Happy Gump Day, everyone. A shorthanded Alabama basketball squad got off the mat to whip Mississippi State in Starkville last night, a welcome sight after the Tide lost the past two outings. Nate Oats
provided an update after the game.
“Bristow’s got a left leg injury, I don’t know how long he’ll be out for,” Oats said during the post-game press conference. “Taylor’s got a left hand injury, he’s getting further evaluation tomorrow, hopefully, I don’t know sounds like he might be out for a while. Taylor, hoping, maybe he can get a pad and play Saturday. If not Saturday, they’re thinking hopefully for sure after the week off.”
The injuries compounded what was already a difficult situation for Alabama. The Crimson Tide entered the game with just eight scholarship players available and saw five players officially listed as out on the final availability report, including Latrell Wrightsell Jr., Davion Hannah, and Collins Onyejiaka.
This team has had a rough time health-wise. Next up is a noon trip to Norman on Saturday. Oklahoma was blown out by Florida last night and hasn’t been terribly good, ranked 59th in KenPom. Texas hasn’t been much better though, so Alabama cannot afford to play less than their best.
Chris Low has a cool piece on Ty Simpson’s decision to go to the NFL rather than enter the portal.
“KD and Coach Grubb have been so good to me,” Simpson said. “I’m sure they were wondering what was going on because they wanted a decision from me last Thursday so they could start building their roster for next year. I was honest and told them what I’d been offered, but that I just couldn’t do it because of everything I stood for and what Alabama had meant to me and the legacy that I built there. Everybody would just remember me as the guy who took all this money and went to Miami or Tennessee for his last year. But I was a captain. I put my hand and footprints in the cement at Denny Chimes.
“I would have lost everything that I built at Alabama.”
That’s great stuff. Ty has cemented himself, no pun intended, as an all-time Gump.
Of course, he also threw some programs under the bus for tampering since he never entered the portal. Tennessee is almost always involved in such shenanigans.
Last on this slower news day, the portal giveth and taketh away at the Bandit position that was vacated by LT Overton.
Smith was a three-star prospect out of high school. The 247Sports composite ranked him as the No. 105 defensive lineman in the 2025 class.
Smith did not see the field last season at Washington. He preserved his redshirt and will have four full seasons of eligibility in Tuscaloosa.The 6-foot-7, 270-pound Smith’s body type fits what Alabama defensive coordinator calls the “bandit” defensive end position. Alabama lost key talent at that spot, with LT Overton out of eligibility, plus James Smith, Kelby Collins and Keon Keeley entering the transfer portal.
Renaud started three games over the last month or so of the season at the hybrid defensive end/edge rusher spot. He got the starting nod against Oklahoma at Bryant-Denny Stadium, Georgia in the SEC Championship Game and the Rose Bowl against Indiana.
He was the top reserve behind LT Overton, who missed some games down the stretch for medical reasons. Overton exhausted his eligibility and will head to the NFL draft. Keon Keeley, another player at the Bandit spot, transferred to Notre Dame.
At this stage, Smith is the only player on the roster who projects at Bandit. Something tells me that the staff isn’t done evaluating free agents at that spot.
That’s about it for now. Have a great day.
Roll Tide.
