ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE FOOTBALL

University of Alabama football news, schedule, recruiting, stats & more

As the lengthy saga of Kevin Steele continues, it's a foregone conclusion that the Alabama head defensive coach will leave to become Clemson's defensive coordinator. Right now, we're just waiting on CU officials to finish a background check on Steele before it becomes official.

So, it's worth revisiting one important issue:

When Steele joins Dabo Swinney's staff, the UA athletics department is owed a buyout of $72,000 within 14 days of the move. That's 20 percent of Steele's salary of $360,000.

You know that we at The Rap Sheet love to follow some money. When Les Miles signed a contract worth $1,000 more per year than Nick Saban, we were the first to bring it to you. (Did I say first? I meant third, after ESPN.com and LSUBeat.com. Whatever).

This issue first came up here, when Ron Middleton left for Duke. And actually, because it's likely Saban will hire a position coach to replace Steele, it'll actually save the school some dough.

Continue reading "When Kevin Steele officially leaves Alabama's staff, Clemson will have to ante up..." »

Officials of the Senior Bowl released word today that staffs of the Cincinnati Bengals (North) and Jacksonville Jaguars (South) will be coaching this year's Jan. 24 game in Mobile.

That Jacksonville staff, of course, includes its quarterbacks coach: Former Alabama head coach Mike Shula.

Throw in the fact that departing Crimson Tide QB John Parker Wilson is one of four Tide players bound for the Senior Bowl, and that makes a very interesting angle to this year's event.

Wilson originally signed with Shula out of Hoover High and started every game of Alabama's 2006 season, which proved to be Shula's last in charge. He was fired, soon to be replaced by Nick Saban. Shula has spent the past two seasons with the Jags, where he has steadfastily refused to speak to the media about what happened at his alma mater.

First of all, if you're driving around Tuscaloosa today, attempting to get some stuff done, don't. It's a freakin' downpour. Ugh.

Second of all, two bits of information to pass along:

-- Alabama head defensive coach Kevin Steele spent his day in Clemson, hanging out with Tigers coach Dabo Swinney, getting a tour and all of that. That's being reported here, and I can vouch for that, considering I just got a text from someone who had seen Steele today.

As you know, Steele is taking Clemson's defensive coordinator job, though it's possible an announcement may not come until the end of the week. CU takes forever to do background checks.

-- Also, allow UA defensive line coach Bo Davis to jump off the carousel we let him jump on here. He's out of the running for a job on LSU's staff, according to coach Les Miles. The hatted one was asked by our buddy Glenn Guilbeau if Davis was still a candidate: "No, he is not," Miles told him.

So there you go...

To follow up on a column today by Gannett's fine Louisiana reporter Glenn Guilbeau (who you may remember from a previous appearance on the blog), which reported that LSU was interested in Alabama defensive line coach Bo Davis ...

LSU coach Les Miles told reporters today that Davis is no longer a candidate to join his coaching staff. There was reportedly initial interest from Miles, but the deal never came together, and the Tigers will go in another direction.

Be sure to check Guilbeau's Web site for more on the Tigers' coaching hires.

This is hardly surprising news by this point, but updating a reported story ...

Former Alabama defensive assistant Kevin Steele is indeed in Clemson today and has met with several Tigers players, according to TigerIllustrated.com, Clemson's site on the Rivals network.

The overall situation hasn't changed since last week, when the Press-Register reported that Steele had agreed to take over as Clemson's new defensive coordinator after the Sugar Bowl.

The only surprise is Clemson hasn't yet made an official announcement while the school completes its process of background checks (which were reportedly late to begin because of the recent holiday). But as we've said previously, barring a stunning last-minute change of heart, Steele is gone.

The big story of the spring is already set. Alabama's football team is preparing for the first genuine, wide-open quarterback competition since Nick Saban was hired two seasons ago.

The two main participants in the race to replace John Parker Wilson -- Greg McElroy and Star Jackson -- were good enough to discuss their thoughts on the immediate future with me after Friday night's Sugar Bowl. The result was this story in today's Press-Register.

(In Jackson's case, it was his first permitted interview since arriving at Alabama this past summer. True freshmen are off-limits to the media under Saban, but BCS bowl games require postgame locker rooms to be available to reporters, leaving freshmen available to talk.)

Among the highlights ...

- McElroy: "I'm ready to go. I'm taking my cleats home right now and getting ready to prepare this spring and prepare myself accordingly to lead this team and get us back to where we were this year."

- Jackson: "I'll get the opportunity. It's an open position, you know? I'll get the opportunity to work hard and maybe be a starter next year."

Football season will be officially over after Florida and Oklahoma play on Thursday, but Alabama has already reached that point. Sad, right? That means a lot of changes are going to take place.

No, not just on the coaching staff of coach Nick Saban. Players will leave before their eligibility expires, others will enroll to take their place and away we go. But it also means here on The Rap Sheet, it won't be all about football. Yes, there are other sports, too.

So you'll get some random blog entries every now and then. Or, like right now. Here is a bunch of random stuff you may or may not have wanted to know:

--I'm sure you saw the post last night about my conversation with Andre Smith's lawyer H. Lewis Gillis. Well, here is the complete story from the paper. It doesn't answer all the questions, but at least it's the other viewpoint.

-- Alabama basketball forward JaMychal Green was named the SEC's freshman of the week for his performance in his last two games. The Montgomery native had 12.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in two wins.

Continue reading "From lawyers to coaches to Green stuff..." »

Dear Utah Fans,

I appreciate you bombarding my in-box with reasons why I should vote Utah No. 1. However, I am not a voter in the Associated Press poll. I haven't been one since 2006. So, Mr. Dustin Birch, that explains why I didn't rank Utah in my last AP vote. The Utes were 8-5 in 2006, so I elected to pass.

Utah fans are campaigning for their team to be No. 1 in the AP poll, which doesn't have to choose the winner of the BCS championship game. Even if I had a vote, I doubt I would vote Utah No. 1 and let me explain why.

Continue reading "An open letter to Utah fans" »