Jumbo Package: Alabama to play 10 P4 games per season moving forward
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
Alabama updated its staff directory on Monday, and two analyst hires were added to it.
Mikael Bradford and Jake Vang will be analysts for the Crimson Tide football program during the upcoming 2026 season. Their additions bring Alabama’s analyst total to 13 on the directory.
Bradford comes from Baylor, where he was set to be a quality control coach in 2026, but now, he will coach at Alabama this fall. He was previously a grad assistant at Colorado State (2023) and Kansas State (2024-25). Bradford worked with the safeties at Kansas State. A Compton, Calif., native played college football at Minot State (2018-19) and Nevada (2020-22).
Vang was going to be the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Central Washington in 2026 before coming to Alabama. He was the edge rushers coach at Sacramento State in 2025. Vang and Bradford both coached at Colorado State in 2023. Vang was a defensive quality control (2022-23) and a defensive analyst (2024). He was also a defensive intern at Michigan State (2020-21) and a defensive graduate assistant at Kansas State 2017-19).
Good stuff. Bradford and Vang likely won’t be names we hear from this year, but you never know when any of these analysts suddenly take off in their careers. Vang in particular is interesting, as it seems leaving a DC job for Central Washington to be an analyst, even at Alabama, would be a step back. So keep an eye out, as he might be a name that becomes one we care about in a few years.
“Rowe was a dog, man,” Ingram said. “Rowe was a dog. Like, you talking about 6-foot-5, 255-pound Mike linebacker who was a coach on the field. Knew where to line up everybody.
“Trent is on point with it.”
McClain racked up 274 tackles and eight sacks in three years at Alabama.
“The best football player I ever played with was Rolando McClain,” Ingram said. “He could run. …
“He made me better. He made everybody better. You knew when you came to practice, you better be right because 2-5 lurking, and he will knock your stuff loose if you don’t have your hand on a swivel.”
In an earlier edition of the podcast, Richardson said, “Rolando McClain is the most respected defensive player that I know. Everybody knew what he meant to Alabama.”
I think sometime Rolando McClain gets forgotten about due to how early he was in the Saban era, and his later legal troubles derailing an NFL career. But he was one of the most fearsome linebackers of a generation, and they don’t make them like him in college football anymore.
Brentwood Academy five-star wide receiver Kesean Bowman continues to cut down his top college football programs, reducing that number to five nearly five months after selecting his top 10 schools.
Bowman narrowed his list to Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Ohio State, Alabama and Miami, according to a repost from an original post by On3.com on March 2.
This is purely based on gut feel, but looking at that list of teams, Alabama is somewhat of a different vibe than the other programs, and so I feel like the Tide seems unlikely. But who knows, maybe I’m just doom-casting.
Well that answers that, huh? It’s honestly no different than it was before, except now Alabama has one less cupcake and one more SEC game.
The Tide just so happened to have been looking to schedule more P4 opponents a few years back, before the playoffs and the rest of college football went so far down this crazy path. So now they’re taking it back off.
That seeding would have the Alabama Crimson Tide playing a Friday Quarterfinal game against the winner of a Thursday Texas game vs. the winner of Georgia vs. LSU or South Carolina. An Alabama win would likely mean advancing to play Arkansas on Saturday.
Alabama’s Friday game would be at 6:00 PM CST in Bridgestone Arena. The semi-final matchup I’m predicting is the Crimson Tide and the Razorbacks at 2:30 PM CST on Saturday.
Alabama has really come on strong after a lackluster mid-season, and they’re looking like a strong bet to be the 2 seen in the SEC tournament. It’s hard to believe the season is near it’s end already, but March has arrived, and Madness will soon ensue.
Roll Tide!
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos