All Things CW: There's Both Good and Bad with Transfer 'Mess' That Will Only Get Messier

You may have missed the announcement Wednesday evening that former Alabama walk-on wide receiver Joshua Lanier has decided to transfer and play at Jackson State.

By doing so he'll have played for Nick Saban and Deion Sanders.

At minimum, he'll has some amazing stories to tell for the rest of his life.

Lanier is the kind of player who epitomizes how the transfer system is supposed to work in college sports, even with the new NCAA rules. Having attended Tuscaloosa Academy, he first went to North Alabama before walking on to the Crimson Tide. Granted, he didn't have a scholarship (and we assume he's at least very close to a degree), but what he leaned in Tuscaloosa will be invaluable.

He redshirted one season, contributed to special teams in seven games last season and earned a national championship ring. This spring, he received one of the Bear Bryant Outstanding Non-Scholarship awards.

But at 5-11, 160 pounds, he's heading elsewhere to play a final season, and maybe even have a chance to start.

Good for him.

Alabama walk-on WR and Tuscaloosa Academy product Joshua Lanier is transferring to Deion Sanders’ Jackson State @LottoWoo pic.twitter.com/qpVKvlWlGC
— Jerell Rushin (@jerellrushin_) June 3, 2021

As for the rest of the NCAA transfer portal, there's thousands of athletes who have submitted their names in various sports, many of whom are drawing little or no interest.

It's why Connecticut women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma called the situation a "mess" last week.

"It was gonna be a mess from the beginning, and it's a mess now, and it's going to be a bigger mess each and every year. A lot of these kids are delusional. You know, they have so many voices in their ear."

The program that might be least affected in a negative way is Alabama football under Saban. Sure, the Crimson Tide will lose players, it already does on a regular basis. But the college sports world got a glimpse of how there's the potential for top programs to add star players from struggling teams when it landed linebacker Henry To'o To'o from Tennessee.

You can't blame To'o, especially after the Volunteers fired head coach Jeremy Pruitt. He gets to plays in a similar defensive system, could potentially contribute immediately if he gets cleared, and has a chance to only up his draft value.

Alabama has also added Ohio State wide receiver Jameson Williams and Troy punter Jack Martin.

Among those who have left include safety Brandon Turnage to Georgia, cornerback Ronald Williams to Michigan State, linebacker Ale Kaho to UCLA, linebacker Ben Davis to Texas, linebacker Kevin Harris to Georgia Tech, defensive tackle Ishmael Sopsher to Southern California, safety Eddie Smith to Illinois, and kicker Joseph Bulovas to Vanderbilt.

How many of them were expected to start? None.

The Crimson Tide's depth took a hit with their departures, however a lot of those spots will be filled by players in the last two outstanding recruiting classes.

On the flip side, the three players Alabama added could all compete to start or for regular playing time.

This is the new norm in college football, and the turnover will only rise under the revamped NCAA policy allowing athletes to transfer one time as an undergraduate without having to sit out a season. It begins with the with 2021-22 academic year.

There are legitimate concerns that programs will increasingly use scholarships on transfers, instead of on high school players. That teams won't schedule big-name opponents for fear that they might try and poach their players. Of even more athletes being entering the portal and not drawing interest, ending their careers.

"We're going to adapt to it and make it an advantage for us," Saban said. "I think what's going to happen as you see how often in a lot of leagues, you know the good players go to a good team and the bad players leave good teams because they're not playing. So is that going to make the rich get richer?"

Yep. We're already seeing it.

Jaylen Waddle Off to Good Start

Take note of Miami Dolphins wide receiver DeVante Parker praising teammate Jaylen Waddle as a quick learner because the same sentiment has been heard around the NFL with every Crimson Tide player who was drafted this year.

It's only going to make Alabama players even more popular in the league if that's possible.

Additionally, Waddle being Tagovailoa's safety net, and ability to turn a short pass into a big gain, hasn't gotten the attention it deserves. Gil Brandt of NFL.com is the latest to catch on: "I think Waddle might be the Class of 2021’s best overall receiver, and I expect him to provide a game-breaking element that the Dolphins’ offense in general — and Tagovailoa specifically — sorely missed last season.”

With all the talent the Miami Dolphins have acquired, along with three first-round picks in the next two years, put them on the short list of soon-to-be Super Bowl contenders.

Baseball Baloney

It's pretty obvious that anyone who questioned the Southeastern Conference getting nine teams in the 2021 NCAA Baseball Tournament hasn't been paying attention to what's been going in the conference or the sport.

All nine have a decent chance to advance. If the brackets hold, four will play in the College World Series, which would tie the record and be the second straight time for the SEC after doing so in 2019.

The SEC has won six of the last 11 national titles, and had the unanimous No. 1 team in the polls last year when the season was cancelled. So it could have had seven of 12.

Led by No. 1 Arkansas, which is scary good and was just the second team in SEC history to win all 10 regular-season conference series (2010 Vanderbilt the other), the league matched its record with seven teams among 16 regional hosts.

As for the three bubble teams for the tournament, how would you like to be Oregon, and have LSU as a three-seed in your region? Georgia could have easily been in as well.

Alabama (31-24) doesn't have to apologize to anyone, nor should it. It was second in the nation in strength of schedule, and tied for No. 31 in RPI. It beat South Carolina and Tennessee in the SEC Tournament.

The school that many claimed should have gotten in was Pitt, which went 23-20 (16-17 ACC), and had an RPI of No. 50. The Panthers swept Florida and Miami early in the season, but had to stop playing for 2 1/2 weeks due to coronavirus issues and ended up losing 10 of their last 15 games.

The committee opted for North Carolina, one of the last four in along with Alabama, just like it did with the Crimson Tide over Georgia (and yes, the Bulldogs have a better argument than Pitt).

But as for which conference was better this season, the SEC or ACC, it's no contest.

Return of the USFL

Alabama didn't have the richest tradition with the United States Football League when it was around in the 1980s, but as we recently learned again with the Alliance of American Football nearly any league nowadays is going to include someone from the Crimson Tide on some level.

The initial USFL failed after just three seasons when the league tried to move to the fall and compete with the NFL in 1986, but like the Alliance (which played just one season in 2019), had a team in Birmingham.

There's no word yet on whether the the plans to relaunch the league, which were announced Thursday, might include bringing the Stallions back, or the Memphis Showboats. Either way, having another spring league can only help former Crimson Tide players extend their playing careers like before:

Buddy Aydelette, OL, Birmingham Stallions

Thomas Boyd, LB, Birmingham Stallions

Paul Ott Carruth, RB, Birmingham Stallions

Jackie Cline, DL, Birmingham Stallions

Jeff Harper, OL, Oakland Invaders, Pittsburgh Maulers

Joey Jones, WR, Birmingham Stallions

Walter Lewis, QB, Memphis Showboats

Ray Odums, CB, Memphis Showboats

Linnie Patrick, RB, Michigan Panthers

Mike Raines, DL, Birmingham Stallions

Bill Searcy, OL, Birmingham Stallions, Houston Gamblers

Kenny Simon, RB, Birmingham Stallions

Tommy Wilcox, DB, Arizona Wranglers, Chicago Blitz

Tide-bits

Random thoughts:

• The best thing about the way the Mike Krzyzewski news broke about his stepping down after next season was that no one had a chance to start a Nate Oats rumor.

• Something didn't seem right when ESPN reported last week that the Falcons had received a first-round offer for Julio Jones because Atlanta didn't take it. My guess on the Jay Barker Show last Thursday was that if so it was probably for a future first-round pick and not for the 2022 NFL Draft, and by a team that would likely have a very-late pick. Remember, Jones is 32. When Kansas City traded 33-year-old tight end Tony Gonzalez to the Falcons in 2009 it was for a second-round pick.

• There's been no formal announcement, but punter Charlie Scott and linebacker Jarez Parks are no longer listed on Alabama's roster. Assuming they aren't returning, and combined with the outgoing transfers, graduates and players who left early for the NFL, and the turnover is beginning to really add up. Having a third of team, if not more, change each year will soon be pretty common in college sports.

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Christopher Walsh's notes column All Things CW appears weekly in BamaCentral+.

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