Alabama offensive tackle Michael Carroll and cornerback Dijon Lee Jr. were both named to the 2025 On3 True Freshman All-American Team, the outlet announced Monday.
The All-America honors stand as the first
in the careers of the rookie players and represent the first such honors received by the Crimson Tide following the conclusion of the regular season.
Congrats to Dijon Lee and Michael Carrol for getting some recognition on the Freshman All-American team for On3! Lee will likely be a first teamer on every media outlet, while I suspect Carroll may be a little more varied. The future is extremely bright for both of these guys and Alabama.
“I’m not as concerned as some of the callers, I’m sure, will be,” Finebaum said. “I think you hit the reset button. You get a great opportunity.”
That opportunity comes in the form of a playoff opener on the road in Norman, a place where Alabama still hasn’t found a win since Oklahoma entered the SEC. The Sooners beat Alabama in Norman last season, and the beat the Tide in Tuscaloosa this season, and the Tide haven’t shaken that off yet. Now, with everything on the line, they’ll have to.
If Alabama can survive the trip to Norman, they’ll advance to face top-seeded Indiana in a game that also doubles as this year’s Rose Bowl.
Finebaum made it clear the Crimson Tide could’ve landed in a much rougher spot.
“The pairings could have been a lot worse. I, frankly, think if Alabama can get past Oklahoma, at least on paper, they have a path. It may not be that great for anybody who watched Indiana play on Saturday night,” Finebaum said. “But I think a lot of Alabama people would feel pretty good about it.”
But he didn’t avoid the biggest concern hovering over this team: Ty Simpson.
“Anything I say about Ty Simpson, it will be articulated 1000 times more,” Finebaum said. “But something is wrong. Is it the lack of running game? Is it problems up front? But he just doesn’t seem to be the same quarterback he was eight weeks ago. I think that has to be a major concern going into Norman.”
I do agree with Finebaum here. A lot of the discussion right now is how Alabama’s offense already got shut down by Oklahoma’s buzzsaw of a defense… but I’m not sure that totally tells the story. The Tide put up plenty of yards on the Sooners – it was arguably their best offensive game since Tennessee. The issues were with turnovers and special teams. It was one of the weirdest losses you’ll see in college football, and you have to think that any regression to normal would have Alabama walking away with a comfortable win.
Of course, the Tide offense also looked totally broken against UGA and Auburn, so if they don’t figure something out over the next two weeks, it’ll be a quick trip in the playoffs.
Speaking of a flailing Alabama offense, does it seem telling that, for two years in a row, the Alabama QB looked like the first QB in the NFL Draft in October before falling off a cliff in national opinion in November?
“I’ve seen enough flaws from the accuracy to when his process his rushed,” McShay said. “Remember I said last year, and did it not ring true with almost every single one of the quarterbacks? It was rinse, refine, repeat. He is too early in his game experience to process to not give himself the opportunity to rinse this year. Wash it away, but not without going back to the tape and refining — and by refine, I mean look at the good things you’re doing and build on those, but we have got to — his processing is exceptional for his lack of game experience. Pre-snap, post-snap, all those things.
“There is work to be done, whether it’s from protection of the football — five straight games with fumbles inside the pocket. Ball carriage. Secondly, the deep ball accuracy.”
Simpson is 2-of-18 on passes of 30 air yards or more this season, with a 49.9 rating on those throws that ranks 113th in the country among 122 quarterbacks who average at least 15 pass attempts per game.
Continued McShay: “Thirdly, it seems like he’s gotten into some habits now. Because what I’m watching is defenses have had enough tape to figure out, OK, what do we do to throw his eyes off? Now the feet are getting happy, he’s rushing things and the accuracy is not the same it was in the middle of the season. I promise you, this guy can be a damn good starting quarterback in the National Football League. He’s got the arm, he’s got enough mobility and between the ears, he’s brilliant.”
Simpson is a fascinating case. With only one season of game tape, everything is magnified. He has a lot of absolutely elite play, but he’s been playing panicked over the last 5 games, and has looked like a guy who’s an UDFA at best.
If he turns around and plays well in the playoffs – maybe Alabama wins a game or even two with Simpson looking good again – then I think he leaves for the draft and gets in the later half of the first round. Right now, NFL teams are watching to see if he can get himself together, mentally, to prove he can play up to his potential.
If Oklahoma round 2 looks like the last few weeks, though… Then it’s hard to imagine Simpson getting much draft buzz and he’ll likely stay in college. Then it becomes an interesting question as to what Alabama wants to do, as the Tide will have 4 young QBs on the roster next year.
In a little bit of national news, we got our Heisman finalists:
Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love, Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia and Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin are the finalists for the Heisman Trophy for the top player in college football.
We have a token RB and a token Ohio State QB, both are requisites for any Heisman list. Neither will win.
The real question will be if the vote goes Mendoza or Pavia. Mendoza has better stats and is playing on the only undefeated team and current CFB national darling. He’ll probably win.
However, Diego Pavia does have the aura (TM) as the guy that drug Vanderbilt into being a competent program. If you want the single player that made the biggest possible impact to a program, then Pavia will get the vote.
For once, I’m actually pretty split on who I think will win. Or for that matter, who I’d even vote for if I had a vote. I think Mendoza is a better player… But I think Pavia has done pretty much the impossible, and I would probably vote for him in the final hour.
With college football winding down, here’s a bit of Bama in the NFL news:
Burton has not played for Cincinnati this season, and he didn’t make the trip for the Bengals’ 39-34 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Shortly before that game kicked off, Cincinnati announced Burton had been suspended for that contest.
Bengals coach Zac Taylor spoke about Burton’s departure at his Monday press conference.
“Just the decision to make,” Taylor said. “We just made it. We’re going to release him and move on and wish him the best.”
When asked why Burton was suspended for Sunday’s game, Taylor said: “I won’t get into that.”
I’ve not seen many guys with more attitude (yet non-legal) issues than Jermaine Burton.
He may get one more shot in someone’s camp next year, but that will likely be his last one.
Finally, check out this hit from Jarran Reed, who’s still kicking it in the pros:
