Jumbo Package: Why Reggie Ragland says Bama is “all the way back”

Happy Tuesday, everyone. We will be short and sweet today. You probably heard that Eli Ricks was arrested.

Alabama newcomer and former All-American cornerback Eli Ricks was booked on charges of speeding, driving without insurance and possession of marijuana Sunday evening in Mississippi.

Ricks, who transferred to Alabama from LSU this offseason, was arrested by Mississippi Highway Patrol and booked at 5:15 p.m.

This won’t exactly endear him to Saban, but it’s far from the worst offense we’ve seen in the past decade. Look for some, uh, education to come at pracitice.

Reggie Ragland has the right perspective.

As they say, it’s tough to win a title with a team full of choir boys. You have to have a couple of unsavory sorts in there somewhere.

Barrett Sallee is very high on Jahmyr Gibbs.

Running back Jahmyr Gibbs will lead the nation in rushing: OK, leading the nation might be a bit aggressive since the Crimson Tide is a pass-happy offense under QB Bryce Young. In the spring game, however, Gibbs looked the part. He had 100 yards on nine carries, which included a 75-yard touchdown run in the second half. Perhaps more important is the fact that he did so behind an offensive line that didn’t exactly look like it had fixed its issues from last season. Gibbs was one of the most highly touted transfer players in the country, and he landed in the perfect spot to shine.

Check out this disingenuous take from a USC homer about the Addison situation.

Bruh. Addison was never in the portal. That’s the whole point.

Here are a couple more takes on NIL and one time transfers. You can fight it out amongst yourselves.

“I spent so much time early on looking into illegalities, and I was passionate about it,” Finebaum said. “I believed college football should be run honestly. I don’t believe that anymore. I don’t believe it is an honest game. I want to vomit every time I hear an administrator talk about student-athletes because that’s not what they are anymore.”

It is not worth preserving the infrastructure of an enterprise that denied thousands of athletes, a growing majority of them Black, life-changing money over decades so that universities could build a bigger Jumbotron or install cryotherapy chambers and $10,000 lockers. Two years ago, America was filled with fervor to right the wrongs of America’s past and present and support the Black community in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.

Black squares on Instagram only give the people who post them a false sense of satisfaction for doing the bare minimum. How can America take a tangible step toward equality? We’re watching it happen.

Even the lowly Big 12 has told Mark Emmert to piss off.

Any recommendation from the committee would have to be approved by the NCAA Council. One Big 12 source believes that process will be completed by the middle of May.

However, given the fluidity of the NCAA at the moment, commissioner Bob Bowlsby questioned whether the association should be involved at all.

“I’m not sure why the NCAA has to be involved in that anyway,” Bowlsby said. “The conferences can capably decide how they want to conduct their competition.”

Hilarious.

Last, there have been a few questions both on and off line about comment moderation in Coral. Thus far, it really hasn’t been too bad. Fewer than ten comments have been flagged for moderation and most of those were clearly attempts to test the filter on the first day. While none of us are huge fans of having a naughty word list to begin with, or at least one that includes some of the middle school humor words that are on this one, it really hasn’t been the censor many feared it would. Also, we have full override power and have put most of the flagged comments back.

That’s about it for now. Have a great day.

Roll Tide.