Latest Mock Draft has Alabama's Bryce Young Back Out Front: All Things CW

The Nick Saban quotes of the week, Derrick Henry is still getting his yards despite stacking defenses, and what preseason indicators say about Alabama basketball.

Author:
Christopher Walsh
Publish date:
Nov 11, 2022 12:00 PM EST

In this story:

Alabama Crimson Tide

The All Things CW notes column by Christopher Walsh will appear in five parts this week, one each day as the Alabama Crimson Tide prepares to visit Ole Miss.

This is ...

Take 5

Kevin Hanson of Sports Illustrated published his 2023 NFL Mock Draft 2.0, and to the surprise of no one had three quarterbacks in the top five picks, with Alabama Crimson Tide linebacker Will Anderson Jr. also in the mix.

What stood out were two things, though:

1) He had Bryce Young listed first, and ...

2) Eight of his top nine players after Week 9 of the NFL season were from Alabama, Georgia or Ohio State.

It needs to be noted that Hanson's trying to guess which team will have the first-overall pick and who might be considered the best fit. So the current NFL standings come into play and are as big of a variable as anything else.

Here's what he wrote for the four Alabama players he has slated as on target to be first-round selections:

1. Houston Texans: Bryce Young, QB

"Following a better-than-expected rookie season in 2021 from Davis Mills, Houston’s front office wisely bypassed a relatively lackluster quarterback class to focus on other areas of concern in ’22. Even though the Texans remain in (the early parts of) rebuilding mode, they shouldn’t pass on Young if they end the season with the rights to the top pick, especially with Mills failing to show significant year-over-year improvement."

3. Las Vegas Raiders: Will Anderson Jr., edge

"Maxx Crosby is one of the league’s most disruptive edge rushers, but Chandler Jones will turn 33 years old in February and Clelin Ferrell, the fourth pick in 2019, will be a free agent next offseason. Anderson’s current production has dipped some (seven sacks and 13 tackles for loss) compared to last year’s dominant season (17.5 sacks and 34.5 TFLs), but he is a true difference-maker who is elite against both the pass and run. Not only is he likely to be the first non-quarterback drafted, but he’s the top overall prospect on my board."

30. Buffalo Bills: Brian Branch, S

"Jordan Poyer is scheduled to become a free agent after the 2022 season. Micah Hyde is out following season-ending neck surgery, but he’s scheduled to become a free agent after ’23. Both safeties are on the wrong side of 30. The Bills appreciate versatility in their safeties, and Branch has a versatile skill set that has allowed Nick Saban to use him in a variety of roles for the Crimson Tide."

31. Philadelphia Eagles: Jahmyr Gibbs, RB

"Despite his 200-pound frame, Gibbs is a talented runner due to his vision, burst and elusiveness, but he’s especially gifted as a receiver. The Georgia Tech transfer has 99 catches for 1,138 yards (11.5 per catch) and eight touchdowns over three collegiate seasons. Both Miles Sanders and Boston Scott are scheduled to become free agents after the season."

Note: All four would probably be good fits with those teams. The one who may be the best fit with his potential team is Gibbs.

Alabama has had a player selected first overall only once, Harry Gilmer in 1948, by the Washington Redskins (Joe Namath was the first overall pick of the 1965 AFL draft before the AFL-NFL merger). It's also the only time in Crimson Tide history that the Crimson Tide had multiple players picked in the top five with Lowell Tew going fourth to the Redskins, and Vaughn Macha fifth to the Boston Yanks.

Stacking D Not Stopping Derrick Henry

Derrick Henry's five straight 100-yard games is even more impressive considering that everyone know he's getting the ball, and defenses still can't shut him down.

Per NFL Research, Henry has 362 rushing yards this season against defenses loading the box (use eight or more players close enough to the line of scrimmage that they can directly impact a run).

That not only leads the league, but is nearly 100 yards more than any other team — never mind individual.

With Titans starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill sidelined last week, Henry saw eight-plus defenders in the box 53 percent of the time against the Chiefs, and 56 percent of the time the previous week against the Texans.

Henry carried a combined 49 times for 334 yards (6.8 yards per carry) and four touchdowns in those two games.

“We’ve been dealing with clogged boxes since I’ve been the tight ends coach (in 2019),” offensive coordinator Todd Downing said per All Titans,. “They know who Derrick is. We’re seeing the same defenses. It may be that they show it a little bit earlier or there’s a little bit more pressure (the last two weeks). But it’s been the same defenses we’ve been dealing with for four years.”

Nick Saban Quotes of the Week

All three quotes are from his radio show Thursday night:

• On being calmer on the sideline this week: “If you think me acting up on the sidelines and breaking headsets is gonna help us play better, I’ll sure as hell do it.”

• On the lay-calling being different: "Last year and this year, we’ve kind of gone more even to the drop-back passing, and that’s because of Bryce. But I think in the future, we’ll get back to more of the conventional spread, run the ball, have more balance, RPOs, that type of things. So what we’ve done now is to sort of fit what Bryce does best.”

• How to stop fans from storming the field: "Win. If we win, they don't do it. And they don't do it at other games, they only do it when they beat us. So if just win then we wouldn't have a problem, don't you think?"

Tide-Bits

• Alabama is favored by 12 points at Ole Miss per SI Sportsbook, and while Saban almost never loses two in a row, covering is another matter says SI's Pat Forde. Yet oddsmakers are still laying odds on the Crimson Tide's chances of winning the SEC championship. From BetOnline:

Georgia -400 (1/4)
LSU +350 (7/2)
Alabama +1400 (14/1)
Ole Miss +6600 (66/1)

• Ari Wasseran of the Athletic echoed some concerns we've made here about playoff expansion following Alabama at LSU: “Yes, that was a regular-season game. But it was essentially a playoff game, where the winner takes all. [...] Do we really want to tamper with the dramatic regular season this four-team field provides? To get all the benefits of expansion, you have to acknowledge that we’re taking away the magic from the big-time regular-season playoff games that already exist. … It is just odd that for all the cheering we get from everyone about how cool the expanded College Football Playoff is going to be, nobody is willing to stand up and talk about the cost of expansion: We’re handing out participation trophies to inferior teams and we’re watering down the regular season. And we aren’t even going to get new champions out of it. The same teams you’re bored of watching now are going to win the next version of the Playoff, too.”

• During his introductory press conference as the new athletic director at Auburn, John Cohen was asked about his mentors. His response got a bit derailed by a sudden reality: “[I] got to work with Jeremy Foley, one of the all-time greats. I got to work with Mitch Barnhart. Scott Stricklin is one of my closest friends. Greg Byrne is, gosh, am I allowed to say he is a really close friend?"

• Alabama could soon have another national championship venue within easy driving distance. It it's proposed $2.1 billion stadium is built by 2016, Nashville plans to bid on the national championship game when the next bid cycle opens.

• The Crimson Tide is one of seven schools (Arizona, Creighton, Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina and UCLA the others) to have a player named on the Bob Cousy, Julius Erving and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar awards watch lists this preseason. Of those teams, Alabama is ranked the lowest in the preseason poll at No. 20.

• SI's Preseason Bracketology has Alabama as the No. 6 seed in the South Region, facing UAB in the first round. The advancing team would face the winner of No. 3 Texas vs. No. 14 Colgate for a spot in the Sweet 16.