All Things CW: Super Bowl Edition and the Latest with the Crimson Tide

Nick Saban still got what he wanted with his new coordinators; which former Alabama player's draft stock is rising; and DeVonta Smith is going for history.

Christopher Walsh | Feb 11, 2023

In this story:

This is this week's combined version of The All Things CW notes column by Christopher Walsh appears in five parts with the latest on the Alabama Crimson Tide.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — You could feel the reaction almost immediately. Social media wasn't necessary.

When the word came out over the weekend that Nick Saban had hired his offensive and defensive coordinators for the 2023 season, a lot of Alabama fans weren't exactly thrilled.

Granted, some would have complained regardless of anyone Saban hired. They were some of the same people who had been worked up that the coach went weeks without filling the openings, and had also gotten upset when the guy they had never heard of until recently didn't get the job (this is Alabama and college football, after all).

Tommy Rees and Kevin Steele weren't the exciting names that they expected.

But they're exactly the kind of coordinators that Saban was looking to hire.

He wanted a younger, up-and-coming, innovative coach on offense. Someone who would excite recruits with his energy alone.

On defense, Saban wanted familiarity, a person with experience in executing this specific scheme, and could bring back some of that "Alabama standard" he's been taking about.

These guys can do just that, and more. Rees brings in a fresh perspective, which sometimes can be a very good thing for a coaching staff, while there probably isn't a situation imaginable that Steele hasn't had to deal with numerous times.

Granted, their predecessors had various strengths as well, but coaching can be a lot like parenting in that sometimes the message needs to come from a fresh voice. A mom or dad call tell a son or daughter not to do something 50 times and gets ignored every time, but someone else says it and for some reason it suddenly registers.

It happens more than you would believe in football.

With Steele, being able to say that he worked for Tom Osborne and Bobby Bowden might help him connect with some of the players, or that he was once an NFL coach. With Rees, he's just 30 years old.

Even so, Rees first landed on Saban's radar years ago, and for Alabama to be able to lure him away from his alma matter, Notre Dame, shouldn't been taken lightly. LSU tried to hire him last year and Rees said no thanks (which makes this year's game on Nov. 4 even more interesting).

Rees has a strong reputation for his play-calling, plus motions and shifts and using his personnel to their full advantage. He has a tendency to be on the bold side, which will be interesting to watch. A big plus at Alabama is that he won't have to design the scheme, it's already done for him.

The same goes for Steele. He was Saban's first defensive coordinator at Alabama in 2007, but slid over to Defensive Head Coach/Interior Linebackers while Kirby Smart was bumped up to defensive coordinator in 2008. He did a second stint with the Crimson Tide as director of player personnel in 2013, before being a linebackers coach in 2014.

The defense has evolved a bit since then, but is still the same at its core and philosophy.

If you're a regular follower of this site you've seen this chart before, with a year-by-year look at the Crimson Tide defense under Saban. The statistical standards have changed with the numbers, but not the rankings (in parenthesis).

Alabama Defense, Saban Era

Year Total D; Scoring D; Rushing D; Pass Eff. D

2007: 345.5 (31); 22.9 (27); 124.2 (28); 117.2 (38)
2008: 263.5 (3); 14.3 (7); 74.1 (2); 106.7 (14)
2009: 244.1 (2); 11.7 (2); 78.1 (2); 87.7 (2)
2010: 286.4 (5); 13.5 (3); 110.2 (10); 103.5 (6)
2011: 183.6 (1); 8.2 (1); 72.2 (1); 83.7 (1)
2012: 250.0 (1); 10.9 (1); 76.4 (1); 103.7 (7)
2013: 286.5 (5); 13.9 (4); 106.2 (7); 116.8 (26)
2014: 328.4 (12); 18.4 (6); 102.4 (4); 116.5 (30)
2015: 276.3 (3); 15.1 (3); 75.7 (1); 105.2 (8)
2016: 261.8 (2); 13.0 (1); 63.9 (1); 106.5 (9)
2017: 260.4 (1); 11.9 (1); 94.7 (1); 96.78 (2)
2018: 319.5 (16); 18.1 (12); 121.3 (19); 115.79 (23)
2019: 324.4 (20); 18.6 (13); 137.2 (37); 109.75 (4)
2020: 352.2 (32); 19.4 (13); 113.1 (17); 119.37 (18)
2021: 304.1 (7); 20.1(18); 86.0 (4); 132.54 (63)
2022: 318.2 (13); 18.15 (9); 130.4 (36); 108.00 (6)

The chart can be a little tough to follow due to the numerical congestion, so we'll cut to the chase and pull out the statistics from 2008. That's the season Steele was the "Defensive Head Coach" at Alabama, with Smart the defensive coordinator.

Total defense: 263.5 yards (ranked 3rd in the nation)
Scoring defense: 14.3 points (7)
Rushing defense: 74.1 yards (2)
Passing efficiency defense: 106.7 rating (14)

Those are good numbers, especially when the Alabama defense was still coming together that season. It took Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow with the Florida Gators in the SEC Championship Game to keep the Crimson Tide from playing for the national title.

How much of that success was due to Steele, and how much Smart? It's impossible to tell, although there was clearly some overlap, which Saban's been known to do with having younger assistants work with veteran coaches. Either way, the scheme was always Saban's.

So no, Alabama didn't bring back the former defensive coordinator that everyone was talking about, at least not yet. And no, it didn't land the flavor of the week on the offensive side, either.

Instead, it got what Saban was looking for, regardless of the names.

Does Balanced Field of Title Contenders Help Alabama Basketball?

You blink, and you might miss the latest hottest team in college basketball this season.

Here comes Texas? No wait, the Longhorns got bounced by Kansas on Monday night.

Tennessee? Nope. Had the Volunteers been able to beat Florida last week, they could be atop the polls.

Instead, Purdue, which was unranked in the preseason polls, is still at No. 1 after losing at Indiana over the weekend, although its margin of error has vanished.

Alabama briefly held the moniker of hottest/best team sans the ranking, but then ran into some problems both on and off the court, and has yet to fully reclaim that status. It's close, though, entering a key three-game stretch of Florida, at Auburn and at No. 6 Tennessee that could make-or-break its Southeastern Conference title hopes.

How important is home-court advantage? As of Sunday, AP Top 25 teams were 296-24 when playing in friendly confines this season.

Welcome to the season of balance in NCAA hoops, where heading into the heart of February there's no clear favorite to win the national championship, and very few of the traditional powers appear able to make much of a charge.

North Carolina was supposed to be the team to beat this season, only to get exposed in back-to-back losses in November (against Iowa State and then Alabama in four overtimes 103-101). The Tar Heels (15-8, 7-5 ACC) are now a lot closer to the bubble for making March Madness, than the top.

Duke? Nope, not ranked. Neither is Kentucky. Even some of the recent programs of prominence, like Gonzaga, Creighton and Baylor, haven't been quite what many expected.

Arizona and UCLA are charging their way into contention, but are also on a collision course. They close the regular season in Los Angeles, and could then meet the following week in Las Vegas.

Instead, the top three teams in the latest AP Top 25, and the top four teams in the latest NCAA NET rankings, are teams from programs that have never won a national championship.

That includes Alabama.

One has to think that having such turnover at the top could only help a team like the Crimson Tide, which boasts a deep roster but has four freshmen who have accounted for more than 50 percent of the team's scoring: Jaden Bradley, Noah Clowney, Rylan Griffen and Brandon Miller.

They may not fully realize that they're not supposed to be doing this, but then the same holds true for a lot of other contenders.

During a season in which more than 50 teams have been ranked in the AP Top 25 already (North Carolina State was No. 51 after earning its first ranking in four years, checking in at No. 22 this week), so why not the Crimson Tide?

Alabama is the lone Power 5 team to still be undefeated in conference play. It has a two-game cushion atop the SEC standings. And now Nate Oats' team is finding ways to win even when shots aren't going in like at LSU on Saturday.

Consequently, Alabama has gone from having 45/1 odds of winning the NCAA Tournament in the preseason, to 10/1. It was still listed as 22/1 around New Year's Day, or roughly when league play began.

But three top-10 teams lost on Saturday. Nine other teams took a tumble in the poll after taking losses last week. With time running out and desperation staring to sink in, wins are getting harder to come by.

Call it a year of parity, or just simply a wonderful setup to what should be a crazy March Madness, take in stride what Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim recently said (not during the recent press conference he's already apologized twice for, but to the New York Times): "The balance is so good ... it's going to be hard to get into the tournament. People want to say it's mediocrity, but it's not. There's just good balance."

It's going to be a wild couple of months.

Why the Draft Stock of an Alabama Player is Rising After Senior Bowl

The list of players invited to the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine was released on Wednesday afternoon, giving the first strong indication of how many Crimson Tide players might be drafted this year.

It's simple math. There are a minimum of 224 picks in the NFL draft each year, barring forfeited selections. However, there are always more depending on how many compensatory picks are awarded, which is why Brock Purdy was No. 262 when he became Mr. Irrelevant as the final person taken last year.

This year, 319 prospects were invited to attend the combine, which will take place in Indianapolis, Feb. 28-March 6. At least 50 won't be selected.

Alabama had 13 former players on the list, the most of any school:

Will Anderson Jr., LB
Jordan Battle, DB
Brian Branch, DB
DJ Dale, DL
Emil Ekiyor Jr., OL
Jahmyr Gibbs, RB
DeMarcco Hellams, DB
Cameron Latu, TE
Eli Ricks, DB
Tyler Steen, OL
Henry To'oTo'o, LB
Bryce Young, QB
Byron Young, DL

The question moving forward will be how many of them will go through drills and workouts, or do anything more than interview with teams.

One has to think we probably won't see Anderson or Bryce Young do anything on the field as they're already widely considered to be top-five selections, and probably can't increase their draft stock any more.

It might be tough for any of the Crimson Tide players to help their chances.

One of the advantages of playing for Alabama and Saban is exposure, as the team is always in the spotlight and the coach has an open-door policy when it comes to the NFL.

This was re-affirmed during last week's Senior Bowl, where everyone knows the practices with an NFL coaching staff is a lot more more important than the game. Just six of the 13 players invited to the combine were in Mobile, and no one in a high-profile position.

That's primarily why there was so little news about the Crimson Tide players. There's only so much one can say about run-stuffing defensive linemen or a safety who — and this will sound harsh but that's not the intention — will probably be the third at the position selected from Alabama.

Brian Branch, who some are calling a first-round talent, and Jordan Battle will be players to watch through the rest of the draft process. Factor in cornerback Eli Ricks, and the final day of the combine when defensive backs go through drills will be the most telling for this year's Crimson Tide draft class.

Tight end Cameron Latu was someone who hoped to turn heads at the Senior Bowl and show that he's better than some of the mid-round prospects, or even Luke Musgrave of Oregon State. He might have done that, but the player who really stepped up was Payne Durham of Purdue, who was able to successfully show different facets to his game.

Latu did fine, but he's still probably a mid-round projection with most teams.

So who fared the best among the Alabama players?

That's easy, the offensive linemen, Tyler Steen and Emil Ekiyor Jr., who both demonstrated an important quality for players who may not project to quickly challenge for starting jobs: versatility.

Ekiyor showed that he can play center in addition to guard. That'll keep him on a lot of draft boards, especially since he's so technically solid.

For Steen, though, who doesn't have ideal size or strength to play tackle at the next level, showing he can play other positions was absolutely crucial. He did that, which could help make him a day two selection (second or third round).

Our colleagues at NFL Draft Bible said of Steen: "A cerebral player who eyes shifts and stunts, Steen moves extremely well but lacks upper body strength. However, his lower body strength and bend make up for the difference, as he can blow defenders off the line—he’s a strong candidate to be the second ‘guard’ off the board."

Consequently Steen was the big winner of the Crimson Tide group in Mobile, and one of the few Alabama draft prospects riding a lot of momentum heading into Indianapolis.

Alabama Measurements at Senior Bowl

Pos., Name, Height, Weight, Hand, Arm, Wing

S DeMarcco Hellams, Alabama: 6005 | 213 | 838 | 3148 | 7448

TE Cameron Latu, Alabama: 6042 | 248 | 948 | 3200 | 7928

OT Tyler Steen, Alabama: 6054 | 325 | 1068 | 3300 | 8048

iOL Emil Ekiyor Jr., Alabama: 6022 | 317 | 938 | 3338 | 8218

iDL DJ Dale, Alabama: 6010 | 302 | 978 | 3248 | 7958

iDL Byron Young, Alabama: 6033 | 297 | 1048 | 3400 | 8158

Give DeVonta Smith His Due

If the Kansas City Chiefs overlook DeVonta Smith the way that a lot of fans do, the former Alabama wide receiver might have five touchdown catches in Super Bowl LVII ...

... and run in another.

Ok, the chances of that are none, as the Chiefs are fully aware of how good of a player Smith has been for the Philadelphia Eagles. During the regular season he had 95 catches for 1,196 yards. Even with A.J. Brown on the roster, the receptions were the second most by a player during a single season in franchise history, and he set the record for the most catches (159) by a Philadelphia player over his first two seasons.

Yet a lot of people still don't give him his due. The same is true of his quarterback as well, making them maybe the most underrated passing combination in the NFL even though the Eagles are in the Super Bowl.

So far in the postseason, Smith has been Philadelphia’s top receiver in production, not Brown.

He leads the team in receiving yards, yards per catch, first downs and he’s tied for first in receiving touchdowns. Yet you look at Smith's prop expectations for the Super Bowl and they're below Brown’s.

Granted, Brown is a very good player, but it's time everyone to stop questioning his 6-foot-1, 170-pound size when all he does is succeed. Crimson Tide Fans may know better than anyone how well Smith can play in a big game.

Remember the 2020 title run? Smith had 12 catches for 215 yards and three touchdowns in the national championship game against Ohio State and then didn't play a good part of the second half. He had seven catches for 130 yards and three touchdowns against Notre Dame in the CFP semifinal, and 15 catches for 184 yards and two scores in the SEC Championship Game.

That's 34 catches for 529 yards and eight touchdowns in those three postseason games alone, on top of performances like eight catches for 231 yards and three touchdowns against LSU.

"He's big-game ready. He's built for this," Mark Ingram II, another Heisman Trophy winner from Alabama, told NFL Total Access this week.

Should the Eagles win on Sunday, Smith will become just the fourth player in football history to have pulled off a unique triple crown: winning the Heisman Trophy, a collegiate national championship, and a Super Bowl championship.

He'll only be 24 as well.

Smith won two national titles at Alabama (2017 and 2020), and won the Heisman Trophy in 2020 when he caught 117 passes for 1,856 yards and 23 touchdowns.

The others to do it are Charles Woodson, Marcus Allen, and Tony Dorsett.

Reggie Bush can claim it as well, but his Heisman was vacated when the NCAA penalized the USC for improper benefits received by Bush while with the Trojans, meaning that he should have been ineligible when he won the award.

Asked if he feels any differences between playing for the championship of the NFL versus college, Smith said this week: “The only difference is, in college, I kind of knew I was going to be back next year. Here it’s different. You don’t get this opportunity that many times.”

It sounds like he's ready to try and make the most of the opportunity.

From one Bama boy to another: @DeVontaSmith_6 is built for this moment 😤@markingramII | @AlabamaFTBL pic.twitter.com/nJe56I1m5V
— NFL Total Access (@NFLTotalAccess) February 8, 2023

Alabama's Updated Bracket Projections

Alabama basketball only has seven regular-season games remaining, and even if it stumbles and gets swept at Auburn and Tennessee over the next fews days it would still be at least tied for the lead in the Southeastern Conference.

The Crimson Tide is 11-0 in SEC play for the second time in program history (in 1955-56 it finished with a 14-0 record). The 21-3 overall record matches the program’s best-ever record through 24 games, and first since the 1975-76 season.

But the real question is whether the Crimson Tide can secure its first No. 1 seeding in the NCAA Tournament.

Sports Illustrated’s most recent view of the field has Alabama as the top team in the Midwest Regional, which seems to be the consensus projection heading into this weekend.

The NCAA's latest NET rankings have the Crimson Tide at No. 2 overall, behind Houston, which is also how KenPom has it, although with UCLA at No. 3.

As for the SEC Tournament, which will be played at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville from March 8-12, Texas A&M is playing its way into a top-four seeding, and Arkansas working its way up the standings.

Here's how the bracket is on target to look:

Projected SEC Tournament Pairings

March 8

Game 1: No. 12 seed vs. No. 13 seed; Ole Miss vs. LSU
Game 2: No. 11 seed vs. No. 14 seed; Georgia vs. South Carolina

March 9

Game 3: No. 9 seed vs. No. 8 seed; Mississippi State vs. Missouri
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. No. 5 seed; Auburn
Game 5: No. 10 seed vs. No. 7 seed; Vanderbilt vs. Arkansas
Game 6: Winner Game 2 vs. No. 6 seed; Florida

March 10

Game 7: Winner Game 3 vs. No. 1 seed; Alabama
Game 8: Winner Game 4 vs. No. 4 seed; Kentucky
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. No. 2 seed; Tennessee
Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. No. 3 seed; Texas A&M

March 11

Semifinals

March 12

Championship

5 Things That Turned My Head This Week

• We really need a nickname for the room of analysts for Alabama football, something like "The Bullpen," although Saban has more guys in there than a Major League Baseball team has relievers. Although there's been little turnover on the coaching staff outside of the coordinators this offseason, the same cant be said of the analysts (although that's pretty normal). Already on the roster for 2023 season are former Crimson Tide walk-on Jake Long, and Max Bullough, who was promoted from graduate assistant. The departures, so far, include Dave Huxtable (Atlanta Falcons), Todd Grantham (New Orleans Saints), Alex Mortensen (offensive coordinator UAB), Cornelius Williams (wide receivers coach, New Mexico) and Will Lawing (New England Patriots, following Bill O'Brien). The rest of the room includes Dean Altobelli, Bert Biffani, George Banko, Nick Cochran, Zach Mettenberger, Nick McGriff, Derek Dooley, Jamey Mosley and Ryan Finck.

• Kudos to Josh Jacobs being the first recipient of the Jim Brown Award, which goes to the NFL's rushing leader each season. The announcement of the new honor was one of those things that makes you wonder, "Why didn't they have that before?" Jacobs called it a "true honor" in a statement. "Jim's excellence on the football field was unparalleled and his role as a leader off the field showed his unwavering strength and commitment to the community. Jim's impact can be felt today and his legacy continues through everyone that strives to make a difference. I am beyond proud to receive an award named for such a great man."

• Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie saying that Jalen Hurts has nothing to prove may have been one of the few times anyone's said that about the quarterback, at least publicly. Here's how good he's been, Hurts is just the third quarterback ever with 3,500-plus passing yards (3,701), 20-plus touchdown passes (22) and 10 or more rushing touchdowns (13) in single season. He's also the first quarterback to have 10-plus rushing touchdowns in consecutive seasons.

• Here's a good example of how statistics don't tell the story until you put them together. Hurts has 15 rushing touchdowns the most in a single season by a quarterback in NFL history – and Eagles running back Miles Sanders has 13. They're the first teammate duo each with at least 13 rushing touchdowns in a single season in NFL history, including the postseason. Meanwhile, wide receivers A.J. Brown (88 receptions for 1,496 yards) and Smith (95 receptions for 1,196 yards) became the first duo in Philadelphia franchise history with at least 1,000 receiving yards during a regular season. They could join the 2006 Colt (Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne as the only teams with two players each with at least 80 receptions and 1,000 receiving yards in the regular season and win the Super Bowl in the same year. That kind of balance, which requires some serious unselfishness and buy-in, is unheard of in the NFL.

• Former offensive coordinator Mike Locksley's supposed outrage over Nick Saban's comments about telling Hurts to transfer to Oklahoma instead of Maryland or Miami were surprising because it wasn't anything new. The Sooners were poised to make a playoff run and just need a quarterback. "We had a conversation. [Hurts] wanted to graduate from Alabama, so he wasn't going to transfer until he graduated," Saban said. "I said 'You need to work on becoming a better passer. You can't just make plays with your feet. So this whole season, I want you to focus in practice on reading coverages, understanding the passing game better, and being able to read and dissect what you need to do quickly'... And his diligence in doing that on a daily basis—he wouldn't take off in practice, he made himself stand in the pocket and learn how to do that." The guess here is that what Locksley really took exception to was Saban saying "They got the best coach to develop you as a quarterback," meaning Lincoln Riley. Locksley still did well by Alabama, though, as Taulia Tagovailoa ended up at Maryland and has set numerous schools records.

• Bonus: Here's what I really want to know: If the Eagles win the Super Bowl how will Landon Dickerson celebrate?