Sorry about getting Day 3  out a little later than most. Being a one man sports page has its challenges. But let’s get to it.

S

I really thought S was going to cold cock Finebaum off the air. Wouldn’t have been the first time a sportswriter has been punched by a coach or a player, it’s just been a while since that’s happened. Wow, that was intense off camera. Pretty intense on camera, too. I thought Paul asked the question that everybody wanted to know the answer to: “Are you going to suspend Cam Robinson for game 1?” Very testy exchange, but Paul was being a good reporter. It was really unbelievable of the 600 media members in the press conference not one asked that question. Nobody even got close to it. Glad Paul did. Saban may not have liked it, but it was the most relevant question posed to him by a long shot. 

But to his team. Alabama is very good. Again. I’m going to go ahead and pick Bama in the west and Florida in the east. Saban is totally trustable How can you not? He delivers every year. It’ll be tough in Baton Rouge in November, but I see the Tide getting by the Bengal Tigers in a massive war. Kiff will get the qb situation worked out. I like Cooper Bateman to start in the first game against USC and we’ll see what happens after the first series of two. 7 PM CT/8 PM ET on ABC. Cooper’s a talented player. He was a high four star recruit and is a great kid and hard worker. Two years ago, nobody had any faith in Blake Sims, and Blake really got it done. Same thing for Jake Coker last year. If you have a great kid with good talent, Kiff makes it work and work well. To me, neither Blake nor Jake were game managers. They were playmakers, explosive playmakers at that and outstanding football players. People said that about A.J. too, that he was a game manager. Maybe moreso his first year starting, but he was still pretty darn good when the Tide won the national championships in 2011 and 12, and in his third year, his senior season, he was exceptional even though the season ended with the KIck 6 at Auburn and the Oklahoma debacle. He did win it in 2011 and 2012, and he accomplished a ton at Alabama. To me, if Marvin Lewis was smart, he’d give A.J. a real shot to be the starting quarterback of the Cincinnati Bengals. He was awesome late in the season and had the home playoff game against the Steelers won if it wasn’t for a couple of knucklehead plays by linebacker Vontaze Burfict and cornerback Adam “Pac Man” Jones. 

So A.J. was a terrific  player under Coach Mac and Nuss, and Kiff has done a super job with both Blake and Jake. I see it happening again with either Cooper or Blake Barnett. I don’t see Jalen Hurts as being ready to step in as a true freshman quarterback in the SEC. I don’t think S would do that. But you never know. There is all August to figure that out. My favorite for the job is Bateman right now. But can’t count out Barnett. Let’em compete and see what happens. Hurts too for that matter. He’s talented. 

But another issue that’s not as talked about, but was brought up by Greg McElroy and Marcus Spears on the SEC Network, is the center position. They both noted that this is the first year Bama has had to start a new quarterback AND a new center. So that’s challenging. But there are capable guys. S talked about Ross Pierschbacher, maybe Bradley Bozeman. The bottom line is there is a Fort Knox haul of talented, big, physical tough offensive linemen in Tuscaloosa, like there is at most positions down there, but they’ll have to figure the center out as well. Bateman and Barnett are both really good kids, Bateman’s from Utah, where there are mostly good people, and he was a high four star, and Barnett was a five star out of California who just got married, so they’re both high character, mature guys. Don’t know as much about Hurts, but I’m sure he’s a good kid, I just find it hard to believe that S and Kiff would start a true freshman at quarterback unless that player is through the roof good, and Hurts may be at some point, but not this year.

Another issue is running back. There are some good ones though led by Damien Harris and Bo Scarbrough. They look like the two workhorses for the Tide this year, with some young depth. S likes to use two though, that’s been his pattern ever since he’s been in Tuscaloosa, and these are two good ones. Scarbrough looked awesome at the end of last season, and Damien had an awesome spring game, so if they stay healthy, which can be challenging for a running back sometimes, the Tide should be in good shape there. There are some younger highly rated players behind them, so if Harris or Scarbrough were to get hurt, the replacements could be plenty good to take over. The coaching is so good there, they’ll have five ready. Tight end is superb led of course by O.J. Howard. It’s incredible to me that O. J. came back. That’s an incredibly mature, smart decision. Same for Jonathan Allen and Eddie Jackson. They were really smart about their futures. Actually, Allen was projected to be the 20th pick in the draft in 2016, but he wanted to come back. He got his degree, which is really refreshing, and improve his stock even more and his financial situation even more next spring. If O.J, and Jonathan have super years, which they should, they’ll both be top 10 picks and maybe even top 5 picks and that is a serious financial windfall for both of them. Tight end is in good hands and wide receiver is really loaded with the awesome Calvin Ridley, Ardarius Stewart and the recovered Robert Foster, who is also an awesome player. Cam Sims too. He looked terrific in the spring game. 

It’s just a matter of getting the quarterback worked out, getting the center and the line settled, and then getting Bo and Damien in gear. I see all of that happening. By the way, I struggled picking Florida over Tennessee. They do play in Knoxvegas the third game of the season. I’m putting my faith in Coach Mac and the Gators, who have beaten the Vols 11 years in a row. See them doing it again. Just not totally trusting Butch still.

On defense, the Tide looks potentially outstanding again. Jonathan Allen, Da’Shawn Hand, Rashaan Evans, and the amazing Tim Williams whom Saban said of humorously at halftime of the A-Day game , “Tim Williams is ruining this game.”  Darron Payne looks like a good player inside. Huge. They’ll need to figure out some other guys, but S has the cupboard stacked with young studs, so that should happen.

Reuben Foster will be the leader at linebacker. Reuben is tremendous and there are plenty of others, Shaun Dion Hamilton being one of them, and plenty of other studs. They’ll need to develop though. Eddie Jackson made a mature move to come back, and it’s going to pay off when he has a big season. Minkah Fitzpatrick is superb at nickel or corner and special teams and Marlon Humphrey should have a huge year at corner. Plenty of talent everywhere on defense.

Adam Griffith will be back at kicker, and while he’s had his struggles at times, he’s also made some big kicks for the Crimson Tide. He’s trustable in big moments and will be even moreso this year. Bama may need him to be clutch on the road at Ole Miss, Arkansas and LSU. Those games are challenging. J.K. Scott returns to punt. He’s got it handled. He’s superb. I was blanking out there for a while on the punter and I thought I’d have to be like my high school football coach, who was also a U.S.  History teacher who would say when he got a question asked that he couldn’t answer, which was most all of the time, “Let me get back to you on that.” He never did, but it’s J.K. Scott. Can’t forget about this potential All-American game- changing punter. Specialists on punt returns and kicks could be Calvin, Ardarius, Robert, maybe Marlon.

This is another potential national champion. But you’ve got to get it done on the practice field and on Saturdays and nobody understands that better than S does. He’ll have’em ready for USC come Sept. 3rd at 7 PM CT/8PM ET on ABC. Western Kentucky is game two, and WKU is a pretty good football team, so no day off there. That’ll be 2:30 PM CT/3:30 PM ET on the Deuce. The next week will be another war, Saturday, Sept. 17th, @ Ole Miss at 2:30 PM CT/3:30 PM ET on CBS. Griff or somebody needs to step up. Either a Griff kick or somebody makes explosive plays on offense, or on special teams, or there is an explosive pick six on defense. I read where Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly said he’s the best QB in the country. Not a great move on his part. We’ll see how that turns out. Not so sure that’ll turn out well for Kelly when he plays a Crimson Tide team that is tired of losing to Ole Miss. Next comes Kentucky at home, then a huge game Saturday, Oct.8th, @ Arkansas. That’s large. Then @ Tennessee, another war. Wow, it’s a beast of a schedule for every team in the SEC. Then A&M @ home and they’re going to be good, so a big challenge once again. Nov. 5th @ Baaton Rouge, Louisiana, as Cosell used to say, for a Saturday night in Death Valley. Then State @ home, Chattanooga @home then the Tigers come in for the Iron Bowl, Saturday, Nov.26th, most likely the 2:30 PM CT/3:30 PM ET CBS game.

So winning the West is hard. No other way to describe it. Should be an epic season in the SEC and nationally. Like the Tide to still get the job done and be in the playoff and take it from there. I don’t see them going totally unscathed this season. It looks impossible for anybody to do that in the SEC. But Bama will be great again.

Arkansas

Brett Bielema has done a terrific job in Fayetteville, but suffers from the same problem as everybody else in the SEC outside of Hugh Freeze; he can’t beat S. But he’s developed a really solid football program at Arkansas. His offensive coordinator, Dan Enos, is superb. He took over last year and the offense took off halfway through the season as the Hogs won six of their last seven, and won their bowl game big. Austin Allen takes over at quarterback from his older brother Brandon, who had a good career with an excellent last two years. Brett said Austin is more vocal than his older brother and has a cannon, so QB1 should be good. The o line is a typical Bielema line, his specialty. They’re huge, tough and violent and I mean that in a positive football way, not any other way. The Hogs will always be good on the o line with Bielema there. Both Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams are in the NFL, and they were really good,  but there is talent taking over at running back. Rawleigh Williams is a bruising running back and there are some others. That’s what I love about Brett; he stays optimistic always even when you think he really needs to restock. He believes in his players and they respond to that. But he knows there is good talent in the backfield. The receiving corps is excellent led by Keon Hatcher and Alex Morgan, two outstanding players, and if it wasn’t for O.J. Howard, Hunter Henry would be the most talked about tight end in college football. He’s outstanding. The defense returns nine players, and Bielema likes that group. Interestingly, Kirby Smart tried to hire Enos as his offensive coordinator at Georgia, but Bielema told Kirby that he wouldn’t allow it per the “SEC Clause” which doesn’t allow a coach in the SEC from hiring another SEC assistant if they are under the guise of the SEC Clause. But Kirby did hire Bielema’s offensive line coach, Simmons, and he’s outstanding. He was hired and signed before the clause went into effect. But Bielema feels good about the guy he has hired in Simmons’ place. 

The Hogs will be a very good football team. I’m saying 8 to 9 wins for this team and Bielema keeps building a stellar football program. He’s hilarious too. He was at Russell Wilson’s wedding this summer, and he was talking about all the celebrities who were there, and Greg and Dari Nowkhah asked him what about his own celebrity status at the wedding, and he said, “I was just the guy on the seventh row, aisle seat.” He was pretty refreshing and quite a relief from the Saban-Paul debacle right before. He’s a really good coach and I like him. He’s good for the SEC. The Hogs open with La Tech, a team that won 10 games. That’ll be in Fayetteville.  Then they’re at TCU. Wow. Texas State comes to Fayetteville, then a huge one against A&M at Jerry World in Arlington.. Alcorn State, then the Tide @ home. Ole Miss at home, huge one there too, @ Auburn, big, Florida @ home, LSU @ home, State @ Starkvegas and @ Missouri. 

I like 8 to 9 wins for Brett and his team, and the recruiting keeps going extremely well. He does an awesome job academically, too. His APR rates at Wisconsin, where he excelled too, were 100. Can’t do any better than that. When he took over at Arkansas it was 915 or so, and now it’s  up to 975-980. He does a superb job with his program in all areas. Like the future of Razorbacks football under Brett Bielema. This year looks good. 

Kentucky

Mark Stoops has some really good running backs in Stanely “Boom” Williams and JoJo Kemp, They are both excellent. His quarterback will be Drew Barker, a highly rated player out of high school. His playmakers on the perimeter will have to step up. The whole offense will. See maybe five and possibly six for Stoops if he gets lucky. His offense must improve and so must his defense. They struggled on both sides of the ball last year. Would like to see Stoops turn it around at UK. He could have a decent year this year if Barker comes through and the defense steps up their game. Some of their defensive starters return and Stoops is a defensive guy, so they should be better. He hired former Auburn running backs coach Eddie Gran as his offensive coordinator. Gran has had good success as OC at Cincy under Tubby the last couple of years, so he should be an upgrade there. Like 4 to 6 wins for Kentucky.

Missouri

Thirty eight year old Barry Odom takes over from Gary Pinkel, who had some pretty good success at Missouri, but had a rough year last year with some societal stuff going on on campus and a team that imploded. Odom was the defensive coordinator last year and they were top 10 in the country in points allowed and yards per game, so he knows what he’s doing on defense. They have some excellent d linemen starting with Charles Harris, who is a beast as he recorded 18.5 tackles for loss and 7 sacks in 2015. They have a loaded defensive line. His linebackers are good and the secondary looks pretty solid. Defense looks good.

Drew Lock, a high four star out of high school who started as a freshman last year is loaded with talent, will be the man under center this season. The skilled positions don’t look defined yet. The offense was disastrous last year, and they look pretty thin on playmakers at this point and not sure how great the o line will be. But they’ll be big up front so that will help. Odom may have made the worst move of his young career by hiring Josh Huepel as his offensive coordinator. Huepel couldn’t get it done at OU and Stoops fired him two years ago. Last year he was Utah State’s offensive coordinator and they played Toledo in the Idaho Potato Bowl. They were looking good, their running back Devante Mays was cookin in the first half running for 100 yards, and I thought at halftime just keep giving Mays the ball and you’ll win. I had picked the Aggies, so I thought it was looking good. For some inexplicable reason, Huepel stopped handing the ball off to Mays and instead started throwing it. I was totally losing it. Utah State lost, 23-21, and it was all Huepel’s fault and coach Matt Wells also for not giving he ball to Mays. It was major league stupidi Any way don’t like that hire. The defense will be good. If Lock is good, which he is capable of, and some playmakers step up, they could overcome Huepel’s ineptness. But like the Tigers to win about 5 at best. At West Virginia the first game of the season, 11 AM CT/Noon ET on Fox Sports 1, is a good matchup. They’re @ LSU, and @ Florda, but the rest of the east is at home, and Arkansas is @ home too, so that helps. Non conference games against Eastern Michigan and Delaware State look navigable, but Eastern Michigan is pretty good, so there’s no guarantee there. Like 3 to 4 wins for Odom in his first year on further review. And he’ll probably need a new offensive coordinator after the season.

Tomorrow: Les, Will, Hugh