Happy Thursday, everyone. In case you didn’t hear, there was some awful news yesterday as Alabama freshman QB Keelon Russell tragically lost his twin sister, who was also a fellow Alabama student. No foul play is suspected. Here’s hoping that he and the rest of the family get the support they need as they work through unimaginable grief.
Ryan WIlliams went on a ESPN podcast yesterday and said that Ty Simpson is the frontrunner, but he’s confident in all of them.
“The tape speaks for itself,” Williams said of the competition during a recent appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay Podcast. “We have three very good quarterbacks. Either way that it goes, I’m comfortable and confident in any of those guys just because I’ve seen the work that they put in. They all have different tendencies. Like you said, Ty (Simpson) is the frontrunner right now. Just trying to build a relationship with not only him but the rest of them of course. Just get prepared for this season. We’re super excited.”
Williams isn’t the only one with this opinion on the Alabama football QB competition. When offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb discussed the battle at the end of spring ball, he also noted that Simpson was the one leading the way.
Ryan also has his own make believe dynasty, but it’s not Alabama.
Williams, who will be on the cover of the EA Sports College Football 26 video game, shared during an appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay podcast that he’s used dynasty mode in the video game to turn a Big Ten school into a powerhouse.
“I have a UCLA dynasty, right?” Williams said. “We’re like seven-time back-to-back champs. I’m like Nick Saban. I’m going to be honest. We haven’t lost a game in I can’t tell you how long. I put it on Heisman (difficulty mode), but my players are all good now because they’ve been with me so long.”
UCLA? Really?
Greg McElroy has Alabama’s defense ranked 6th headed into the season, with questions around the pass rush.
The Tide defense is entering Year 2 under DC Kane Wommack and McElroy is expecting big things in 2025. Alabama’s defense starts up front with returning EDGE LT Overton and DT Tim Keenan, but McElroy is particularly high on sophomore LB Qua Russaw, as well as veteran MLBs Deonte Lawson and Justin Jefferson and safety Keon Sabb, who was banged up much of last season.
McElroy: “The big question for Alabama’s defense is where is the pass rush going to come from. … Qua Russaw is the guy that has a chance to take over (that part of) the game. … He’s got All-SEC and All-American potential for sure. … Really the second level is where I think most people are really optimistic about what this group might look like.”
Much has been said about that this offseason. Hopefully Keenan, Smith, Overton, Collins, and Russaw have read every word.
This is an interesting deep dive on the correlation between recruiting stars and draft position.
In the last five years, only seven players who were not ranked at all in the 247Sports Composite (4.3 percent) were among the 160 players taken in the first round of the draft. An overwhelming majority (80.1 percent) of the players drafted overall (not just in the first round) were ranked as three-stars or better.
On average, there are roughly 32 five-star recruits and somewhere between 300 to 400 four-stars among the thousands of high school prospects per cycle.
In the recent five-year draft window, 65 percent of the first-round picks (104 of 160) and 52 percent of the players taken in the first three rounds (267 of 514) were blue-chip recruits coming out of high school.
Over a 5-year period, you have 1500-2000 players rated as blue chips. Only 267 of those ended up picked in the first three rounds, only a few more than non-blue chippers. This is where the portal comes into play. A three-star isn’t going to get much attention from the Alabamas of the world coming out of high school, but the underrated ones show themselves early in their college careers and get poached.
Last, you can’t make this up. Lance Thompson once snuck around to knock on AJ McCarron’s window like a teenage girl.
“I told Pruitt’s ass to get down there and watch your house,“ Saban said, per McCarron. ”Let me call him.”
Pruitt has since told McCarron the story of the phone call. It went something like this, per McCarron: Saban asked Pruitt what he was doing. Pruitt said he was sitting in front of McCarron’s house like he told him.
“No the hell you’re not,” Saban said, per McCarron. “Tennessee just left.”
Pruitt said nobody’s left the house or shown up. But Pruitt decided to go check. He knocked on the door and a “little old lady” answered, per McCarron.
Is AJ here?
The woman told Pruitt that McCarron doesn’t live there. He’s several houses down.
Pruitt had been sitting in front of the wrong house for two days.
Later, Lance reportedly visited AJ’s mom and tried to get in the back door.
That’s about it for now. Have a great day.
Roll Tide.
