Jumbo Package: Alabama self-reports six minor violations

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Happy Monday, everyone. I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend.

To start, them Bammers been cheatin’ again Pawwwwl, and this time they admits it.

Football had a staff member who “had a contact with a prospective student-athlete during an evaluation period.”

Other missteps include a women’s soccer coach sending an email to a prospective student-athlete prior to the first allowable date, and both gymnastics and men’s tennis holding end-of-year banquets during the week of final exams.

The final two violations were the result of student workers participating in sports wagering activities via the website Kalshi. Those student workers were listed under film and Crimson Tide Productions. Both students were fired.

Those banquets are serious business.

Creg Stephenson polled the Al dot com sports staff, and they don’t seem too bullish on the Tide this season.

7. Which SEC team will disappoint this season, relative to expectations?

Answer: 3-way tie

Again, no consensus here, with Alabama, Tennessee and Vanderbilt all being predicted to take a step back in 2026. The Crimson Tide has all kinds of question marks on offense, while the Volunteers and Commodores might both be starting true freshmen at quarterback.

Others receiving votes: LSU, South Carolina, Texas A&M

William Sanders is the latest in the “50 players” series.

At this point, Sanders is one of the favorites to start at guard. Particularly, he would make sense to start at left guard. Michael Carroll was moved to right guard during the spring from tackle, so that guard spot likely isn’t open considering Carroll might be the best player on the entire offensive line. On the other side, Sanders will have to fend off players such as Ole Miss transfer Ethan Fields at left guard, but Sanders has two years of experience in the system and potential that make him a top contender for the opening.

Overall, the offensive line needs to be better than it was in 2025. It’s got a new coach in Adrian Klemm, and there are plenty of new faces added via the transfer portal. But Sanders is one of the few returners from this past season’s roster who could be a big part of the solution this season.

Chip Patterson of CBS filled the time by naming the best college football team of each decade. Alabama is listed for three of them, including the Saban era which was the most dominant decade any team has ever had.

At different points in the decade, Alabama had won three of four, four of seven and five of nine national championships. The final total of six rings at Alabama for Saban includes 2009 and 2020, but this sustained success in the 2010s made Alabama not just the best program of the decade but the most consistent character in the college football conversation. Every season, the annual player or team of the moment has to take their talents to face big, bad Alabama. Saban’s recruiting machine was a turn-key operation for future NFL Draft picks, and so even off nights could be overcome by the advantage in height, weight and speed. With only 15 defeats in 10 seasons, every Alabama loss felt like an epic opera and many of those games have gone down as all-timers. 

You can track the biggest stars of the decade, noting that the common thread among Cam Newton, Johnny Manziel, Deshaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence and Joe Burrow is a win over college football’s juggernaut in crimson.   

But by the end of the decade, the game had changed again, with the transfer portal and NIL throwing new wrenches into old ways of roster construction. Saban would go on to win his seventh overall national championship in the first year of the next decade and make the College Football Playoff again in 2023, but his run of dominance throughout the 2010s had no peer. LSU, Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame, and a few pesky Auburn teams made for some fierce rivals — and Urban Meyer did get the best of Saban in the 2014 CFP with Ohio State — but on the decade as a whole, there was no question who was wearing the crown.    

Somehow USC got the nod for the 1970s, which makes no sense. Bear dominated that decade too, but maybe there was already too much Crimson on the list to suit Chip’s taste.

Labaron Philon likes the freshmen that Nate Oats brought in.

But Allen can’t help Alabama reach the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the fifth consecutive time by himself. BamaCentral spoke with Philon the day before the 76ers picked him No. 22 overall. We asked him which Tide players we should keep an eye on ahead of UA’s 2026-27 season.

“I would say Cole [Cloer], definitely,” Philon said first. “When I was there, he went on a visit and it was crazy how he shoots the ball. I feel like Cole is going to be [really good]. Qayden Samuels and Tarris [Bouie], too. I feel like they’ve got a really good team.

“They’ve got a lot of young guys that could really go. I feel like those guys want to play winning basketball, so they chose the right program. Especially Qayden Samuels, his size and play style is perfect for coach Oats.”

Last, this doesn’t directly affect Alabama but it’s the offseason and clearly the biggest story in sports right now. The USMNT is set to face Belgium tonight in World Cup play, and for now they will have leading scorer Folarin Balogun, who was issued a red card in the last outing vs. Bosnia. His suspension was suspended (what a world) and all of Europe is angry about it. Belgium is filing an appeal mere hours before the match to try and keep Balogun sidelined.

The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) said in a statement the move was in “direct contradiction” of the competition regulations and said it is exploring “all potential options.”

Sources briefed on the matter, speaking anonymously to protect relationships, have now told The Athletic the federation has now formally written to FIFA to appeal the matter, and the right to appeal has been granted. Both U.S. Soccer and the Belgian federation were asked to make submissions by 5am PST on Monday morning, which has exasperated the Belgians who have not received the decision by FIFA to review, as it is not made public.

Let me get this out of the way first: I am not an authority on soccer. Growing up in the American South I played sports year round, but all of them allowed use of the hands.

That said, from everything I have read about this red card, which carries an automatic suspension, it was a misapplication of the rules to begin with.

Former Premier League referee Andy Davies told ESPN that, ultimately, the right outcome has been reached by Balogun’s reprieve.

“In my postmatch review, I spoke about not only the decision being incorrect, but the VAR process not aligning to protocol, as only slo-mo and still pictures were presented to the referee when asked to review the situation at the screen,” Davies said. “Real-time footage should have been considered by the referee, and this was not the case.

“In my opinion, FIFA has reviewed the incident internally and felt that either the judgment to send off Balogun was incorrect, or the correct process to do so via VAR was not followed. But either way, this outcome feels like a pivot from FIFA using a regulation to add credibility to their reasoning. The decision lacks transparency and a credible rationale as to why a red card has effectively been overturned.”

Say the starting QB for a SEC team gets an unjust suspension, has it overturned by the league office, and that week’s opponent then files an emergency appeal to prevent him from playing. Can you imagine the response from the college football world toward the opponent?

I guess wanting to face, and defeat, a full strength foe is uniquely American.

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

Roll Tide.

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