Jumbo Package: Insert Witty Headline Here

CROOTIN’

Remember an obscure three-star from Tulsa named Josh Jacobs? There are still some hidden gems out there, and here are five of them — including one ‘Bama target way, way off the radar:

Here are five names that you may not have known just two months ago that are becoming the headliners of National Signing Day.

Three-star TE Brett Seither (Clearwater Central Catholic, Clearwater, FL)
TCU hosted him on an official visit in early December. But then Seither had 630 yards receiving as a senior (up from just 171 as a junior) and the early signing period came and went without Seither signing. Now the race has intensified.

Seither’s current finalists are Alabama, Georgia, Penn State, Michigan State and TCU. None of the Alabama, Georgia, Penn State trio offered before January.

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Wondering how many players ‘Bama will sign this year? Owing to the alchemy of the NCAA scholarship count, the odds are better than you’d expect that the Tide inks a total of 30 players for NSD19.

And, buddy, lemme’ tell you, the hot takes are preemptively flying off the shelf.

From our...ahem...friends at MGoBlog:

It’s time to either pay the players or have powerful people in college football start talking and exposing Alabama and Nick for what they are because this is getting silly. College football isn’t fun anymore.

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Alabama has 24 commits right now, 23 of them are 4 or 5 stars. They are going to land at least 4-5 more 5 stars if current recruiting intel holds. This is a monopoly of talent never seen in CFB before, and anyone who thinks they are doing this above board is out of their mind. These are just a few of the stories that have trickled into the public over the years under Saban. Mind you this is just the tip of the iceberg.

This piece is about 2000 words of weaponized ass grief. We’re kind of in the doldrums around these parts lately, but a good ole’ fashioned BAMA’S CHEATIN’, PAWWWWWL-meltdown may be what the doctor ordered.

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T&F are strong again this year; the men were expected to be so after a trip to Nationals last season. The Women’s climb towards an elite status has been a pleasant surprise though.

The Alabama track and field men are No. 10 and the women are No. 14 in the NCAA Division I Track & Field National Rating Index the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced Monday.

The Crimson Tide men have been a fixture in the top-10 and the women have remained in the top-20 nationally since the preseason rankings came out.

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We’ll have more on hoops later today, but tonight CLANGA comes to Tuscaloosa for the 200th meeting between the two programs.

Mississippi State and Alabama will meet for the 200th time in series history when the teams square off on Tuesday night. The Tide owns an all-time record of 124-75 in the series, including wins in 10 of the last 12 meetings and 14 of the last 18 overall between the two programs. The 199 games played and the 124 wins against Mississippi State marks the most for Alabama against any single opponent in each category in program history.

This game is important if you’re into swag: Season ticket holders get an Avery Johnson bobblehead — one Bobblehead per ticketholder. If you want one, you gotta’ show up. And, if you’re not a season ticket holder but still want to catch a game, corner seats have been dropped to just five bucks. It’s expected to be a cold, gross day throughout much the country. And, with so many businesses and schools closed in anticipation of a winter storm that didn’t much arrive, you’ve got unexpected downtime. So, Roll Tide, Buckle Up, and hit the Mausoleum.

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Is the Dynasty over? Hardly. Are foundational cracks beginning to show? Still, no evidence of that.

But, there are some systemic issues that need to be addressed, and are being addressed, this offseason with the coaching staff.

Ryan Fowler at WTID nailed it:

“There’s some panic, but it’s not inside the building,” Fowler said. “It’s in the fans because a lot of the panic is the unknown.
”It was not denial that they got beat,” Fowler said. “It was the style that they got beat. Then you begin to look for excuses why it happened, and the consensus is that from the majority of people is that coaching is what beat Alabama and Nick Saban.”
Fowler stops for a second, as if calculating what those fans add up on the air.
”Then you take a step back and say, ‘Wait a minute. Nick Saban and his staff got out-coached?’” Fowler asked, as if he was one of his own callers. “That’s been the harder pill to swallow than losing the game.”

I think we can all agree that Black Monday was the worst coached game an Alabama team has played in a dozen years. If you’re into gamblers’ fallacies, then it seems the Tide was due. That the failures came in the biggest game of the year is not a coincidence. It is hard to make it to the 15th game of a season without elite coordinators: Jeff Scott and Tony Elliot whipped Lupoi & Golding like rented mules; while Locksley was mystified by Brent Venables much of the night. Execution was bad, the game plans were bad, the injuries hurts, but adjustments truly lost that game. Alabama experienced the foul harvest produced by a field sown with staff turnover and coordinators that frankly just weren’t as good as advertised when it counted most.

It will get fixed.

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So, the trailer for a film based upon the Challenger explosion dropped yesterday. Cast to be a NASA manager in the film is one of the more improbable people you’d expect: Les Miles.

Yes, because when I think “Rocket Scientist,” Les Miles comes to mind. Can’t wait til the Sir Isaac Newton biopic featuring Dabo Swinney.

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This was just filed yesterday, but keep an eye on it — as we’ve long maintained around here, it won’t be voluntary rule changes that fundamentally alter the sport as we know it; it will be litigation.

More than 200 concussion lawsuits are in the process of being filed against the NCAA, a plaintiff’s lawyer told Law360.

Several suits were filed in the Southern District of Indiana — which houses NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis — while more than 200 will eventually be filed, targeting schools up and down the NCAA’s membership, according to plaintiff attorney Jeff Raizner.

The suits will allege that the NCAA and its member schools were aware of the long-term damage concussive and sub-concussive hits native to the game of football would inflict upon players but did not warn players of such dangers.

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We’ll be back with a preview of ‘State - ‘Bama around noonish, and then back later tonight for the game. In the meantime, here is your thought exercise for the day: