Jumbo Package: Alabama Football looks to keep getting bigger

Tom Luginbill seems to be jumping onboard the Ty Simpson train

I do find it kind of funny that he cites Carson Beck as an example of a guy who had opportunities to leave and didn’t…. Consider Beck is now in Miami. Still, it’s a good talking point. Many QBs in similar situations likely would have left their team after that South Florida game in 2023. Instead, Ty has stuck around for another two years as a the backup and become entrenched in the team and culture. Obviously, he’ll have to prove that out on the field, but to this point, he’s put together all the building blocks.

Meanwhile, check out Jaeden Roberts:

Alabama’s right guard apparently broke the school record by squatting 900 pounds. His mom tagged DJ Fluker in the tweet, so I’m guessing Fluke was the prior record holder.

Roberts has flashed talent for a couple of seasons now, but hasn’t been able to put together a consistently healthy campaign. If he can combine his talent and pure athleticism/strength with some consistency, he can really become a force for the Tide. IF.

While Alabama’s successful offseason has turned a lot of heads, the Crimson Tide isn’t embracing the ultimate goal of winning the National Championship just yet.

“Well, with a championship mindset, you don’t just be a champion on Saturday, you’ve got to be a champion every day,” Alabama defensive lineman Tim Keenan III said at SEC Media Days. “But first, before you can be champion, you have to learn how to win and you have got to know what it takes to be a champion. So right now, we’ve got our head down, and we’re going 1-0, we’ve got to execute the plan and just got to keep the main thing the main thing.”

For a couple of season’s now, it’s bugged me how many Alabama players keep talking about a standard, and then in the next breath say that the standard is winning the championship. Maybe I’m just Sabanized, but that was never the standard – it was that every person is at their absolute best every moment.

I think that the more the players worried about not living up to the championship, it affected the collectively mentality of the team. Hopefully Keenan’s words here can help the team stick to that concept.

Coming out of his official visit to Tuscaloosa, Kaawa had the Tide as his top school.

“I’d say it would be Alabama because I know how the development is there,” Kaawa told Rivals’ Steve Wiltfong. “I know how they put players in the NFL.”

… The coaches,” he said of what else stood out. “I love Coach (Ryan) Grubb over there. I love Coach (Nick) Sheridan. They make you feel like you’re a family there.

As a junior, he completed 64 percent of his passes for 2,890 yards and 28 touchdowns to just nine interceptions. He added another 318 rushing yards and four more scores.

Kaawa has been predicted to commit to Alabama today, which will give the Tide two QBs in their recruiting class (assuming it happens). Both are big-bodied, strong-armed passers, which seems to be an indication of what Kalen Deboer is wanting to recruit. Couple that with a whole bunch of tall wide receivers and tall defensive backs, and it seems the coach wants this team BIG. It’ll be interesting to see how the team looks in about 1-2 more years.

Roll Tide!