Every day is recruiting season in Tuscaloosa
Rejoice, for this is the day that we Gump. Mondays are always a little slow, as we await the weekly Kalen DeBoer afternoon press conference. But, we’ve rounded up what news is out there for you, and hopefully will kickstart your week with some solid Gumping.
CHOO CHOO! Lane Train coming through…
Kalen DeBoer was an unhappy man in his postgame press conference, but he began with some high praise for the unspoken difference-makers: You. Kick was scheduled for 2:45, but the game did not end until well after 8:00 central, and of course, many people had been in the stands for hours before even the scheduled kick — that’s an 8-10 hour day through lightning delays and record heat to still rock the house.
Well done if you were among them: I was sitting in the air conditioning, where God intended us to be in 97-degree weather.
Quarterback Keelon Russell, who had four total touchdowns in the win, did the same on Saturday night.
“The fans, man, they contribute to a lot of our greatness right here,” he said. “Just the fans. They are electric. You guys saw the last couple of minutes in the game. The fans really had got us the momentum and the strides. Even early on in the game, the fans really just showed us what ‘Bama is all about.”
Let’s ease up on the hyberbole, bruh. You may have had a great game, but I wouldn’t call Saturday “great” by any stretch. Go wake up Dijon and see if Duce has returned his dignity to him yet.
t’s crootin’ szn…yadda’ yadda’ yadda’.
Alabama flipped a NOLA kid yesterday, but some of his comments concern me in that they’re solely focused on Alabama being an NFL feeder. That may be true, but at least along the defensive line it’s not had much veracity of late. Missing on a few recruiting classes up front set this program back at least half a decade on the DL. He may sign with ‘Bama, but if he balls, I fully expect someone with more draft success to come sniffing around with a huge bag — like Ohio State or Texas...no matter whether he called it his dream offer or not.
He is also just a 1A player; that is one of many reasons he’s just a three-star, despite physically looking the part of a beastly interior lineman. The learning curve is apt to be difficult.
And then it is happened again, with another 3-star DL decommitting from his hometown school. Oof.
Alabama had two 2027 defensive linemen on campus over the weekend visiting for the Florida State game. Both were committed elsewhere. The first, 3-star Tulane commitment Kavarris “Duke” Duncan, flipped his commitment to Alabama on Sunday, just one day after receiving an official offer from the Crimson Tide.
The other, 3-star Memphis commitment Joshua Lane, backed off his pledge to the hometown Tigers on Sunday night. Lane didn’t immediately flip his commitment to Alabama as Duncan did, but you have to like where Alabama sits after he decommitted from Memphis.
It’s Monday; we all need some cheering up. Fortunately, there’s always Auburn cringe and Auburn failure to fuel our week, and I aim to please.
There was nothing but little dick energy in Jordan Hare on Saturday. Because while the students were doing the Seminoles War Chant, the Auburn Defense was getting positively eviscerated by Florida on third down. These are genuinely the worst 3D defensive stats I think I’ve ever seen.
3rd and 12: 27 yard pass
3rd and 21: facemask 1st down
3rd and 20: 20-yard TD run
3rd and 8: 48 yards
3rd and 14: 12 yards
3rd and 11: 20 yard TD pass
And they gave up a 57-yard TD run right off the B-gap on 4th and 1. There’s a reason I listed this team among the conference dregs in yesterday’s Power Poll.
Somehow, after that crapulence ‘Bama’s defense sharted out for four hours on Saturday, the No. 10 Crimson Tide enjoyed a bump in the Polls, all the way to No. 8. And not a single other poll or stats-retrospective has them lower than 11th.
Look, I can’t complain; I’ve had Alabama 5th since the UK game. But I also have advanced stats to back me up…plus it’s my alma mater #GumpSoHard
And, mercy, we knew Alabama’s schedule would get more difficult, but this…for another year in a row? Time for everyone to grow up in a big way, in a hurry.
Alabama will host South Carolina on Saturday night after the Gamecocks lost at home to Mississippi State. It will first time since 2022 that Alabama has began a season by playing four consecutive unranked opponents. It is also the fourth time in 20 seasons that Alabama has started with four opponents outside the top 25; it also happened in 2014 and 2019 in addition to 2022.
However, Alabama’s schedule includes five upcoming teams who are ranked. After the October 3 trip to Mississippi State, which remained unranked in Sunday’s coaches poll but was ranked No. 24 in the AP poll, Alabama will host Georgia, play at Tennessee, host Texas A&M and then play at LSU following an open date.
Speaking of the Tide’s last “easy” game, this week vs. South Carolina in Bryant Denny, broadcasters already have the “how to watch” information for you.
How to Watch: Alabama vs. South Carolina
Who: South Carolina (2-1, 0-1 SEC) at No. 8 Alabama (3-0, 1-0 SEC)
When: Saturday, Sept. 26, 6 p.m. CT
Where: Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
TV: ESPN
Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network (Play-By-Play: Chris Stewart, Color: Tyler Watts, Sideline: Damion Square, Host: Roger Hoover)
That, and an early look at the USC-Alabama game at the link below:
The undoubted star of Saturday’s 50-36 win over the FSU Seminoles was Keelon Russell, and he was simply electric too, tossing a couple of Sunday throws and dealing damage with his legs as well.
SI broke down game film of a five-snap sequence he played, and the verdict was: Perfect.
There you have it: one of the best unbroken five-snap sequences you will ever see. Russell threw for 140 yards (28 yards per completion) and three touchdowns in that stretch. He played with a new level of confidence from this point forward, which was very well-earned as, for the first time in two-and-a-half games under center, Russell truly looked like a veteran.
Absolutely worth your read.
And, finally, your moment of levity…it’s Monday; why not start with child molestation jokes. Because nothing is off-limits if it’s funny.
Alright, that’s it for now. We’re going to be looking for an email notification sign-up plugin, do some site maintenance, and otherwise finish whipping this here website into shape. Some people have observed the random weird bug here and there, if that’s the case, absolutely email me ASAP so we can have the web dev audit it, or correct it ourselves if it’s just a settings error: erik@tlfootball.com. And, if for some reason that one is wonky, Gmail always works: erikevans.trl@gmail.com
Have a great morning, thanks for dropping by, and take care.
Roll Tide
Is everyone having problems with gif embeds today? Lemme know.
I swear, I would rather play ranked teams every week bc the unranked ones seem to be kryptonite to the KDB teams. I don’t know what it is about this coaching staff, but the team always seems ill-prepared when an unranked team is on the schedule.
Let’s hope we get that figured out and don’t sleepwalk into next weekend. I fully expect USCe to bring the heat. Also, expect them to be extra motivated after losing last week.
Explosive plays through three games under DeBoer (10+ rush, 15+ pass):
– 2024: WKU, USF, Wisconsin – (36) 20 runs, 16 passes
– 2025: FSU, ULM, Wisconsin – (34) 7 runs, 27 passes
– 2026: ECU, UK, FSU – (47) 22 runs, 25 passes
Airwreck, when I looked this up in the way that EPA defines an explosive play:
2026 is highest of recent memory with 17.3 explosive plays per game
2021: 15.1
2018: 13.7
2019: 13.1
You’d expect a regress to the mean, but stay healthy and raise the floor a bit, and 2026 and 2027 could be very special.
I hope we go 5-0 through that stretch, just to have the bragging rights of going 5-0 after going 4-0 last season.