I'm pretty much done with the Jimmy Johns thing. I heard some idiots on Sports56 here in Memphis this morning talking about "Johns sold coke in the parking lot of the football building. If that's not lack of institutional control, I don't know what is!" Give me a break, morons.
In basketball news, Richard Hendrix could end a drought of Alabama having no players drafted in the first round since 2001, when Gerald Wallace was taken with a high pick by the Kings. I've got a feeling Hendrix will drop to the 2nd round, but make a roster like Big Baby Davis from LSU last year, who now has a World Championship ring on his finger with Boston.
Since I'm a Grizzlies fan, I gotta let everyone know that I have jumped on the Kevin Love train, and it's full speed ahead. I don't wanna make any moves - I just wanna draft Love, pick up J-Will in free agency, and somehow get Jamont Gordon, cause that kid is mean. Seriously, he's as tough as they come, and the Grizz need that.
Not much else today. I'm sure we'll have more tomorrow.
¶ 4:39 PM1 comments
So long Jimmy. We hardly knew ye. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Are you serious? I'm just as in shock as everyone else. But, I can't say that I'm really that surprised either. The kid was always trouble. He had a shitty attitude, never did things the way they were supposed to be done, and now has people talking about the coach - the same guy that's given him chance after chance to clean up - as somebody that maybe doesn't have control over his program. What a complete joke. I do know that most of the fans are happy with what Coach Saban is doing - myself included - and think that this will, eventually, blow over. For example...check out the poll from Tidesports.com's forum.
I think that says quite a bit.
Regardless, it's interesting, to say the least, that Johns was very open about his extracurricular activities to anyone on campus except the football team, at least according to the investigators that promptly arrested him yesterday. This was something Johns did in private and he kept the football team out of it, so he knew what he was getting into at least. Read up on more from Ian here.
The thing that bothers me is how supportive his family is. Read Gentry's article about it here. Are you kidding? Dealing cocaine is a lot more than "he just got mixed up with the wrong crowd." That's the most ridiculous thing I've read. Until I read this...
"He'll be back," Thomas said. "I have that much belief in him. He's a good kid. He's in real good spirits. He knows he messed up. He's not sad at all. He wasn't crying or anything like that.
"He made a mistake, like all young people do. He's young. Everybody makes mistakes. I've made mistakes and I've come back to lead a nice life. He's a young boy and he's going to come back. Knowing Jimmy like I know him, he knows he made a mistake. When you pick the wrong crowd to be around, that happens. Everybody goes through that." What the hell is wrong with people nowadays? No, not everybody goes through this. Yes, people make mistakes. People don't normally make felony mistakes that can cost him maybe 25 years in the slammer. This is the kind of thing that ruins lives. It's not something that's just no big deal. Everybody makes mistakes. This is a joke.
Finebaum's latest article is pretty interesting. It talks about how much people loved Shula up until that last loss to Auburn, and how everybody support Coach Saban right now. It still seems a bit strange to even be talking about this.
BamaSportsReport.com points out quite a bit of information about what we actually have at linebacker, and how frightening it really is. Read up on it here. Could you imagine if Rolando's motorcycle accident had been worse? Yikes.
So, after the dismissal of Jimmy Johns, that puts us down another scholarship. My father and I sat down the other night and went over the numbers as best we could. Remember yesterday when I said the number of 5th year seniors on this team would be very very very small? Yeah, still is headed that way. Here's how this is shaking out. In September of '07 we had 85 guys on the roster. You can count them. Exactly 85. We had two guys transfer in the middle of the season (Alex Stadler and... I can't remember - if you know, hit me up). Then, in January, we had two signees enroll early, so we're back to 85.
We had 14 seniors graduate. 85 - 14 = 71. So now we're at 71 players. We had 22 incoming freshmen enroll in June. 71 + 22 = 93. So in June, without counting casualties yet, we're at 93. The roster has to be trimmed down to 85 by August.
We lost BJ Stabler (medical), Charles Hoke (medical), Cody Davis (medical), Chris Lett (medical), Tremayne Coger (personal), Lionel Mitchell (medical), and Jimmy Johns (dismissed). That's 7 kids right there. 93 - 7 = 86. So currently, we're down to 86.
Here's my guess on what's going to happen. The 6 signees that we have left that haven't enrolled are Matchett, Murphy, Ingram, Hood, Ray, and Lewis. Hood and Ray are playing professional baseball. Lewis has enrolled in community college. Murphy is still at Hargrave trying to get his grades up. So that leaves Matchett and Ingram.
I believe that Will Oakley will end up taking a medical scholarship. They tried to use him as a playmaker in the spring, and he didn't get done what they needed. He's basically worthless to the coaching staff (and that's not supposed to be mean) as a playmaker, and with his broken foot, he'll be off the roster. So now we're down to 85. Then Zeke Knight, as much as I hate it, will go on medical scholarship. I just don't see doctors clearing him to play with his heart condition. So that puts us down to 84. I'm not sure who else might drop, but it could be one of the freshmen - either Matchett or Ingram. I can't remember which one is currently in summer school, but there's definitely work to be done.
So, if only one of those kids gets into school, then we're sitting at 85 scholarship players. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, because this was drawn up from a Lindy's book and our collective brains.
Go ahead and count off one more on the scholarship front.
I'll get into more detail about the Jimmy Johns arrest situation later. Probably tonight. I'm going to go into detail about the numbers game as well. Hopefully we'll figure out what's up with everything.
¶ 4:04 PM0 comments
To start off - Cheers to AJ McCarron for making the final roster for the Elite 11 camp. That's big time right there, dude. All the big time quarterbacks make it to that thing. Vince Young, JaMarcus Russell, Troy Smith, Matthew Stafford, Tim Tebow, Matt Leinart....blah blah blah. All the big names have been there, done that. Now, one of our boys gets to.
Oh yeah...make sure you go pick up the new Shinedown record today. It's available EVERYWHERE, so go to Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, wherever, and get your copy. It's worth it.
The other blogs have already done it, so I figure I'll throw in my 2 cents. Time for the Crimson & White Roundtable.
1. what team will be the biggest surprise in the sec in ’08? the biggest disappointment? I may be a homer, but I'm noticing that not a lot of people are expecting Alabama to do much this year. I think a 9-3 season is definitely not out of the question, and I'm sure that will be an absolute shock to most of the so-called "experts." The biggest disappointment will, no doubt, be Georgia. Everybody wants them to go on this tear to the national title game this year, but their schedule is absolutely brutal. There's no way they'll go undefeated, and if I had to wager, I'd think they'll suffer at least two losses.
2. we appear to know who our qb is going to be for the season barring something crazy, but not all offensive skill positions are so certain. as the season progresses, who do you see stepping up to be this squad's most productive rb? and wr? The most productive running back will be Glen Coffee. He'll get the bulk of the carries this year because he's a tough nosed, between-the-tackles kinda guy. Terry Grant will be a scat-back, and will catch a lot of screen passes, etc, but he won't be our every down back. I have a feeling that Nikita Stover will be our best wide receiver this year. Julio will make some big plays, as will Darius Hanks and Marquis Maze, but Stover's been there before and knows how to come up big. He'll be a good senior leader this year.
3. obviously "the saban" is lord and savior, and created the heavens and the earth, but if you were forced to trade saban for another active coach, who would it be and why? I'd have to go with Pete Carroll. Yeah, I hate the guy, but at the same time, you can't mess with his record. He understands how important defense is, how important talent is, and he loves to have fun with his players. He's the "coolest" coach in America, but he's about as focused as they come.
4. some people view bama fans as insane. while "insane" is an awfully strong word, many bama fans have a disturbing obsession with their team. what is the most significant/unique/valuable/weird piece of bama paraphernalia you have and why? Wow. I don't feel like I have anything that weird. I guess I can claim my elephant tattoo with the red shading outside of it. Very much Bama influenced (also because my daughter loves elephants, but that could be from my Bama obsession as well). We'll stick with that - I have a tattoo for my favorite team.
COACH STALLINGS: game #38 - Tulane 17 at Alabama 31 - Birmingham, AL - 9/4/93
The only thing I remember about this game is that we were supposed to destroy this team and we didn't. Kinda scared a few people off the bandwagon early.
Wow. 68 days? Really? I'm down with that. Not too far off. Only 3 weeks until single game tickets go onsale. I think I'm gonna go to a simple game this year. Possible Western Kentucky. Something easy, where there's not just a miserable amount of people. We shall see though.
George Carlin passed away yesterday at the age of 71. It's a cruel world, and he was one of the few that could make you forget about how cruel it really is. Rest in peace, Mr. Carlin.
There's been a lot of stuff happen over the past few days. We'll try and knock out as much of it as possible.
Finebaum, who is a huge Nick Saban fan, bought into the ESPN hoopla and wrote an article on Saturday that has no real point - complete with quotes from the hypocrite Tom Luginbill. The article, "No. 1 Class loses players and its luster" is ridiculous for several reasons. If you look at the kids that Alabama has gotten into school already, the ones that have already enrolled, they would still be considered the #1 class in the country, regardless of whether or not Brandon Lewis, Kerry Murphy, or the baseballers ever arrived on campus. I'm pretty sure that our '08 class will more than match up with any others in the country. To think that this class has lost any of its luster due to a few kids not qualifying is just asinine.
Mike Marrow, a 6'2" 240lbs power running back from Toledo, committed to the University of Alabama over the weekend. He will likely play multiple positions - linebacker, fullback, and tailback in some sets. Coach Saban really likes him as a power running back, so I would assume that's where he'll spend the bulk of his time. Short yardage, my friend.
Lionel Mitchell, another 5th year senior, will go on medical scholarship and his career is over at the Capstone due to chronic back pain. If I had to wager, I would bet there's nothing wrong with his back. I think Saban gave him the option of either playing hurt or just getting cut. Now, don't get mad at me for thinking this, but when we signed this recruiting class, we only had room for about 16 or 17 incoming kids. My father and I talked for a while about how most of the 5th year seniors left over from Shula's days would be gone. Especially a cornerback that gave up the game winning touchdown pass in overtime to Georgia (there's a reason he didn't play the next week against Florida State). If you look at the roster, there's not many of them left, and there could be more casualties before August (look for Will Oakley and Zeke Knight to go on medical scholarship as well). If you had any questions as to how to play the numbers game, Coach Saban gave you your answer.
The New York Times really knows what they're talking about when it comes to Tennessee football. Check out their football blog "The Quad." The link will take you to their preview of Arkansas State's season - read the "Tidbit" section. Haha.
AJ McCarron showed out and ESPN took notice. Read more here and watch the videos here.
I have successfully slacked for 8 business days. I haven't put up any Stallings games in that long, which means, of course, that we get to finish up the entire 1992 National Championship season today. I'll only put up small bios for each game, so you won't have to spend all day reading. Haha.
COACH STALLINGS: game #30 - Alabama 37 at Tulane 0 - New Orleans, LA - 10/10/92
Whipping boys from the Bayou. Yeah.
Overall Stallings record: 24-6
COACH STALLINGS: game #31 - Alabama 17 at Tennessee 10 - Knoxville, TN - 10/17/92
I remember this one well. Just a team on a mission. That's all you can say. I remembered Heath Shuler getting knocked silly several times in this game. At one instance he tried to stand up after getting hit, and his knees buckled, and he came crashing back to the ground. Classic.
Overall Stallings record: 25-6
COACH STALLINGS: game #32 - Ole Miss 10 at Alabama 37 - Tuscaloosa, AL - 10/24/92
Whipping boys from the Bayou. Yeah.
Overall Stallings record: 26-6
COACH STALLINGS: game #33 - Alabama 31 at LSU 11 - Baton Rouge, LA - 11/7/92
Whipping boys from the Bayou. Again.
Overall Stallings record: 27-6
COACH STALLINGS: game #34 - Alabama 30 at Mississippi State 21 - Starkville, MS - 11/14/92
Jackie Sherrill had the Bulldogs ready to play in this one. It was a tough ballgame, and was actually a pretty good defensive battle (aside from all the scoring), but in the end, the Tide did what they needed to win.
Overall Stallings record: 28-6
COACH STALLINGS: game #35 - Auburn 0 at Alabama 17 - Birmingham, AL - 11/26/92
This game was a 0-0 tie at the half and it looked like Auburn might be the ones to finally knock off the Tide, but Antonio Langham's interception return down the sideline for a touchdown finally broke it open and allowed Alabama some breathing room to execute. The final score was closer than you would think.
Overall Stallings record: 29-6
COACH STALLINGS: game #36 - Alabama 28 at Florida 21 - Birmingham, AL - 12/5/92
Florida had the ball with just a few minutes left with the game tied at 21. The most memorable moment of that entire season, for me, was watching Shane Matthews grab his head after throwing that pass, and watching Langham return the pick for a touchdown and a 28-21 victory and a berth in the national title game.
Overall Stallings record: 30-6
COACH STALLINGS: game #37 - Alabama 34 vs Miami 13 - New Orleans, LA - 1/1/93
You remember this game. You've seen the plays. Tommy Johnson for a touchdown. George Teague interception for a touchdown. Sherman Williams duck dance after running for a touchdown. Teague running down Miami's wideout and then taking the ball from him. Copeland and Curry sacking Torreta like he was a freakin' stuffed doll. Then, the team carrying Coach Stallings off of the field. This was a beatdown of epic proportions. And it was perfect.
Might I suggest going to pick up the new Shinedown record next Tuesday when it comes out. If you like your rock n roll a lil on the heavy side, it'll be right up your alley. These guys are bad ass, my friends.
Interesting story from Ron Higgins a few days ago. The Discovery Channel is going to do a show on Logan Young and his mysterious accidental death. There was always something fishy with that. It'll be interesting to hear what they pull up. They're doing an interview with his former attorney, Phillip Shanks, which should be must-see TV. It'll air in September or October.
Finebaum takes a look at a question that a lot of people would really like to know about - is Alabama a coaching jinx? If you look at all of our past 7 coaches since Bear left, they've all gone on to nothing. Yeah. Complete failures. Not one of them is really successful in the coaching ranks. So what will happen with Coach Saban after his time at Alabama?
The bad news came down yesterday that Richard Hendrix is staying in the NBA draft. It didn't make much sense because the draft next year is much weaker and he'd have a much better chance at being taken in the first round. Regardless, he's gone. But...we are getting Ronald Steele and Alonzo Gee. Melick takes a look at how Gottfried and Steele might be able to save each others' careers with this season at Bama. Read more here.
¶ 11:09 AM2 comments
Sorry about the lack of updates. Again, by now I'm sure you know the reasons. Yeah, work sucks.
Regardless, this weekend I spent a good bit of time down at Jubilee Jam in Jackson, MS with my friends in Egypt Central and Shinedown. It's been a while since I've seen them. They're out doin the damn thing...which is touring their balls off. Wish I was man. Desk jobs suck. Regardless, we had a blast. If you wanna check out the pictures and the commentary from who all we saw (like ZZ Top, etc), then head on over to Prosevere's myspace blog.
I was reading an article from the Press-Register today about Auburn picking up 3 commitments this weekend. One of the kids had offers from Louisiana Tech, Arkansas State, Louisiana-Monroe and Southern Mississippi. Another had one offer from Tulsa. The 3rd looked a lil better, picking Auburn over offers from Georgia Tech, Mississippi State, N.C. State, Rutgers and Tennessee. This state only has two things man...men and boys. Right now, Auburn's getting the boys.
Gentry points out some of the kids that look to have delayed their enrollment at Bama for one reason or another, while taking a look at Coach Saban's numbers crunch for this fall.
Josh Moon, the newest sucker for Auburn football, predicts AU and UGA in the SEC championship. Check them out here.
Updates on the '92 season tomorrow. For now...holla!
¶ 4:27 PM2 comments
This is ridiculous. Seriously. I hate working so much that I get headaches every single day I come in here. It's been like going through hell lately. Hopefully it'll ease up pretty soon.
Anyway, I've got 2 days til I head down to Jackson, MS to check out the Jubilee Jam down there. It's turning back into a big deal. Good names. ZZ Top, Shinedown, Robert Randolph, Egypt Central, Lucero. Eric Church, Hurt, Saving Abel, Tantric, etc. Good lineup. I'm gonna hang out backstage all weekend. Hell yeah, dude.
Phil Steele has ranked Clemson #5 in his rankings. Check them out here.
I'm hearing something crazy could come out of this whole Stabler DUI arrest. The latest comments from Kenny Stabler suggest that he wasn't drunk, that he was just tired and trying to get back home. Read his statements here. This could be a VERY interesting date in court.
RollBamaRoll.com seems to have some readers that are thinking Prince Hall is back. I would definitely like to have him back...but Coach Saban has already said he'll be suspended for at least a few games, if not more.
COACH STALLINGS: game #29 - South Carolina 7 at Alabama 48 - Tuscaloosa, AL - 10/3/92
The offense definitely showed up in this one, capitalizing big time on a weak South Carolina defensive front, and running all over the place. They also gained some points on SC turnovers. This was, all in all, a beatdown.
That's right, my friends. Quinton Dial committed on Sunday. He actually showed up on campus to commit to Kevin Steele in person. Now that's committed, man. The kid is a beast. 6'6" 307lbs defensive tackle who still has room to grow. Scary thought. Read more on him here and here.
Kenny Stabler was arrested early Sunday morning and was charged with driving under the influence. The University of Alabama released a short statement from athletic director Mal Moore, who took the classy route and decided that, since he doesn't know everything about what happened, he can't comment on it. However, Kevin Scarbinsky declares that, if he's guilty, the University should go ahead and fire Snake from the booth. I don't exactly agree with that.
Melvin Ray has opted to play professional baseball instead of football for the immediate future, which puts our numbers way down from the 33 that signed initially. Sounds good to me. And anybody that didn't think Coach Saban knew what he was doing...you can wipe the egg off your face now.
Finebaum looks to the message boards to figure out what everyone thinks about Coach Saban giving a $1M donation to the scholarship fund at Alabama. And boy did he find some crazy stuff. Read more here.
COACH STALLINGS: game #27 - Alabama 38 at Arkansas 11 - Little Rock, AR - 9/19/92
Soon to be President Bill Clinton was on hand for this beat down. There isn't much else to say about it. It was humiliating. Kinda cool that Joe Kines was coaching though.
Overall Stallings record: 21-6
COACH STALLINGS: game #28 - Louisiana Tech 0 at Alabama 13 - Birmingham, AL - 9/26/92
This was another one of those games where the offense just didn't feel like showing up. Our only touchdown on the day was from David Palmer's punt return in the 2nd half, which gave us a good cushion for the rest of the ballgame.
That's right. Bocephus. Skynyrd. Same night on the same stage. It's gonna be ridiculously awesome. My pops and I are going. I grew up listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd. Every Saturday when we'd take the trip down to Tuscaloosa or Birmingham for Tide games, we'd always have 1974's Second Helping blasting in the car, with Sweet Home Alabama, the Needle and the Spoon, Workin' for MCA, Don't ask me no Questions, etc. Even though it's not the original band, it's still close enough for me. I'm gonna have a blast.
Yeah, yesterday....again...we had issues with updating. POS blogger server. But, I guess it's done ok for almost 2 years now...no need bashing it now.
Destin Hood went #55 to the Washington Nationals yesterday, which is a contract worth about $300k-$500k, and a signing bonus of around $2M. I'm thinkin he's probably gone. Haven't heard anything about Melvin Ray though, so that's cool.
Under the Lights was AWESOME on Wednesday. Definitely got me hyped up to be a fan of this team. The direction we're headed is definitely a good one. They'll be reshowing it quite a bit, so check it out if you haven't. According to Ian, you can watch it online now - Go to Foxsports.com, then click on the more videos to the right, then click on the spring cfb tab and the segments will be there. Should be in 4 parts.
COACH STALLINGS: game #25 - Vanderbilt 8 @ Alabama 25 - Tuscaloosa, AL - 9/5/92
David Palmer was held out of this one for disciplinary reasons, but the team got the job done anyway. Michael Proctor, starting as a freshman, kicked 4 field goals on the afternoon and a late interception return for a touchdown sealed the deal against the 'Dores.
Overall Stallings record: 19-6
COACH STALLINGS: game #26 - Southern Miss 10 at Alabama 17 - Birmingham, AL - 9/12/92
The Tide basically gave Southern Miss their points in this one, through turnovers, etc, but they dominated the game (everywhere but the scoreboard). Alabama had 383 yards of total offense to USM's only 54, along with 19 first downs to USM's 3. Alabama more than doubled Southern Miss's time of possession, but couldn't find ways to turn it into points. Either way, they snuck by a stingy Southern Miss team that didn't quit.
Tommy Tuberville has always gotten under my skin. He's like a sleazy greasy politician, and he's at it again. Now, after saying he's for the so-called "Saban rule," he came out last week, after a lot of other coaches said they hate it, and stated that he didn't like it either. Talkin' outta both sides of his mouth again. CapstoneReport highlights it.
Tonight at 7pm CST on Fox SportSouth, you can watch the behind-the-scenes documentary about Alabama's spring practice. It's good stuff. Here's the teaser --
Ian brings up the best part about it already - on every players' locker, there's a laminated poster reminding the players that they lost to Mississippi State and La-Monroe last year. Ouch. :-)
I've been slacking on the Coach Stallings game line. We've got a long ways to go...but we finished up the 11-1 1991 season today, so that's cool.
Memphis State was driving deep in Alabama territory and had a chance to at least tie the ballgame, but John Copeland recovered a fumble with 3:39 that sealed the 3 point victory at the Liberty Bowl. Talk about a non-conference scare.
Overall Stallings record: 16-6
COACH STALLINGS: game #23 - Auburn 6 @ Alabama 13 - Birmingham, AL - 11/30/91
David Palmer helped make sure that Auburn had a losing season (at one time, that was a rare occurance) by doing everything from playing flanker, to kick returning, to scoring the game's only touchdown on a 10-yard, break-your-freakin-ankles type of run into the endzone.
Overall Stallings record: 17-6
COACH STALLINGS: game #24 - Alabama 30 vs. Colorado 25 - Blockbuster Bowl - 12/28/91
Jay Barker had a coming out party in the bowl game by leading Alabama to three scoring drives in the 2nd half and beating Colorado 30-25. All of the scoring drives were capped off with passing touchdowns to Siran Stacy, David Palmer, and Kevin Lee. Things didn't look good early, as Colorado blocked a punt early in the game and scored a quick touchdown. After that miserable first half, Alabama took control of the game, and won it from there on out.
Sorry for the no-post yesterday. Blogger was down everytime I tried to update. Ridiculous.
Of course, there wasn't anything major from yesterday morning. Alabama baseball gave up 23 runs in their last 11 innings of the season, so that ended their hopes at a super regional. The Alabama women got beat 3-1 by Arizona State, again, after a magical Saturday where they beat Arizona and La-Lafayette. And then golf finished #13 out of 15 in the NCAA Championships. So, all other sports seasons are done. Now it's time to focus on football.
And it couldn't happen any sooner. With all the bad feelings about everything ending prematurely, we got a commitment yesterday from a 4-star running back that many are praising as the next big thing to come through Tuscaloosa. He's easily the best we'll have had since Shaun Alexander. His name is Trent Richardson, and he's a 5'11, 210lb running back from Pensacola, FL who runs a 4.5 and is a bruiser. This kid is just ridiculous. Everyone assumed he would be attending Florida or Florida State, but Coach Saban sold him on how he would fit into the offense, and he's headed to Tuscaloosa next year. I'm down.
RollBamaRoll.com hosted the Crimson & White Roundtable yesterday, so I get to post my answers today --
1. There is a poll up at RBR about what was the biggest SEC upset from last season. What is your pick and why?
I'm gonna have to go with Vanderbilt over South Carolina, in Columbia. That just isn't supposed to happen, especially with South Carolina having beaten Georgia in Athens earlier in the year. Only scoring 3 points on Vanderbilt? At home? And people still say Spurrier is one of the best coaches in the league? Yeah, ok.
2. Looking ahead to this season's schedule, what games do you see as being the deciding factors in who will win the SEC?
In the West, it's the same as always. LSU @ Auburn, Auburn @ Alabama, Alabama @ LSU. In the East, you can go ahead and count Tennessee out. I would imagine we'll have to see what Georgia does against Alabama, Auburn and LSU, since Florida only has to play LSU out of those three. Then, of course, there's the Not-a-Cocktail Party, of course.
3. Phil Steele and Athlon have Florida ranked #1 in the country with UGA coming in at #9 and #5, respectively, while Lindy's likes the Dawgs at #1 and Florida at #6. Obviously both teams can't represent the East in Atlanta, so which team do you think will wind up playing for the title and a berth in the Sugar Bowl (or National Championship Game), or do you think it's possible neither team will be there at the end of the season?
I think Florida still has too many questions on defense, and I'm still not sold on Tebow, even after a Heisman campaign. He hasn't proven that he can win when he needs to. The Michigan game really opened up my eyes and showed that if you get pressure on him, and don't allow him to scramble around, he's just like John Parker Wilson, only a good bit bigger. I figure Florida will probably win 9 or 10 ballgames again, but I don't think they'll be a title contender.
Now Georgia, on the other hand, has everything in place, except for the schedule. If they get through this thing unscathed, they may be the best team of all time. And, it is definitely possible that they could do it, but not likely. I think Georgia will probably win the East, and probably the SEC. Depending on what everyone else does, they could easily be representing the SEC in the Title game, even with 2 losses.
4. It's a little early for a "traitor's draft" since we don't know who the starters are going to be until the fall, but since football is a year long affair let's go ahead and have one. If you could trade two Alabama spring starters, one offensive and one defensive, for their counterpart on any other SEC team, who would you trade and why?
I know my two right off the bat. I'll take Jasper Brinkley from South Carolina at linebacker, to put alongside Rolando McClain in place of Jimmy Johns (or whatever freshman takes the spot), and I'll take Matt Stafford at quarterback from Georgia, in place of John Parker Wilson. Stafford grew up in the middle of last season and started making good decisions. JPW is known for making bad decisions, and not having the arm to pull them off. And Jasper...well, he's experienced and has a really good head for the game. And he's a lot better than anybody we've got coming back.
5. Finally, and just for fun, give me one non-Alabama game you'd love to attend this season (there's a list of the "Top 40" non-con games of the season here if you need a little help).
I don't think I'll go with non-conference games. I think I'll go with the Georgia / Florida game. I've never been, and I hear that it's absolutely ridiculous how good the tailgating can be. Not to mention it should be a helluva game this year, and those two teams hate each other almost as much as Alabama and Tennessee.
I'll be posting the games from Coach Stallings's tenure later on today. For now though...work calls!
¶ 9:20 AM0 comments
