All Things CW: A Big Thank You to Phil Steele, Athlon and Lindy's

There are few things in college football that just about everyone can agree upon, but one of them is Phil Steele's preseason preview magazine.

Overall, we're on another downswing when it comes to hope. Pessimism towards the likelihood of a college football season in 2020 is growing. With coronavirus protocols and workable solutions in the works and continually changing there's a lot left unanswered as no one knows what the next couple of weeks, never mind the fall, will bring.

Regardless, despite the obvious significant financial risks, Steele, along with Athlon and Lindy's, decided to go ahead with the usual preseason publications. For that, we're thankful if for no other reason than the fun of having/reading them and the temporary distractions they provide.

We might not have a season. SEC Media Days didn't happen. Every day the emotional roller coaster continues.

But here's something tangible, something we can hold and enjoy.

Steele's 2020 edition, which is just out, is his 26th. We won't give away too much, but yes, he does predict Alabama will return to the College Football Playoff.

Historical offensive line class

Alabama's foundation-laying additions on the offensive line continue to be the buzz of college football as the Crimson Tide is putting together the best collective group anyone's seen in years.

SI All-American's just-released top-10 list of offensive tackles gives a good idea of just how good.

Landing the top player is obviously a huge goal for every team, but this year Alabama has landed commitments from the top two players.

In a deep year at the offensive tackle position, the Crimson Tide scored Tommy Brockermeyer (6-foot-6, 280 pounds from All Saints Episcopal in Fort Worth, Texas, and JC Latham (6-6, 305, IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.), and is still looking to add.

Brockermeyer is among the elite blue-chip prospects in this class, regardless of position, and the best thing about Latham is "his ceiling. Latham is blessed with rare movement skills for a big man and his game is still developing."

Earlier this week the top-10 list for interior linemen had Brockermeyer's brother James at No. 3 and the nation's best center. That means Alabama has the nation's best player prospect at three of the positions, plus Terrence Ferguson, who looks like could be an outstanding pulling guard.

That's something for Alabama fans to get really excited about.

Athletes are demanding to be heard

In an exclusive report by Aaron Rose, Sports Illustrated obtained a copy of a letter in which five student-athlete organizations asked Congress to hear their voices during names, image, and likeness hearings.

Specifically, after commissioners from the Power 5 conferences asked for legislature to be passed creating a uniform, national standards for all universities to follow, the students asked to be included during Senate Judiciary Committee meetings chaired by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

The student organizations were Athletes for No More Names, College Athletes Unity, Athletes Igniting Action, the Coalition for African Diaspora Student-Athletes, and Athletes For Change joined together.

This is something to keep an eye on, especially with athletes being asked to try and play during the coronavirus pandemic. Should the request be denied, calls for athletes to unionize will quickly grow. You may have missed it, but on Tuesday the players in the the NBA's G League voted to form a union.

Did you notice?

• Here’s another dispatch from Chris Mannix inside the NBA bubble.

• No MLB manager is better suited for the oddity of a 60-game season than the Brewers’ Craig Counsell.

• Toledo coach Jason Candle is the first known positive COVID-19 case among FBS head coaches: buff.ly/30BEpDs

On the lighter side ...

• The University of Texas wants to limit its football stadium to 50 percent capacity (about 50,000 fans) for games this fall.

• The NFL is reportedly going to let players honor victims of police brutality with helmet decals.

• T.O. is fast, but he’s not *that* fast. ... right?

• The NBA's Jimmy Butler, on the noise complaint about dribbling in his room during quarantine, "To know that my work is being noticed, I guess is not such a bad thing."

• Check out what the Rockies tweeted and then deleted:

RIP to the best tweet atRockies ever did pic.twitter.com/ZOgkWevNTT
— tgk.bsky.social (@TangoGolfKilo) July 22, 2020

Tide-bits

If you haven't seen Alabama's social-media tour of its new sports science center, check it out:

Join us this week as we start an in-depth series on Alabama's new Sports Science Center & Athletic Training Facility, led by @makennahsdad, @gsell_jeremy, & @GingerGilmoreC1.#BamaFactor #RollTide pic.twitter.com/pyNJfxE1Wz
— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) July 21, 2020

Of course, there's also the tour of the new locker room as well on @AlabamaFTBL ...

Speaking of Alabama football's Twitter account, the “In this moment in history, we can’t be silent” post written by Alex Leatherwood is still pinned to the top.

Finally, yes, the downtown construction on Lurleen Wallace Blvd. is FINALLY finished, leaving numerous empty storefronts in its wake. However, when driving around today I came across another issue, and I don't mean the ridiculously long line at the new Foosackly's on 15th. You might remember in a recent Postcard from Tuscaloosa I joked that there were detours upon detours off of Bryant Drive. Well, they added another one. So the detour, and I kid you not was this:

Those are train tracks if you can't tell.

Between that and the messed up traffic on Rice Mine Road due to a poorly-timed project we're just going to call this a rough day for the Tuscaloosa DOT.

Christopher Walsh's All Things CW will regularly appear on BamaCentral.