Finally, Nick Saban appoints his assistants

Nick Saban didn’t have to look hard for his assistants – and there was no real surprise when they were announced. Mike Locksley has been announced as offensive coordinator, replacing Brian Daboll who left to be OC for the Buffalo Bills after the school’s National Championship win over Georgia. Saban has appointed former Penn State wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator Josh Gattis as joint offensive-coordinator and wide receivers coach. Gattis has done incredibly well in his time at State College, and Alabama will be fine. Tosh Lupoi will be the school’s defensive coordinator, although Saban also hired UTSA assistant coach Pete Golding to be its co-DC and defensive line coach. Lupoi and Golding will replace Jeremy Pruitt, who

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The SEC produces a lot of NFL WRs and RBs, but why not QBs?

The SEC is going to continue a strong tradition of NFL wideouts come to the 2018 NFL Draft. Calvin Ridley (Alabama), and Christian Kirk (Texas A&M) are both expected to be first or second round picks in April, while it’s expected that there will be takers for DJ Chark (LSU), Antonio Callaway (Florida), JMon Moore (Missouri), Javon Wims (Georgia) and Robert Foster (Alabama). In 2019 the top wide receiver going is probably going to be Ole Miss’ AJ Brown, although Deebo Samuel (South Carolina), Tyrie Cleveland (Florida) and Terry Godwin (Georgia) could also create some noise if their 2018 seasons go as well as they are hoping for. In our opinion, Samuel was a Heisman contender before he got injured against

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Why can’t LSU compete for a National Championship?

Six seasons without competing for a National Championship or being remotely close to a SEC Championship for LSU fans. Offensive coordinator experiments haven’t worked out, quarterbacks are out, and Les Miles is out. For us, the major factor has been quarterbacking. Formerly a quarterback factory (Matty Mauck, Matt Flynn, Jamarcus Russell) LSU hasn’t had a good quarterback since the heydays of Matt Mauck, Matt Flynn and Jamarcus Russell. Jarrett Lee hardly set the world alight, Jordan Jefferson managed four years at LSU with a quarterback rating of 58.6 (that’s how bad the situation was), Zach Mettenberger had a cannon but continued to be injured, and Brandon Harris went from being part of Bruce Feldman’s book “The QB”, 2nd-ranked QB in

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Who are the SEC players to watch out for in 2018?

Regardless of what the pro-SEC fans say, a lot of stars left the conference in 2017. Just from the National Championship Game, Minkah Fitzpatrick (Alabama), and Roquan Smith (Georgia) are gone in their junior years, while Nick Chubb and Sony Michel (Georgia) departed after four years. The bigs are gone too, with ‘Big’ Bo Scarborough (Alabama) and Da’Ron Payne (Alabama) departing for NFL riches. But that’s not all. From Auburn Kerryon Johnson and Kam Pettway are off, while at LSU Derrius Guice, Arden Key, Kevin Tolliver and Donte Jackson leave. For Texas A&M, the most exciting player in college football – Christian Kirk – is going to take his returning talents to the pros. But despite the amount of heroes

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LSU’s Guice goes, Alabama loses 3 to draft, but big-time RB stays

Top Alabama running back Damien Harris has said that he will return to Tuscaloosa for his final year of eligibility, stemming a ‘tide’ of players leaving for the NFL Draft. Harris posted seasons of 1,000 yards in 2016 and 2017, and odds-on are that he will post another one in 2018 – although you can expect freshman sensation Najee Harris to take some of the load as well. Running back teammate Bo Scarbourgh – who ironically could have been the top player in his position at just about anywhere in the land had it not been for Nick Saban’s policy of keeping his backfield fresh in terms of touches – has declared for the NFL Draft. ‘Big Bo’ battled injuries

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Refs, Freshmen, and Saban: 20 Goods and bads from the National Championship Game

hat Some people in Tuscaloosa are still up and drunk. Some people in Athens have kicked their wall, door and probably the cat. But whatever you have done, Alabama is the 2018 National Champion. But not everyone on Alabama had a great day, and not everyone on Georgia had a bad one. So here are your good days/bad days from yesterday…. GOOD DAY Tua Tagovailoa: Came on in the second half in the place of an awful Jalen Hurts and immediately put UGA’s defense on its heels with some bullet throws. Threw the game-winning TD that looked identical to the one Todd Blackledge threw against Georgia in the 1982 National Championship Game. Sony Michel: His 98 yards on 14 carries (that’s

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Will Alabama or Georgia win the National Championship?

Suck it, Ohio State. Suck it, Clemson. Suck it, Oklahoma. The SEC’s got two teams playing in the National Championship game. That’s right – in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium fans all over America will tune into Monday to a game they most feared: An all-SEC Natty featuring Alabama and – to less an extent – Georgia. Listen to the pundits, and they are hoping and praying that it won’t be boring. They hope it won’t be a 9-6 slugfest. They pray that Brian Daboll or Jim Chaney will come up with some offensive invention to stop that happening. They are hoping for end-zone celebrations and while craziness. They had a lot of that in two previous National Championships – and are

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The National Championship Drinking Game

Right, it’s the National Championship Game, and to keep you a little focussed on the game, we’ve got a drinking game for you. You know the rules: If ESPN mentions this (through the sideline reporters, Chris Fowler or Kirk Herbstreit (we’ll let you off the College Gameday show if you’re too busy tailgatin’ the last day of the College Football season (sniff! sniff!)). We aren’t expecting y’all to drink a shot-a-mention, because we don’t want to pay your hospital bills. And make sure that your drink is alcohol, not water or soft drinks. So don’t cheat us on the fun. So…..if ESPN mentions:  —- This is an-all SEC National Championship Game — DRINK A SHOT —- That tickets went for

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SEC fans of the year: The Tennesseee fans who stayed around

In 2017, it was easy to be an Alabama fan. It was easy to be a Georgia fan. It was easy to be an Auburn fan. Hell, at the end of the season, it was easy to be a LSU fan and a Missouri fan. But it wasn’t an easy year for Tennessee fans. This inaugural award doesn’t go to the Tennessee fans who started up the #EmptyNeyland campaign, aimed to show fans’ chagrin at Butch Jones. It doesn’t go to the people who jumped on the ‘No Schiano’ bandwagon, like my former priest, who claimed not to care about Tennessee – or any college football for that matter – because he was ‘too busy with kids, but managed to

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College Football desperately needs an eight-team play-off

After penning an overly-long article about Alabama and Ohio State and why Ohio State didn’t get into the play-off but Alabama did, we at the SEC Football Blog also thought it was time to say what should be done about College Football. Why? Because if we’re honest, we’re getting bored of the arguments about who should be in, and who shouldn’t. In the past, we hated the BCS and its computers, we hated the pollsters, we hated everything that defined a National Champion.  We hated the BCS so much that we put in a play-off committee to decide things. Who then screwed things up. They seemed to be able to shoot themselves in the foot, be inconsistent, and seem like they

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