Happy Monday, everyone. It was a rough weekend on the hardwood, as the Alabama women followed up the men’s debacle in Gainesville with a 40-point loss of their own in Baton Rouge. Both squads allowed 100
points this weekend.
Oh, well. At least the Gym Tide showed out.
The No. 3 Alabama gymnastics team (3-1) used an electric 49.675 rotation score on the floor exercise to stamp its 197.450-195.825 win over the No. 22 Oregon State Beavers (2-5) Friday night in Coleman Coliseum. The score tied the program’s fourth highest on the apparatus.
UA swept the individual honors, as four different gymnasts accumulated seven event titles, highlighted by four from senior all-arounder Gabby Gladieux (vault, balance beam, floor exercise, all-around). Chloe LaCoursiere claimed the uneven bars, as Kylee Kvamme (beam) and Jamison Sears (floor) tied Gladieux on their respective events.
Doris Lemngole continues to rewrite history.
Alabama track and field phenom Doris Lemngole won the Burgess Family Foundation women’s 3,000-meter race at the prestigious Millrose Games Sunday. Her 8:31.39 time broke the NCAA collegiate record as she bettered her previous PR by over 10 seconds.
With about 200 meters remaining, Lemngole moved from third place and into first. She would continue to hold onto the lead, crossing the finish line ahead of professional runner Hannah Nuttall (second, 8:32.94) and BYU’s Jane Hedengren (8:34.98).
Imagine being able to run almost two miles in eight-and-a-half minutes.
Kalen DeBoer was asked whether Derrick Nix can unlock Ryan Williams.
“That’s our job as coaches is to, in the development process – it’s skill development,” DeBoer said. “It’s just the piece with the psychological part, all that for every player.
“So I would expect that from our coaches, and certainly as it pertains to Ryan, I think he’s gonna have a big year ahead. I’m excited to begin to get to work with him here in the offseason, correct the things that we feel are correctable and him continue to grow, go have a big year.”
Nix will also have to work with a room that lost its two non-Williams starters from last year. Germie Bernard (64/862/7) is off to the NFL Draft, while Isaiah Horton (42/511/8) transferred to Texas A&M.
Ryan did seem to have the yips last year, for whatever reason. And Ty Simpson seemed to lose some confidence in throwing to him as a result. Williams is entering what should be his “money year” for the NFL. Hopefully he can find some consistency and reach his vast potential.
Speaking of Ty, people keep asking him why he didn’t take Miami’s $6.5 million to play one more season of college ball.
“The last thing I wanted to do was tarnish my legacy and go somewhere else where I didn’t go out of high school and I didn’t want to play,” he said. “… Hopefully in the draft whenever my name gets written on a card, they write the University of Alabama on there. It’s going to give me great pride.”
Simpson is listed as the No. 25 draft prospect on Kiper’s Big Board, and Jason Simpson said his son received a first-round grade from every NFL general manager they contacted.
Ty Simpson completed 64.5% of his passes for 3,567 yards with 28 touchdowns and five interceptions in 2025, leading the No. 9 Crimson Tide to an 11-4 record and a quarterfinal appearance in the College Football Playoff.
“It means a lot to me to be able to show my kids when they’re older to come back and say their dad played here and was a captain,” Simpson told AL.com of his time at Alabama.
That man is a Certified Gump.
Last, players at the Senior Bowl spoke about why Alabama doesn’t have the mystique from a few years ago.
How much power does one team have? And is Alabama that one team?
“It’s not the same, obviously. It’s been different,” Missouri defensive tackle Chris McClellan said. “I feel like there’s a big difference from when, obviously, coach (Nick) Saban was the head coach and coach (Kalen) DeBoer. Obviously, nothing against (them). Still a great program. I feel like they had a bit more swagger back in the Saban days, in my opinion. Still a great program. Still a great team. It’s lost its muchness, if that makes sense.”
But McClellan is quick to clarify. This isn’t unique to Alabama.
College football is no longer about the haves and have nots. It’s not Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee, and the rest of the SEC.
“Think about it like this,” McClellan said. “Two, three years ago, if you would have told anybody in our league that Vanderbilt would be one of the best teams this year, they would have looked at you like you have gone insane.”
Free agency drives parity, and whether it’s a feature or a bug depends on which fanbase you’re a member of.
That’s about it for today. Have a great week.
Roll Tide.
