ja’Corey Brooks (674 yards) – are back. As is Kobe Prentice, who had 337 yards in 2022.

There will be a new quarterback at Alabama this fall. Tide receivers won’t have Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young throwing to them anymore. But there should still be plenty of yards to go around.

I won’t go too crazy here. I’m picking Brooks to be the leading receiver in 2023, but keep an eye on Burton and JUCO transfer Malik Benson, who had 2,152 receiving yards in 2 years at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas.

Jonathan:

ESPN released its debut 2023 FPI rankings this week. What team do you think was the most overrated?

If I was asked this question going into 2022, my answer would have been the same. If you ask me this same question heading into 2024, my guess is I’d still pick the same school.

The answer is, of course, the Texas Longhorns. Steve Sarkisian’s bunch checks in at No. 5 in the preseason FPI rankings despite going 8-5 last year. The Longhorns haven’t reached No. 5 in the AP Poll since 2010, which is crazy to think about. Texas reached a high of No. 6 in the AP Poll in 2018 under Tom Herman.

Yet the Longhorns continue to receive a ton of respect in the FPI rankings. I have no idea why. Even if Texas goes 8-5 again in 2023, you can almost guarantee a top-15 finish for the Horns in the FPI rankings.

After going 8-5 in 2022, Texas finished No. 7 in the final FPI rankings. That’s insane. Overrating schools like Texas and Oklahoma (the Sooners finished No. 23 in the final 2022 FPI despite going 6-7 overall) is the biggest flaw in the FPI rankings, in my opinion.

It shouldn’t be taken too seriously as a ranking metric until it can properly rate Texas.

Shane:

Which Day 2 NFL Draft prospect are you most excited to see get picked?

Day 2 of the draft encompasses Rounds 2 and 3, so there are still plenty of good players who can make immediate impacts in those rounds. To answer this question, I’m going to focus on guys who don’t have much of a shot of going in Round 1.

So while I’m very excited to see where Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker will go, he might hear his name called in Round 1, so I’ll leave him out.

My pick is Cedric Tillman, the talented receiver out of Tennessee. If he’d been able to stay healthy in 2022, there’s no doubt in my mind he would have been a first-round pick. I wouldn’t mind seeing my Green Bay Packers pick him in Round 2 or Round 3 next week.

I also think it’ll be interesting to see where running backs like Tulane’s Tyjae Spears and UCLA’s Zach Charbonnet end up.

@Dobbe8:

You have to make the best lineup possible out of only Kentucky players currently alive in the NBA playoffs. Who cracks your starting 5?

I actually tweeted about all the talent from Kentucky still alive in the NBA playoffs the other day. This list of names is truly incredible:

All of those guys are major contributors for their teams, so cutting down the list to a starting 5 won’t be easy. But let’s give it a go anyway!

Here’s who I’d pick as my starting 5 made up of Kentucky players still active in the NBA postseason:

PG: De’Aaron Fox, Sacramento Kings
SG: Jamal Murray, Denver Nuggets
SF: Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns
PF: Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves
C: Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers

When Davis is active and engaged, he’s still one of the most dominant 2-way players in recent NBA history. Pairing him with Towns in the front court gives this all-Kentucky squad a defensive guru in Davis and a 3-point maestro in Towns.

The backcourt features 3 guards. Fox has put up incredible clutch numbers all season long and has transformed himself into an All-NBA player. Murray, when healthy, is a dynamic playmaker. Booker is one of the best shooters in the league.

Leaving Bam Adebayo, Tyrese Maxey and others off this team hurts, but that’s what happens when you produce as much NBA talent as Kentucky does.

Now if only John Calipari could turn the level of talent that comes through Lexington into more Final Four appearances and national titles…

Have a question for next week’s Mailbag? Tweet at us using #SDSMailbag or email me at Adam.Spencer@XLMedia.com.