Jumbo Package: Alabama football viewed as a wild card for 2026
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Happy Thursday, everyone. Terrion Arnold was arrested yesterday, and it could be disastrous.
On February 3, police said Arnold and Boakai Hilton lured the victims to an apartment in Tampa. Once they arrived, Christion Williams and Lyndell Hudson jumped out, grabbed the victims, and held them at gunpoint. Police say the video of the attack was sent to Arnold and others while traveling to the apartment, and Arnold and Hilton gave directions through a group chat while the attack was happening.
The victims later reported the incident to Tampa Police and identified the suspects, including Terrion Arnold, who police say was the primary conspirator in the alleged robbery and kidnapping. Arnold turned himself in on Wednesday night on four counts of kidnapping and four counts of armed robbery.
Let’s hope this doesn’t turn out to be as bad as it sounds.
Bill Connelly posted a longform SEC preview, and had this to say about Alabama.
The defense should be excellent again, at least if the Tide’s transfer linemen play their part. Coordinator Kane Wommack should have one of the best and most experienced secondaries in the country with the return of corners Zabien Brown and Dijon Lee Jr., nickel Red Morgan and safeties Bray Hubbard and Keon Sabb. On the edge, junior Yhonzae Pierre is a potential All-American. Inside linebacker is a bit of a mystery — either transfer Caleb Woodson (Virginia Tech) or a youngster such as QB Reese will need to step in effectively — but the concern is up front, where four of last year’s top five are gone. Backup tackle Edric Hill returns, and a sophomore such as London Simmons or Jeremiah Beaman could be ready for a starring role, but among Devan Thompkins (USC), Kedrick Bingley-Jones (Mississippi State) and Terrance Green (Oregon), at least two need to become viable contributors at tackle.
The Tide won’t play a projected top-20 team until Week 6, so Russell might have a chance to generate confidence and momentum before a rugged home stretch kicks in. Then again, Bama lost to Florida State to start last season, and plenty of early opponents — Kentucky (Week 2), FSU (Week 3), South Carolina (Week 4) — will be taking home run swings. It’s not hard to see his season going terribly awry, but if Russell is great, Bama might be too.
The offensive line will obviously go a long way toward determining Russell’s success, but this assessment is fair. Alabama is a wild card this season.
Chris Low has similar thoughts.
Having a playoff without Alabama is akin to something straight out of the “Twilight Zone.” Only three times since the advent of the playoff in 2014 has Alabama not made it, and one of those times was two years ago in Kalen DeBoer’s first season as head coach after replacing Nick Saban. The Crimson Tide showed their mettle a year ago after losing the season opener to Florida State and then coming back and winning their first-round playoff game against Oklahoma on the road. Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack likes the makeup of this defense and what he saw this spring. Alabama is bigger up front on that side of the ball and has the kind of defensive backfield that gives Wommack a lot of versatility in what he can call on defense. Alabama will be playing a first-year starter at quarterback, as redshirt freshman Keelon Russell put himself in great shape this spring to win the job. But despite who lines up at quarterback, the Crimson Tide will be on the outside looking in come playoff time if they don’t get back to bloodying people’s noses in the running game. The SEC road schedule is manageable. No Georgia, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas or Texas A&M.
Matt Stahl wrote about Conor Talty in the latest installment of the “50 players” series.
“When you bring in someone else, it’s open competition,” DeBoer after UA’s first spring scrimmage. “It was pretty obvious to Conor that that’s the case. What I love about Conor is he didn’t shy away from it and decided to stay here. He knew he had plenty of time to leave if he wanted to. He wanted to stay here.”
Based on what the Crimson Tide showed on A-Day, Quinn was leading the battle at the end of spring football. However, Talty still has preseason camp as an opportunity to catch up and perhaps maintain his job.
Even if Quinn does what’s expected and takes the starting position though, Talty still has a chance to help the team. He has handled kickoff since even before he was the starting field goal kicker, and could continue to do so, even if someone else is handling his other duties.
Katie Windham examined the Tennessee matchup.
Like Alabama, Tennessee is also locked in a quarterback competition at the end of spring camp. The Volunteers were unable to get a proven starter out of the transfer portal and will be relying on either redshirt freshman George MacIntyre or five-star freshman Faizon Brandon.
While there is a lot of uncertainty at quarterback, Tennessee returns a lot of players at key positions on offense. Leading rusher DeSean Bishop is back for his redshirt junior season after rushing for 1076 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2025. Leading receiver Chris Brazzell is off to the NFL, but the Volunteers bring back two 800-yard receivers in redshirt sophomore Braylon Stayley and junior Mike Matthews. Stayley is the reigning SEC Freshman of the Year after hauling in 68 catches for 837 yards with six touchdowns last season.
Last, Mac Jones was invited to throw at a tight ends camp. I’ll just post the video below for your discussion.
Talk about a man in his element.
That’s about it for now. Have a great day.
Roll Tide.
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