Happy Monday, everyone. Alabama added two national titles to the ledger this weekend, one each in men’s and women’s track and field.
After men’s runner Samuel Ogazi won a title Friday night, another member of the Alabama Crimson Tide track and field team has won a national championship.
AdvertisementThat national title winning runner is Doris Lemngole, who captured a championship yet again Saturday night in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase. Lemngole joins Ogazi as outdoor national champions from Alabama in 2025, as the men’s star won it all in the 400-meter.
#ChampionshipSchool
Chase Goodbread has a great column this morning on the legendary Eddie Conyers.
“Sometimes, Eddie would give it back to him,” Allen said. “He was one of a very few people who would even come close to doing that.”
Saban would famously chide Conyers for never calling penalties on the UA offense in practice.
“Eddie!!! Have you ever called a penalty on the offense!?”
“Why, yes, coach. I believe it was seven years ago.”
Then there was the day Conyers told the coach he could beat him in a round of golf.
Saban: “OK, Eddie, we’re going to go to NorthRiver and play for $1,000 a hole.”
Conyers: “Oh, come on, coach. I thought you were talking about playing for real money.”
That man is a Tuscaloosa icon.
The preseason pecking order in the SEC is far from a consensus.
Georgia
Athlon: No. 4
Lindy’s: No. 9
Outlook: Athlon is significantly higher on Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs than Lindy’s which ranked UGA one spot behind the Crimson Tide. Georgia’s season could rest on the arm of Gunnar Stockton, who takes over for the departed Carson Beck, after starting in the Sugar Bowl when his predecessor was injured.
Both publications are bullish on Texas and LSU, mainly because Arch Manning and Garrett Nussmeier are expected to be the two best QBs in the league. We shall see.
Parker Brailsford’s return probably hasn’t gotten enough coverage this offseason, but it was a massive development.
Parker Brailsford
Athlon: Second team
Lindy’s: Second team
What to know: Brailsford improved the center position at Alabama after moving over from Washington alongside DeBoer. He had a choice as to whether he would return for 2025 or try his luck in the NFL Draft, but quickly opted to come back, and will be a key part of the Crimson Tide’s veteran offensive line in DeBoer’s second season.
He’s obviously not the biggest, but he’s one of the best technicians in the country, particularly in pass pro.
One could even say that he reminds of one Barrett Jones at the position.
Following the departure of starting left tackle James Carpenter, Jones moved to that position in 2011. All he did that year was again earn All-SEC recognition, while also being named a unanimous All-American and receiving three national awards — the Outland Trophy (top interior lineman), the Jim Parker Trophy (top offensive lineman) and the Wuerffel Trophy (community service) — as well as the SEC’s Jacobs Blocking Trophy.
Alabama won another national championship in 2011, but Jones was on the move again the following year. He took over at center and led the Crimson Tide to its third national title in four years, again taking home first-team All-SEC and All-America honors as well as the Rimington Trophy as the country’s top center and the William V. Campbell Trophy as the nation’s top scholar-athlete.
Last, Emilee Smarr writes about another way that Nate Oats borrowed from the NBA.
Throughout Alabama’s Elite Eight run, members of the team mentioned “sharks” and “seals” in passing. However, it never quite caught fire the way “mudita” did from the top of the year. Oats indirectly mentioned the Killer Whale offense after Alabama’s 102-97 defeat of Kentucky at Rupp Arena in January.
“Seals are just kind of sitting there. Sitting ducks,” Oats said, attributing the victory to how UA was aware of the mismatches and attacked them appropriately.
Alabama kept handing it off to the four-man — then Grant Nelson or Mouhamed Dioubate, who has since transferred to Kentucky — and was able to go downhill and get to the elbow.
“They’re trying to get their matchups, and we’re just moving the guys around to where we need to get them when they switched it on the inbounder,” Oats said. “When I had them go out of box play, we kept going at some of the seals, if you will.”
May we have a team full of sharks this season.
That’s about it for today. Have a great week.
Roll Tide.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
