Crimson Tide Roll Call: October 23, 2019

Your daily briefing on what's going on with Alabama athletics

Today is … National Mole Day. It’s not for the animal, but recognizes a special number in chemistry. Avagadro’s number is approximately 6.02×10^23. Hence, defining the number of particles (atoms or molecules) in one mole of substance.

Today’s Crimson Tide schedule

No games scheduled

Crimson Tide results

No games scheduled

Did you notice?

• For anything and everything one can speculate about Tua Tagovailoa’s ankle surgery and recovery from afar:

My expert resource on sports injuries and rehab says Tua’s return for LSU game seems very likely, given @AlabamaFTBL elite medical staff, Tua’s “Injury memory” and strong will. Posted 6 minute vid on his surgery and recovery with @MartyJaramillo https://t.co/pEWHrfdro5

— Chris Fowler (@cbfowler) October 22, 2019

• Clemson’s Dabo Swinney took over the top spot in the annual coaches salary database compiled by USA Today. Swinney made $9.3 million in total pay, surpassing Nick Saban at $8.85 million. Swinney agreed to a 10-year, $93 million contract extension in April. Saban topped the list last year, when he signed an eight-year, $74.4 million extension through 2025. They were followed by Michigan's Jim Harbaugh ($7.504 million), Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher ($7.5 million) and Georgia's Kirby Smart ($6.87 million).

• Tell us something we don’t know …

#Raiders TE Darren Waller, on rookie RB Josh Jacobs: “That dude is incredible. With his energy out there, the way he’s running the ball, it’s like, OK, I’ve got to match that...I’m trying to make plays with him...let him be featured because that dude is the real deal.”

— Paul Gutierrez (@PGutierrezESPN) October 20, 2019

• Alabama's offensive line was one of 24 named to the Joe Moore Award mid-season honor roll. The selection committee was quoted as saying: This group has overcome multiple new faces in new places and grown each week. The physicality seems to be a part of who they are.. Don’t let the numbers fool you with the execution of this group. RT brings it.”

• The track team landed another commitment:

Charlotte Country Day star Sophie Spada commits to the University of Alabama! pic.twitter.com/NHcHCi9WaL

— MileSplit Carolinas (@MSCarolinas_) October 23, 2019

• The Carolina Panthers promoted wide receiver DeAndrew White from the practice squad.

• A day after being named a semifinalist for the Thorpe Award for best defensive back, junior safety Xavier McKinney was added to the Chuck Bednarik Award watch list by the Maxwell Football Club. Through seven games he has a team-high 53 tackles, which ranks sixth in the SEC.

• Cross country runner Noel Rotich was named the Southeastern Conference Men’s Freshman of the Week for placing 11 out of 240 participants with a time of 24:22.1 at the Princeton Invitational in his season debut.

• We’re not going to wait for Throwback Thursday for this one …

Bear Bryant was such a giant that he even inspired his opponents. pic.twitter.com/xhPp2KaDrU

— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) October 22, 2019

• ESPN’s broadcast of Tennessee at Alabama had 4,248,000 viewers, the second most-watched game of the week across all networks, trailing only ABC’s SNF. Birmingham was the top market, earning a 41.8 local rating, followed by Knoxville at 26.6. However, so far the most watched game of the season was Notre Dame at Georgia on CBS, which had 9.35 million viewers.

• ESPN reported that the NCAA placed South Carolina's football program on probation for one year after reaching a negotiated resolution agreement to close an investigation into impermissible off-campus contact between a Gamecocks assistant coach and a recruit in 2018. The coach was Lance Thompson, who now works as Florida Atlantic's recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach under Lane Kiffin.

• An interesting note regarding Julio Jones:

Per sources:

Julio Jones, in the locker room following the loss to the Rams, raised his hand while HC Dan Quinn was addressing the team, asked to talk and then gave an emotional speech:

"This man has done everything for us.. it's on us.. it's not on Qhttps://t.co/boYmxI2AXH pic.twitter.com/L8nT0wMN5H

— Zach Klein (@ZachKleinWSB) October 22, 2019

• O.J. Howard to the Tampa Bay Times on reports that the New England Patriots wanted to trade for him but were turned down: "It's no secret I feel like I have a great talent, what I can do, mismatch, playing the tight end position. A lot of teams know that ... It's awesome ... I wasn't surprised at all.”

• We’ll leave you with this …

Imagine being sentenced to death for two murders that you did not commit. This Friday, Adapted Athletics will be hosting Anthony Ray Hinton at Stran-Hardin Arena to tell us his shocking story. This event is open to all students! pic.twitter.com/2z10VssHrw

— UA Adapted Athletics (@alabamaadapted) October 22, 2019

On this date in Crimson Tide history:

October 23, 1926: Reigning national and Southern Conference champion Alabama kept its hopes of repeating alive with a 2-0 victory over Sewanee at Rickwood Field in Birmingham. The only points scored were on a blocked punt, with the ball slipping out of the hands of lineman Sherlock Holmes and rolling through the end zone for the safety. A record crowd of 12,000 was on hand for the game. – Bryant Museum

Crimson Tide quote of the day:

"Our focus this week was to try to distinguish ourselves by playing to a higher standard, and I challenged everybody to do that and I feel like in the second half we did that.” – Nick Saban after defeating Tennessee, and his former assistant coach Derek Dooley, on this date in 2010, 41-10.