A Lot of Rumblings Being Felt Around College Football: All Things CW

The All Things CW notes column by Christopher Walsh will appear in five parts this week, one each day as the Alabama Crimson Tide enjoys a bye week.

This is ...

Take 5

It's been the kind of week in which the animals are restless, the birds are not singing and the water level unexpectedly changes.

For those who don't know, these are warning signs for an earthquake, and not to trivialize what a real one feels like or the very-real damage that often occurs, it sort of feels like one is coming in college football.

However, that's the thing about earthquakes, they vary in size and intensity, and one's never quite sure when they might occur.

Even in the Southeastern Conference there have been a lot of rumblings, the kind that make you think there's probably a lot more under the surface. We're not going to get into all the controversial news and updates coming out of Auburn, Tennessee and Texas A&M lately, but if you want to check them out:

Auburn: Bryan Harsin is telling players that want to redshirt that they must enter the transfer portal or quit the team

Tennessee: Tennessee football gets extension from NCAA in Jeremy Pruitt recruiting scandal (making a postseason ban for this season all but impossible).

Texas A&M: Multiple Aggies Freshmen Suspended Ahead of Ole Miss Matchup

Meanwhile, the changing landscape of college football, ranging from conference realignment to expansion of the College Football Playoff, has taken a back seat to the actual 2022 season being played.

The one thing that seems for certain is that the CFP format will go up to 12 teams as soon as all the details can be worked out. Among them, the problem of the top-seeded conference champion always being in the same bracket with the top-seeded non-conference champion in a straight bracket model is finally getting some attention.

Meanwhile, on the week that former running back LenDale White revealed that he once received $150,000 cash in a bag while at Southern California, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors voted unanimously to clarify how schools can be involved with the name, image and likeness activities of enrolled student-athletes on their campuses.

There wasn't too much that was new or surprising in the announced "guidance," but the NCAA made it clear that it won't allow for NIL deals to be used as recruiting inducements or pay-for-play or performance-based compensation.

You know, the things that Nick Saban was complaining about during the offseason.

"School staff members also cannot be employed by or have an ownership stake in an NIL entity,'' the NCAA said. "Schools also can request donors provide funds to collectives and other NIL entities, provided the schools do not request that those funds be directed to a specific sport or student-athlete."

This may be the organization giving schools a chance to redirect some of its efforts, and change how they've been directly involved with collectives.

The key will be what the NCAA might do to back it up.

“The new guidance may require institutions and key stakeholders to modify practices, and some disentanglement may be necessary,” Lynda Tealer, chairperson of the NIL Working Group and an executive assistant athletics director at the University of Florida, said.

It that respect, this was clearly a warning.

Wait, did all the dogs in the neighborhood suddenly stop barking? Maybe it's my imagination.

5 Things That Got Our Attention This Week

1) Per Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated, the NCAA Division I Council is reviewing proposals to re-classify volunteer coaching positions as full-time positions, and lift the pay restrictions on football graduate assistants. The volunteer coach status would have a huge impact in sports like baseball and softball, where the volunteer coach would become a fourth full-time, paid coach.

2) Six Star Pro Nutrition issued a statement regarding its NIL deal with Alabama wide receiver Jermaine Burton, who was in some hot water after smacking at least one Tennessee fan in the aftermath of the loss at Neyland Stadium:

“The athlete in question was compensated for a short-term promotion which ended in September — successfully performing the duties asked of him. This NIL deal has come and gone, as it was centered around getting players to log offline during the #BamaRush social media phenomenon. Not every NIL deal (despite the fact Jimbo Fisher has failed to buy a National Championship with them) is a blank check with an open timeline.”

3) Speaking of Neyland Stadium, Tennessee's Director of Sports Surface Management Darren Seybold had the responsibility of doing all the repair work from the postgame celebration. “I probably heard from 90 percent of the SEC guys," he told ESPN. "The goalposts coming down, you kind of expect it. So we already had a set ready to go. We've been bad for so long that we watched a lot of goalposts come down in the 12 years that I've been here from afar. You just kind of learn from everybody like, all right, man, this is what you're in for." Seybold and his staff repaired the field with an arsenal of lawn equipment, including aerators, fertilizers, mowers, blowers and Shop-Vacs to vacuum the grass for the broken glass from cigar tubes. “When you first see all the cigars you're like, what is all that? They got dropped, but then they got shredded. So we had all this tobacco laying everywhere. But between shoes and cigar tubes ... we couldn't get over the amount of clothes. OK, what'd you do, walk out of here nekkid?"

4) Another SEC school is flipping the student student for basketball due to how it looks on television, Florida. It's part of additional work coming to Stephen C. O’Connell Center, which could include a new roof that's "solar ready" in the near future at a $7M price tag. Alabama is planning to do something similar if and when it builds a new basketball arena.

5) There were five coaching changes in the FBS during the first month of this season, there were eight before Nov. 1 last season, but only one in 2020 and 2019.

The pressure just continues to build ...

AFCA Executive Director Todd Berry: "The transfer portal and NIL are having huge impacts. I don’t think any of our coaches are surprised about it because this is one of the things we’ve talked about that was likely to happen. Athletic directors are concerned that if they don’t make a move right now, then players will enter the portal because of frustrations with the coach or frustrations over not winning, whatever the case may be. So they have to do something early."

Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde noted some of the buyouts that coaches have in their contracts this year: $86 million for Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher, $72 million for Penn State's James Franklin, $43.5 million for Oklahoma's Brent Venables, $42 million for Iowa's Kirk Ferentz.

Tide-Bits

• Alabama soccer being the first SEC team since 2016 to finish the regular season with a perfect league record (10-0) is even more impressive when considering that the Crimson Tide has only had two winning seasons in league play since 1998.

• Here's hoping Nate Oats saying that he's hopeful the basketball team will be at full strength by December isn't just wishful thinking. The past couple of teams have had some bad luck in terms of offseason setbacks, and the SEC isn't getting any easier. The key player, of course, is point guard Jahvon Quinerly, who hurt his knee in the NCAA Tournament opener, but even so it'll probably take him a while to get acclimated to all the new faces around him.

• It's been a rough month for the Tagovailoa family. Tua's concussion situation made national news, but a lot of fans missed that Taulia, who is also a former Crimson Tide quarterback, was carted off the field two weeks ago during Maryland's game against Indiana. It turned out that he had re-aggravated a sprained MCL in his right knee that was originally suffered earlier this season, but he won't dress to face Northwester on Saturday. After setting numerous program records last season he's passed for 2,001 yards so far this season, with 13 touchdowns and five interceptions. Maryland is 6-2.

• The media inexplicably voted Alabama 10th in women's basketball at SEC media days. The coaches had the Crimson Tide fourth in their preseason predicted order of finish. Not only did the media completely miss the boat on this team, the coaches might have been a little too cautious as well. That's no exaggeration.

• Want to see Bryce Young's Heisman Trophy?

The @bryantmuseum is honored that the Young family chose to loan Bryce Young’s trophies to us. The family wishes to make the trophies available for the public as a thank you to the Alabama family. pic.twitter.com/A9qGTHSIcd
— bryantmuseum (@bryantmuseum) October 27, 2022

Did You Notice?

Kudos to the Missouri football team for honoring the victims of Monday’s St. Louis school shooting at its next game Saturday. “Just such a shame for us to continue to have to face these types of stories and issues,” Tigers coach Eliah Drinkwitze said via Mizzou Sports Talk. “For me, it’s not political at all. It’s about protecting the future of our country, and our children are our future. And we cannot continue to live like this. We just can’t. I talked to our staff and talked to my wife about it all the time. It’s not about who’s right. It’s about what’s right. And we need to get this right.”

• Bo Jackson Asked If Deion Sanders Would Be a Good Fit for Auburn

• Seven Potential College Football Playoff Spoilers

• The Good and Bad of an Expanded College Football Playoff

Christopher Walsh's notes column All Things CW appears every week on BamaCentral.

Take 5

5 Things That Got Our Attention This Week

Tide-Bits

Did You Notice?

See Also: