Jumbo Package: Athlon pegs Alabama football 7th in the SEC
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Happy Gump Day, everyone. Since it is Gump Day, we’ll say that Alabama is being overlooked and thus has the rest of the SEC right where they want them:
As the season approaches, major preview magazines have already hit newsstands, including Athon Sports. Most of the magazines are projecting Alabama to finish midpack within the SEC, and Athlon is no different.
The Crimson Tide fell seventh in the SEC in the Athlon preseason rankings. The magazine projected Alabama to finish 15th nationally.
The publication had Georgia No. 1 in the league, followed by Texas, with Oklahoma third. Texas A&M was fourth on the list, with LSU rounding out the top five and Ole Miss the other school ahead of the Crimson Tide, which sat one spot ahead of Tennessee.
It has been many years since Alabama football has been under the radar like this.
Jordan Rodgers believes that Keelon Russell will win the QB job simply because of his upside.
Jordan Rodgers clicked his remote and paused the tape four, five, six times maybe. Watching film, he noticed each time how the ball flew out of Keelon Russell’s hands before the receiver had even turned his head.
“For a young guy, pretty fricking impressive,” Rodgers told AL.com last week.
The ESPN analyst and former Vanderbilt quarterback noted how he saw about a third of the passes Russell threw with that level of anticipation during his freshman season in cleanup duty against Louisiana Monroe and Eastern Illinois. PFF charted Russell with 18 pass snaps.
“That tells you he’s already processing fast,” Rodgers said while in Tampa for SEC media days. “He already knew before the route has developed where the ball should go. And he’s right. The ball was going where it should. And it was early. And he was anticipating.”
If the defense meets expectations and Russell is ready to be that dude, then the sky is the limit. But for now the offense has its share of skeptics.
Of course, Russell first has to win the job.
This will be the most talked about QB battle this preseason.
The Crimson Tide returned Austin Mack, a redshirt junior who followed Kalen DeBoer from Washington to Alabama after the 2023 season. They also return redshirt freshman Keelon Russell, a former five-star recruit.
Mack is more experienced, but Russell boasts upside.
“Our quarterbacks do have the belief and trust amongst our entire team,” DeBoer said at SEC Media Days. “There are different ways where I’ve seen that, whether it was in the spring or through the summer.
“There are different conversations, different activities that we do where I really can get a good feel of it being genuine, that our team trusts that whoever steps on the football field and takes those snaps is going to be a guy — and I think that’s because they believe in both guys.”
Ross Dellenger has the latest on the Protect College Sports Act, which the SEC and Big Ten have opposed as written but debating refinements.
If Congress doesn’t pass a revised bill, Petitti says the next solution for bringing regulation to the industry is striking a compromise with the other power leagues over changes to the College Sports Commission and the athlete revenue-share cap, which is far below the current compensation market. If a compromise isn’t reached, a self-governance model is necessary, Petitti suggested, where leagues create and enforce their own rules. However, that “doesn’t mean you’re not going to play anybody else,” he said.
SEC officials have seriously discussed for months now a self-governing model as a way to enforce rules and evade antitrust scrutiny with a smaller group of programs (16 schools vs. the 350-plus in Division I). But some attorneys believe that the leagues still hold market power and may not escape all legal challenges.
You may have heard about some major college programs selling ad space on the jerseys. Manny Navarro at The Athletic wrote about it.
The rules changed. Before the NCAA adopted a new policy in January, the primary commercial logo permitted on most uniforms was major apparel manufacturers’ marks from companies such as Nike, Adidas and Under Armour. The new policy approved broader commercial logo use, with changes taking effect Aug. 1.
The real reason the policy changed: financial concerns. Athletic departments need dependable new revenue sources to pay the bills. While schools are permitted to share more than $20 million annually with athletes under the new compensation structure, ticket sales, donor gifts, and postseason revenue vary year to year. Multiyear sponsorships provide more reliable income.
UNLV was the first college program to announce a deal in December.
Rich Eisen believes that the value of these deals portends a breakup.
Ohio State announced a partnership with JPMorgan Chase that will bring the athletic department nearly $17 million per year and put a Chase logo on all 36 varsity teams. A few hours later, Notre Dame announced a six-year agreement with SoFi worth $18 million to $20 million a year. Both deals cover every sport on campus. On the flip side, the Big 12 is catching flak for having previously agreed to a $20 million deal for every team in the league across football and men’s and women’s basketball or $1.25 million per school. Oof.
Most schools will never see an offer like that. Longtime sports commentator Rich Eisen watched both land in the same afternoon and said the sport is already sorting itself into two groups.
Eisen has been making this argument since USC and UCLA left the Pac-12. On Tuesday’s show he made it again, with executive producer Chris Brockman working through the math alongside him.
“So what happens? Super League. We called it years ago,” Eisen said. “And it’s the only way to go. The question is, who’s in and who’s out? Who decides who’s in and who’s out? If you don’t think the SEC and the Big Ten are having some conversations behind the scenes, I think you’re out of your mind.”
Last, at least one national writer believes that Aden Holloway will get to play this season, and play well.
Alabama‘s Aden Holloway will earn all-SEC honors a year after felony arrest. Holloway was arrested in March for felony drug possession, temporarily removed from campus and barred from playing in the NCAA tournament. The veteran guard, who averaged 16.8 points and was a third team All-SEC selection last season, seemed destined for a prolonged legal battle — and potentially an end to his college basketball career — until he entered a “second-chance” program this offseason. Doing so could give him another opportunity to play Division I basketball and take a step forward. — Medcalf
Let it be written.
That’s about it for now. Have a great day.
Roll Tide.
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