Jumbo Package: NFL Players coming back to college, what next?

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We got our first press conference from Kalen DeBoer after naming Keelon Russell the starting QB.

Most of what Kalen said about the QB battle was generic coach speak, as is his way of things. Of note, though, was his answer about the position battles along the offensive line.

Left guard and right tackle battles? Left guard and right tackle. Jayvin has taken most of the reps at right tackle but Nick Brooks continues to do a really good job of pushing hard and he’s a really good football player, too. That competition will still always be there, but Jayvin has taken most of the reps there. At left guard, Mal [Waldrep] — especially the first part of camp — because Will [Sanders] had to work into things with just his modifications, Mal took most of the reps but not all with the ones. Will’s been able to work in there more. There is competition. Will can play [left] guard and [right] guard, and so he takes some reps at both spots during the course of a practice.

To me, I think this reads as “Jayvin James is your starting right tackle, and Mal Waldrep will probably start out as the starter, but Will Sanders will possibly/probably take that job back once he gets more practice”.

The other piece of news that we got is that defensive tackle Jeremiah Beaman was injured. Beaman missed all of 2025 after an early injury, so this is going to be really rough for him if this turns out to be two years in a row.

If you have a little time to watch a Brooks Austin film study, he dedicated 30 minutes to talking about Keelon Russell to get you extra excited about the Tide’s new QB

Now in the wide world of college football, the big thing going on right now is the fight about allowing NFL castoffs to come back to college. For Alabama, Kalen DeBoer basically punted that issue right on up to Greg Byrne:

So, as more schools follow in Wright and LSU’s footsteps, what does Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer think of the hot topic?

“Just overall, in general, how that kind of works, [Alabama athletic director] Greg Byrne’s communicating with me and us about just what we can and can’t do,” DeBoer said on Monday. “We know that there’s a possibility out there of someone that was on our roster in the past, but again, right now he wouldn’t be able to come in and play.

“So I can’t control that. Can’t worry about that. Just got to see how things move forward and progress. You just never know, each day in the world we’re in right now, what tomorrow might look like. We’ll kind of see as we go. I know there’s a lot of conference and national just figuring this thing out, and Greg Byrne continues to keep me updated on everything.”

One former Alabama player from the class of 2022 who could potentially return with a court ruling is Kam Dewberry, who was the Crimson Tide’s starting left guard last season. He went undrafted and signed with the Atlanta Falcons. That said, Dewberry was carted off the field during Saturday’s preseason game.

Tight end Dae’Quan Wright is currently at the center of a storm that is NCAA eligibility after he signed with the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent this offseason but is now joining LSU on the transfer portal after being waived.

Kiffin and Co. also landed a commitment from former New Orleans Saints defensive end Zxavian Harrison, according to On3’s Pete Nakos:

“Through (players) winning injunctions and entry into the portal, they are available to recruit,” LSU head coach Lane Kiffin told reporters on Monday. “Ourselves and many places around the country are recruiting them. … Because of the rulings, they are going to play for you or someone else. We made the decision to recruit them. It’s wrong to be critical of these kids. They were granted a fifth year and a judge said they were wronged. … These players should have been told that they were going to be eligible for a fifth year. Had they known that, they would have stayed (and not signed pro contracts). You may end up having hundreds of athletes told they have a fifth year. It’s a unique circumstance.”

Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken had his own take on the situation after Wright dressed for the team’s second preseason game, though he didn’t appear in the contest.

“Man, that s–t is crazy. I don’t even know what to say,” he told reporters. “As far as I know he had a medical issue that wasn’t allowing him to practice, it’s nothing to do with me. And then he was cleared so we dressed him just in case we had to have him. But when you don’t rep it’s hard to put him on the field. … I wondered why Lane Kiffin reached out a week ago. Now I know. S–t, I didn’t know, now I know. I didn’t call him back, guess I should’ve”

Now, because LSU can’t even just contain this to their football team, they’ve also went and added RJ Luis Jr. to their hoops squad

LSU has its answer from the courts on RJ Luis’ eligibility for the 2026-27 basketball season.

The former St. John’s star was granted a preliminary injunction at his hearing Monday, allowing him to play basketball for coach Will Wade. Judge Ronald Johnson oversaw Luis’ lawsuit against the NCAA at the 19th Judicial District Courthouse in Baton Rouge.

Luis’ primary attorney is Elliot Abrams, and the NCAA was represented by Taylor Askew. The court proceedings lasted more than five hours. Among the observers in court were Wade, associate head coach Rick Stansbury, assistant coach Johnny Jones, senior deputy athletic director Heath Schroyer, LSU forward Mo Dioubate, LSU guard Abdi Bashir and Luis’ father, Reggie Luis Charles.

Now, for the SEC’s part, the conference is quite unhappy with the state of things:

As always, a lot of these eligibility things get construed as “athlete vs establishment,” but, honestly, I think there is a second point of who these decisions affect.

The schools only get better, older players. If this was hurting the school, LSU wouldn’t be adding these players.

No, for one thing, this will affect fans. The lack of anything consistent has made college football extremely difficult to keep up with (we’ll link an SEC Shorts video that really hits this nail on the head in a bit). 15 years ago, we all poured over every recruit that signed and spent countless hours obsessing about it. These days? People seem to be starting to lose some interest. It may not be showing up in TV numbers yet, but I imagine it will start trickling through. And as much as people like to argue that losing $ just hurts the league, fans are, ultimately, who pay the players as well.

The other piece of this is how it affects high schoolers. The pool of money and roster spots that schools can distribute do not just increase. So if players are more and more staying for years later than their traditional “senior year”, then every one of them takes up resources that would have otherwise gone to incoming freshmen. Look at Alabama this upcoming year, with a recruiting class of less than 20 total players – when was the last time you saw that?

Anyway, I don’t know what the answer is, but I don’t think this is it.

To lighten the mood, this SEC Shorts skit is really on the nose (and the cut to the Florida guy naming all of Tim Tebow’s backups really hits right in the 2008)

Roll Tide!

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