Happy Thursday, everyone. The NCAA Tournament starts in earnest today, and we will have an open thread for you. Alabama doesn’t play until tomorrow afternoon against Hofstra. Former Tide standout Aaron Estrada, a key cog on Nate Oats’ Final Four team, was a transfer from Hofstra and will be rooting for the Pride over the Tide tomorrow.
Estrada, whose Hofstra “brotherhood” is equal to that of his Alabama kinship, was immediately pressed by the guys about which side he would take.
“I wish that both teams
could win, or that they didn’t get matched up to play each other,” he said.
“But if I had to suit up and put a jersey on and play for one, I’m picking Hofstra.”
After all, it was head coach Speedy Claxton who selflessly helped Estrada grow and transfer to a school that was offering him significant NIL dough.
“My family has never seen anything close to that amount of money —especially in one year,” said Estrada, who grew up outside of South Philadelphia in Woodbury, NJ.
With Aden Holloway listed as out due to asininity, Coach Houston will need to step up on the floor along with Latrell Wrightsell if Alabama is to go anywhere this March.
He also has the number 95 on his car, not only to represent his jersey, but what it stands for:
A player has the ball for about 5% of the game. What do they do with the other 95%?
“From my standpoint, I’m incredibly fortunate and I have a great opportunity because we have the opportunity to make money, so my mindset is I’m going to try and save every penny I possibly can,” Mallette said.
The choice of vehicle reveals a lot to UA director of athletics Greg Byrne.
“He could afford something nicer, but he’s like, ‘That’s not a very good investment,'” Byrne said. “He has chosen to invest his money in other things besides a nicer car, and I’ve told him I’m proud of how he’s been handling that.”
“I will keep that thing forever,” Mallette said. “I don’t want to buy a car.”
In spring practice news, it sounds like Cal Poly transfer Racin Delgatty will be your starting center.
The Cal Poly transfer has already drawn praise over the first week of practice.
“It starts with Jackson and Michael,” Grubb said of the offensive line. “And then really the center position, Racin Delgatty has been doing an awesome job at center. He’s really taken the reins quickly, so I’m excited to see him out there.”
Alabama needs someone to replace two-year starter Parker Brailsford as the captain of the offensive line. Delgatty hasn’t played at this level of football yet, but he’s on the right track to become Alabama’s next center.
It will be a big leap in competition, but he does have multiple years under his belt in a starting role.
Last, an under the radar transfer is making waves in camp.
“We’re already long in the secondary and all of a sudden he’s taller than Dijon Lee, which is hard to believe, and still have corner feet,” Wommack said. “There’s a lot of things we could do with him, but right now he’s doing a really good job on the outside. I’m excited about him.”
For Alabama, O’Neal is depth, a direct replacement for one-year transfer Cam Calhoun, who is off to Ohio State. O’Neal is a number in a room that includes redshirt freshman Chuck McDonald III, five-star Jorden Edmonds and four-star Zyan Gibson.
But Lee knows what O’Neal can be from personal experience. What he and O’Neal share is not normal. It’s “weird.”
If O’Neal is playing outside, that might allow Zabien Brown to shuttle between corner and dime to take full advantage of his ball hawking abilities, like Minkah Fitzpatrick did. Putting him and Lee outside should make fades very difficult.
That’s about it for now. Have a great day.
Roll Tide.
