Good morning, and Happy Gumpmas to you all. We are not going to talk about ridiculous NIL stories, or Auburn being absurd (though they are), or the equally fatuous playoff expansion stories. No one wants Gump Day ruined (although the Auburn stories are generating some high comedy, such as this).
Eleven ‘Bama players
landed on the preseason all-SEC list:
First team:
- Kadyn Proctor – Offensive Tackle
- Ryan Williams – Wide Receiver
Second Team:
- Jaeden Roberts – Offensive Lineman
- Parker Brailsford – Center
- Domani Jackson – Defensive Back
- Tim Keenan III – Defensive Lineman
- Deontae Lawson – Linebacker
- LT Overton – Defensive Lineman
- Keon Sabb – Defensive Back
Third Team:
- Jam Miller – Running Back
- Bray Hubbard – Defensive Back
- Read More: 11 Represent Alabama on Coaches Preseason All-SEC | https://tide1009.com/coaches-preseason-all-sec-alabama-football/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
Ryan Williams is the no-brainer, sure. But one day, I’m going to understand why people keep overlooking Brailsford, while hyping Proctor. If anything, those two players should be flipped. And, I do realize they don’t want to overload the preseason lists with player from one team, but everyone is really sleeping on Bray Hubbard and ZB, who I would have put at first and third team respectively, as well as bumping Domani up to first team — this secondary is absolutely loaded.
Sleeping on Alabama seems to be an offseason theme this year. Depending on your preferred poll, Alabama is slotted as no better than the 3rd or 4th best SEC team, despite returning far more on both sides of the ball than anyone listed ahead of them.
And I think I like it…
‘Bama had a few more nods in its preseason accolade arsenal too:
Keon Sabb and Deontae Lawson, both injured down the stretch last season, have been tabbed for Comeback Player of the Year:
Sabb, a redshirt sophomore from Glassboro, New Jersey, broke his foot on a pass breakup against Squirrel White in Alabama’s 24-17 loss to the Tennessee Volunteers in October 2024. Sabb started seven games for Alabama last season, totaling 39 tackles, four pass breakups, two interceptions, and 0.5 tackles for loss. Sabb is expected to be fully healthy for the start of the 2025 season.
Lawson, a redshirt senior from Mobile, Alabama, tore his ACL in Alabama’s 24-3 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners in November 2024. Before his injury, Lawson started 11 games for the Crimson Tide, totaling 76 tackles, four pass breakups, seven tackles for loss, two sacks, one interception, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery.
And, ‘Bama QB Ty Simpson officially got the blessing from the folks running the Unitas Award, given to the nation’s best Senior Quarterback:
This is frankly music to most fans’ ears:
In the final scrimmage ahead of the regular season, Simpson was a standout. Afterwards, Grubb broke down the statistical performance that he had. He also explained what it was about that performance that impressed him.
“Ty was, I think, 12 of 15 with two drops,” Ryan Grubb said. “I thought he was very controlled. Distributed the ball right where it was supposed to be. I thought his eyes were in the right spot. I thought he was very disciplined.”
Ty Simpson was a five-star recruit in the Class of 2022. In his time at Alabama, he’s primarily been a backup. During that time, he’s completed 29 of 50 pass attempts for 381 yards. He’s also rushed for 130 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
“We were trying to put him in some spots in the fringe,” Grubb said. “And stuff like that to see how he would respond and make sure he takes care of the football, keeps us in field goal range, all those things. And I thought he responded really, really well. Had calm demeanor when it was good and bad. There were a couple flows there, we started out really fast again, and did a nice job when we hit a little bit of a lull, I thought he was there to respond.”
Is it exciting? No, it doesn’t sound particularly explosive. But it does keep drives going, chains moving, puts points on the board, and doesn’t waste possessions. And that’s how you win.
There’s another reason for my pleasure too. The dirty secret is that for four years Alabama has been simply rotten on first and second down. Bryce’s smart playmaking bailed Bill O’Brien out for two years, while Milroe’s legs generated much higher third down conversion rates than the Tide had any right attaining.
If Alabama can stay on-schedule and get ahead of the chains on a consistent basis for the first time in almost half a decade, Ryan Grubb has no idea how huge his fanbase is about to grow. I don’t think anyone will care if we get there with less sexiness but more consistency.
So, Ty may not be the athlete that Milroe is, but it sounds like he has a high motor. Good football IQ. Is another coach on the field. A ball distributor. A leader of men. A real field general. Cerebral coach’s son.
I’m running out of these…I should ask Dabo for a lifeline.
It sounds weird to say this, but it seems as though the national media folks have finally gotten the memo that last year was a blip, the SEC isn’t going anywhere. About half the teams in the “poised to bounce back” list are from the SEC.
DeBoer has reunited with his longtime offensive coordinator, Ryan Grubb, who spent 2024 in the NFL as the Seahawks’ OC. Former highly touted 2022 prospect Ty Simpson will replace dual-threat quarterback Jalen Milroe. Simpson can make things happen with his legs, too, but he’ll have an abundance of options as a passer, with sophomore Ryan Williams headlining a promising receiving corps. The offensive line, buoyed by left tackle Kadyn Proctor, should be great. So should Alabama’s defense, which returned 69% of the production from a unit that allowed the 10th-fewest points per game (17.4) in the country last season. The defensive tackle duo of LT Overton and Tim Keenan III, plus the safety tandem of Keon Sabb and Bray Hubbard, will be fun to watch.
But, I already explained last year’s results by cranking the numbers: The SEC didn’t have a down year; it had a bad year at quarterback. Generally, quarterback play was below average across the country last season. But it hit the SEC especially hard — coaching changes, injuries, new starters, and much better defense being played in the SEC made it hellish for passing games to get their stride.
That will probably not be the case in 2025 if Ty and Arch live up to their recruiting rankings, Mateer can translate his Wazzu body of work, and those younger players from last season (like LaNorris Sellers, DJ Lagway) can take the next step. Only Georgia, Auburn and Tennessee really seem unsettled (or unhappy) with their play under center for now.
And, oh, how my heart breaks for them.
I think I’m beginning to understand the Shula years now. Bruh.
South Carolina quarterbacks have a new way to learn from mistakes this season — and it involves a fake piece of poop. According to LaNorris Sellers, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Mike Shula keeps the prop in his office to make lessons from film sessions stick.
“It looks like real poop,” Sellers said Tuesday. “You can sit it in your hand and it looks like poop.”
Sellers explained when a quarterback makes an error that shows up on film, Shula will direct the player to go to his office and pick up “the dump off his desk.” The player then leaves the room, retrieves it and hands it to Shula, who throws it on the table, saying, “That’s what you just did to me.”
I’ve never heard of anything this deranged. Someone check on Mike.
Ryan Grubb’s interview yesterday was mostly bog standard coach speak, with very little to give away the game (though it does sound like Daniel Hill will be our physical ‘back, and Richard Young is probably earning the nod, with Dre coming along very quickly — it sounds like he could even earn a starting job if his understanding of the pass game improves).
But, above all, Ryan Grubb was teasing ‘Bama fans…once again:
On how he uses the tight ends in unique ways:
Oh man. A lot of things I can’t talk about. I don’t know. I’ve just always just felt like the tight ends were the equalizer. They’re the guy that can change the box count. They can manipulate what the defense thinks as far as how many people they have relevant to the run fits. So I think the guys realizing that they’re always part of that and how they can manipulate that for us is truly unique.
How many times have we heard this before? I want to believe…truly. But when you’ve been let down time after time, trust is a commodity in scarce supply.
Weirdly, I actually do believe him this time, for a few reasons.
First, the TE room is super deep, with a lot of guys who do very different things: H-Back types, possession bruisers, athletic receivers. It’s the best that Alabama has ever been, on paper at least. The second reason is the nature of the offense: we watched thousands of snaps from KDB’s Fresno and Washington years, and it’s clear tight ends are integral to this scheme. Even last year, you can see plays that Milroe missed on that were intended to be reads for the big fellas. Those reps aren’t going to turn into forced scrambles or tough throws to a covered Germie or Ryan; they’ll be first downs.
Or so we can hope.
And, finally, your moment of levity.
I get my news via print sources. I highly recommend the Ground News service BTW, if you don’t want to get trapped in ideological bubbles (Ground is not paying me for this, but they should). And I never watch televised news (hell, I honestly couldn’t tell you the last time a television was on in my house…like April?) But, yesterday I was accidentally exposed to such televised news…and I was floored with how little the formula has changed in decades, how the shallow the product is, how predictable the pap they chose to cover. Wall to wall news channel, that somehow managed to show no news in 40 minutes. You have to work to be that glib.
All of which reminded of this classic from The Onion. And once you think about it, you will never be able to watch news again without noticing it either: “Some bullshit is happening somewhere.” (Obviously, there’s NSFW language in here if you work with HR Karens.)
That’s all for now. We’ll back later with the Quarterback Preview, and we’ll also probably have the first Giving Away Money for week zero, though that could be pushed back later.
Tomorrow, we’ll also have an analysis piece for you on the Alabama Basketball Non-Conference schedule, which was just finalized.
Have a great morning, and Row Tahd.
