Alabama News

General

2024 NFL draft: Time, date, projections, how to get jerseys, more for first round picks

The 2024 NFL draft is almost here with the first round on tap for Thursday night.

The NFL draft has been around since 1936, and it has grown immensely over the years. Nowadays, fans can see every player hear their name called and immediately head to social media to comment on how they believe their team performed in the draft.

With the numerous amount of mock drafts and predictions made over the past few months, there is a lot of anticipation building for tomorrow’s event. Due to all the excitement, Fanatics has some gear available for the 2024 NFL draft and will roll out jerseys for the first round draft picks over the next couple of days.

Key Points

• When: April 25 – April 27
  • Day One, Thursday, April 25: 7 p.m. CT
  • Day Two, Friday, April 26: 6 p.m. CT
  • Day Three, Saturday, April 27: 11 a.m. CT
• Where: Detroit, Michigan (Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza)
• TV: ESPN, ABC, and NFL Network

First round expectations

The NFL draft has surprises every year, as players will fall or rise on draft boards and get picked unexpectedly. Due to the immense amount of offensive talent in this year’s draft, many people are expecting a large number of quarterbacks to be taken in the first half of the opening round tomorrow night. Since the Chicago Bears traded their starting quarterback Justin Fields this offseason, nearly everyone is expecting them to select quarterback Caleb Williams with the first overall pick.

Unlike previous drafts, the picks are uncertain after the projected Williams selection. There are numerous wide receivers that are highly talented and expected to go in the first round, but the order is unclear. Standout Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. is supposed to be the first player drafted from his position, but LSU’s Malik Nabers and Washington’s Rome Odunze are also possibilities.

Numerous NFL teams are also in need of offensive lineman, and there are quite a few options that are going to be first round picks. Alabama offensive tackle JC Latham and Notre Dame offensive tackle Joe Alt should be off the board relatively early, and they should be able to contribute well during their rookie seasons.

Although the first round of the 2024 NFL draft will likely have an offensive focus, the defensive talent is still high. Alabama has three possible first round defensive selections, including cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry, linebacker Dallas Turner, and cornerback Terrion Arnold. There are some more defensive players that have first round talent, including Iowa cornerback Cooper DeJean and UCLA defensive end Laiatu Latu.

Fans have plenty of reasons to be excited for this year’s draft, and it should be exciting to watch the order of picks unfold. As the first round selections transpire tomorrow, Fanatics will be releasing jerseys of the first round picks and make them available for fans to purchase. Currently, Fanatics has some team hats and T-shirts available for fans.

Read More

General

Alabama’s $1 billion prison is taking shape in Elmore

ELMORE, Ala. — Off Highway 143 in rural Elmore County, the Alabama Department of Corrections is building a small town.

On 300 acres behind a tall chain-link fence, some of the more than four dozen, two-story buildings that will make up the 4,000-bed, $1.08 billion prison are starting to take shape. A one million-gallon water tank is up near what will be the main entrance.

Water and sewer lines have been buried; hundreds of miles of electrical conduit are being run to housing units where 256 men will live in two-person cells. Eventually, the electrical lines will power in each unit a central monitoring station where officers will have direct lines of sight down four corridors on inmates. There will be video cameras and electronically locking cell doors that officials promise will make this site much safer and more manageable than the state’s existing major prisons.

Read More

General

Harvey Weinstein rape conviction overturned by New York appeals court

New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with “egregious” improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.

“We conclude that the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes,” the court’s 4-3 decision said. “The remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial.”

The state Court of Appeals ruling reopens a painful chapter in America’s reckoning with sexual misconduct by powerful figures — an era that began in 2017 with a flood of allegations against Weinstein. His accusers could again be forced to relive their traumas on the witness stand.

The court’s majority said “it is an abuse of judicial discretion to permit untested allegations of nothing more than bad behavior that destroys a defendant’s character but sheds no light on their credibility as related to the criminal charges lodged against them.”

In a stinging dissent, Judge Madeline Singas wrote that the majority was “whitewashing the facts to conform to a he-said/she-said narrative,” and said the Court of Appeals was continuing a “disturbing trend of overturning juries’ guilty verdicts in cases involving sexual violence.”

“The majority’s determination perpetuates outdated notions of sexual violence and allows predators to escape accountability,” Singas wrote.

Weinstein, 72, has been serving a 23-year sentence in a New York prison following his conviction on charges of criminal sex act for forcibly performing oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006 and rape in the third degree for an attack on an aspiring actress in 2013.

He will remain imprisoned because he was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Weinstein was acquitted in Los Angeles on charges involving one of the women who testified in New York.

Weinstein’s lawyers argued Judge James Burke’s rulings in favor of the prosecution turned the trial into “1-800-GET-HARVEY.”

The reversal of Weinstein’s conviction is the second major #MeToo setback in the last two years, after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a Pennsylvania court decision to throw out Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction.

Weinstein’s conviction stood for more than four years, heralded by activists and advocates as a milestone achievement, but dissected just as quickly by his lawyers and, later, the Court of Appeals when it heard arguments on the matter in February.

Allegations against Weinstein, the once powerful and feared studio boss behind such Oscar winners as “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love,” ushered in the #MeToo movement. Dozens of women came forward to accuse Weinstein, including famous actresses such as Ashley Judd and Uma Thurman. His New York trial drew intense publicity, with protesters chanting “rapist” outside the courthouse.

Weinstein is incarcerated in New York at the Mohawk Correctional Facility, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Albany.

He maintains his innocence. He contends any sexual activity was consensual.

Weinstein lawyer Arthur Aidala argued before the appeals court in February that Burke swayed the trial by allowing three women to testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case and by giving prosecutors permission to confront Weinstein, if he had testified, about his long history of brutish behavior.

Aidala argued the extra testimony went beyond the normally allowable details about motive, opportunity, intent or a common scheme or plan, and essentially put Weinstein on trial for crimes he wasn’t charged with.

Weinstein wanted to testify, but opted not to because Burke’s ruling would’ve meant answering questions about more than two-dozen alleged acts of misbehavior dating back four decades, Aidala said. They included fighting with his movie producer brother, flipping over a table in anger and snapping at waiters and yelling at his assistants.

“We had a defendant who was begging to tell his side of the story. It’s a he said, she said case, and he’s saying ‘that’s not how it happened. Let me tell you how I did it,’” Aidala argued. Instead, the jurors heard evidence of Weinstein’s prior bad behavior that “had nothing to do with truth and veracity. It was all ‘he’s a bad guy.’”

Aidala also took issue with Burke’s refusal to remove a juror who had written a novel involving predatory older men, a topic the defense lawyer argued too closely resembled the issues in Weinstein’s case.

A lawyer for the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which prosecuted the case, argued that the judge’s rulings were proper and that the extra evidence and testimony he allowed was important to provide jurors context about Weinstein’s behavior and the way he interacted with women.

“Defendant’s argument was that they had a consensual and loving relationship both before and after the charged incidents,” Appellate Chief Steven Wu argued, referring to one of the women Weinstein was charged with assaulting. The additional testimony “just rebutted that characterization completely.”

Wu said Weinstein’s acquittal on the most serious charges — two counts of predatory sexual assault and a first-degree rape charge involving actor Annabella Sciorra’s allegations of a mid-1990s rape — showed jurors were paying attention and they were not confused or overwhelmed by the additional testimony.

The Associated Press does not generally identify people alleging sexual assault unless they consent to be named; Sciorra has spoken publicly about her allegations.

The Court of Appeals agreed last year to take Weinstein’s case after an intermediate appeals court upheld his conviction. Prior to their ruling, judges on the lower appellate court had raised doubts about Burke’s conduct during oral arguments. One observed that Burke had let prosecutors pile on with “incredibly prejudicial testimony” from additional witnesses.

Burke’s term expired at the end of 2022. He was not reappointed and is no longer a judge.

In appealing, Weinstein’s lawyers sought a new trial, but only for the criminal sexual act charge. They argued the rape charge could not be retried because it involves alleged conduct outside the statute of limitations.

Read More

General

$5.6 million in refunds issued to Ring doorbell users: Who qualifies?

More than 115,000 people are in line for a refund from a popular home security camera company, the Federal Trade Commission announced.

The refunds, totaling $5.6 million, are the result of a settlement with Ring over charges the company allowed employees and contractors to have access to consumer’s private videos and failed to implement security protections, making it easier for hackers to take control of user’s accounts, cameras and videos.

READ MORE: Overtime rule changing: Millions more people will soon be eligible for extra pay

Payments are being sent to 117,044 users, including 1,169 Alabamians who will receive a total of $56,273, or roughly $48 each.

In a complaint first announced in May 2023, the FTC said Ring deceived customers by allowing employees and contractors to have access to customer videos, including those filmed with indoor cameras. The complaint also alleged Ring used the videos to train algorithms without consent and failed to implement security safeguards.

“These practices led to egregious violations of users’ privacy,” the FTC said in a statement.

Refunds will be sent via PayPal and must be redeemed within 30 days. People with questions about their payment should contact the refund administrator, Rust Consulting, Inc., at  1-833-637-4884, or visit the FTC website to view frequently asked questions about the refund process.

READ MORE: More Walmart stores pull self checkouts

Read More

General

NFL Draft by the Numbers: SEC on 17-year winning streak

SEC Football by the Numbers has been looking at the 2024 NFL Draft in four parts. Monday’s initial installment examined the first round. Tuesday, it was a breakdown by positions. Wednesday, NFL teams were the focus. And for today, here are some stats and streaks about the conference and the draft leading into this year’s first round of picks tonight.

0 Players have been selected from Vanderbilt in the past two drafts. Only once in SEC history has a program gone three consecutive drafts without producing a pick. Vanderbilt did not have a player chosen in the 1993, 1994 and 1995 drafts. The most recent player picked from Vanderbilt was DE Dayo Odeyingbo at No. 54 in the 2021 NFL Draft. Since then, 174 SEC players have been drafted. One of them was offensive tackle Tyler Steen, the 65th selection of the 2023 draft. Steen spent four seasons at Vanderbilt. But he was drafted from Alabama after transferring to the Crimson Tide for the 2022 campaign.

0 NFL drafts have been held without an Alabama or Auburn player being selected. Auburn has seven empty drafts (a draft without producing a picked player), and none coincides with Alabama’s four empty years. Auburn did not have a player drafted in 1936, 1947, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1976 and 2003. Alabama did not have a player drafted in 1960, 1961, 1970 and 2008. Both Alabama and Auburn will have multiple players drafted this week.

2 Consecutive drafts have included Alabama players as the No. 12 pick and Texas A&M players as the No. 84 pick. They are among the 15 picks that have been used on SEC players in at least each of the past two drafts. The No. 12 pick has been made by Detroit in 2022 and 2023, with the Lions taking Crimson Tide WR Jameson Williams two years ago and running back Jahmyr Gibbs last year. Texas A&M RB De’Von Achane was picked at No. 84 by the Miami Dolphins last year after the Pittsburgh Steelers chose Aggies DT DeMarvin Leal at No. 84 in 2022. The Denver Broncos have the No. 12 pick, and the Steelers have the No. 84 pick in 2024.

3 NFL drafts have not included a player from LSU, the fewest empty drafts in the SEC for the schools that have been conference members for all 88 drafts. LSU did not have a player picked in the drafts of 1938, 1942 and 1993. Alabama and Georgia have four empty drafts apiece, Tennessee has six, Auburn and Florida have seven each, Ole Miss has eight, Kentucky has nine, Mississippi State has 11 and Vanderbilt has 26, including the 2022 and 2023 drafts. In their 31 NFL drafts as SEC members, Arkansas has one empty draft and South Carolina has four. Missouri and Texas A&M have been SEC members for 11 drafts and haven’t come up empty during that time. Overall, Arkansas has six empty drafts and South Carolina has 11. Before joining the conference, Missouri had four empty drafts and Texas A&M had six. Each SEC member is expected to have at least one player drafted this week except for Vanderbilt.

4 Consecutive drafts have featured an SEC player as the No. 9 pick and three consecutive drafts have featured an SEC player as the No. 59 pick and the No. 204 pick. At No. 9, the Jacksonville Jaguars picked Florida CB C.J. Henderson in 2020, the Denver Broncos picked Alabama CB Patrick Surtain II in 2021, the Seattle Seahawks picked Mississippi State OT Charles Cross in 2022 and the Philadelphia Eagles picked Georgia DT Jalen Carter in 2023. At No. 59, the Carolina Panthers picked LSU WR Terrace Marshall Jr. in 2021, the Minnesota Vikings picked LSU G Ed Ingram in 2022 and the Buffalo Bills picked Florida OL O’Cyrus Torrence in 2023. At No. 204, the Panthers picked South Carolina WR Shi Smith in 2021, the Tennessee Titans picked Tennessee DB Theo Jackson in 2022 and the New York Jets picked LSU CB Jarrick Bernard-Converse in 2023. This year, the Chicago Bears hold No. 9, the Houston Texans hold No. 59 and the Bills hold No. 204.

6 Consecutive NFL drafts have included an SEC team as the most popular provider of players, with Alabama and Georgia tying for the top spot in 2023 with 10 players picked apiece. In the 2022 draft, Georgia produced 15 picks. Alabama took the honor in 2018 with 12 players, 2019 with 10 players and 2021 (when it tied with Ohio State) with 10 players. LSU had the most in 2020 with 14 draft picks. An SEC member has topped the draft for players picked 11 other times — 2014 (LSU with nine players), 2012 (Alabama eight), 2010 (Florida nine), 2007 (Florida seven), 2003 (Florida and Tennessee tied with Miami with eight apiece), 2000 (Tennessee nine), 1999 (Florida tied with Ohio State with eight apiece), 1989 (Auburn 10), 1978 (Florida 10), 1962 (LSU and Ole Miss tied with Colorado, Michigan and Penn State with seven each) and 1951 (Kentucky and Tulane tied with nine).

15 Players from Georgia were selected in 2022, the most in a seven-round draft in NFL history. The Bulldogs’ output surpassed the previous high for a seven-round draft of 14, accomplished by Ohio State in 2004 and matched by LSU in 2020. The NFL has held a seven-round draft annually since 1994. The most players picked from one school in the same draft is 17 from Texas in a 12-round, 336-player draft in 1984. Notre Dame had 16 players drafted in a 32-round, 300-player draft in 1946. In the 2022 draft, 262 players were picked. The most players picked from each of the other current SEC members in one draft include 12 from Alabama in 2018, eight from Arkansas in 1945, 10 from Auburn in 1989, 10 from Florida in 1978, nine from Kentucky in 1951, 11 from Mississippi State in 1944, seven from Missouri in 2001, nine from Ole Miss in 1968 and 1971, seven from South Carolina in 2009 and 2013, 10 from Tennessee in 2002, 10 from Texas A&M in 1976 and six from Vanderbilt in 1952 and 1959. The top drafts for Arkansas, Missouri and Texas A&M predate their time in the SEC. As SEC members, the Razorbacks’ top showing has been six picks in 2004 and 2008. For Missouri, it’s six in 2015. For Texas A&M, it’s seven in 2019.

16 SEC players were chosen in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL Draft. That’s the most players from the conference chosen in one round in the draft’s history. The record had been 15 apiece in the first round and the third round of the 2020 draft. There have been 31 rounds that have contained at least 10 SEC players. Last year, nine SEC players were picked in the first round, eight in second, 14 in the third, nine in the fourth, nine in the fifth, six in the sixth and seven in the seventh.

17 Consecutive drafts have had more players selected from the SEC than from any other conference. In 2023, the SEC provided 62 selections, with the Big Ten next with 55. The most recent draft in which the SEC did not provide the most players came in 2006, when the Big Ten had 41 players picked and the SEC 37. The SEC’s draft-pick total and the runner-up in the previous years of the streak include:

· 2007: SEC 41, Big Ten 32

· 2008: SEC 35, ACC 33

· 2009: SEC 37, ACC 33

· 2010: SEC 49, Big Ten 34

· 2011: SEC 38, ACC 35

· 2012: SEC 42, Big Ten 41

· 2013: SEC 63, ACC 30

· 2014: SEC 49, ACC 42

· 2015: SEC 54, ACC 47

· 2016: SEC 51, Big Ten 47

· 2017: SEC 53, ACC 43

· 2018: SEC 53, ACC 45

· 2019: SEC 64, Big Ten 40

· 2020: SEC 63, Big Ten 48

· 2021: SEC 65, Big Ten 44

· 2022: SEC 65, Big Ten 48

28 Consecutive NFL drafts have included at least one choice from Arkansas, the longest streak in school history. The Razorbacks have had at least one player drafted annually since coming up empty in 1995. The top draft streaks for the other current SEC members are Alabama 37 (1971-2007), Auburn 26 (1977-2002), Florida 72 (1952-2023), Georgia 50 (1942-1991), Kentucky 26 (1939-1964), LSU 50 (1943-1992), Mississippi State 18 (1986-2003), Missouri 56 (1939-1994), Ole Miss 32 (1937-1968), South Carolina 28 (1950-1977), Tennessee 51 (1964-2014), Texas A&M 32 (1975-2006) and Vanderbilt seven (1955-1961). The record streaks for Missouri, South Carolina and Texas A&M happened before those programs became SEC members.

65 SEC players were selected in the 2022 NFL Draft. That’s tied for the most players that any conference has had picked in a single draft, equaling the SEC’s 2021 draft output.

72 Consecutive NFL drafts have included at least one player from Florida, the longest streak in SEC history. The Gators have been represented in every NFL Draft since 1952, when the Lions started the streak by choosing C Carroll McDonald in the 13th round. The second-longest active draft streak for SEC teams isn’t even half as long as Florida’s current streak: Georgia has had a player selected in 31 consecutive drafts. LSU had had at least one player selected in each of the past 30 drafts, Arkansas for 28, Auburn for 20, Missouri for 17, Alabama and Texas A&M for 15, Mississippi State for 14, South Carolina for six, Kentucky for five, Tennessee for four and Ole Miss for three. Vanderbilt did not have a player drafted in 2023.

90 Alabama players were drafted from 2012 through 2021 and from 2014 through 2023, tied the most in SEC history for a 10-year period. During the previous nine NFL drafts, 82 Crimson Tide players were drafted. Projections call for Alabama to have at least eight players chosen in the 2024 draft, which would tie the 10-year draft record again.

225 Consecutive rounds of the NFL Draft have included at least one SEC player. The most recent round without an SEC selection was the second in 1993. Since that round, at least two SEC players have been picked in every round except four.

257 Players will be selected in the 2024 NFL Draft. The final one receives the nickname Mr. Irrelevant. An SEC player has been Mr. Irrelevant 10 times. The SEC’s Mr. Irrelevants have been Tennessee C Lamar Leachman in 1955, Tennessee B Tommy Bronson in 1958, Georgia DT Donald Chumley in 1985, LSU DB Norman Jefferson in 1987, Kentucky LB Marty Moore in 1994, Alabama DB Ramzee Robinson in 2007, South Carolina PK Ryan Succop in 2009, South Carolina TE Justice Cunningham in 2013, Ole Miss QB Chad Kelly in 2017 and Georgia LB Tae Crowder in 2020. The first three players never played in the NFL, but the past seven did.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

This look at the SEC’s draft numbers includes only players picked in the regular NFL Draft — no special supplemental, expansion, non-NFL or separate dispersal drafts are included in the tabulations. For Arkansas and South Carolina, which joined the league in 1992, the numbers include players drafted since 1993, unless noted. For former member Georgia Tech, players drafted from 1936 to 1964 are included. For former member Tulane, it’s through the 1966 draft. Missouri and Texas A&M have provided SEC players for the past 11 drafts. Former SEC member Sewanee has had one player drafted — RB William Johnson by the Falcons in 1966, long after the school left the conference following the 1940 season.

The NFL Draft starts on Thursday with the first round. The second and third rounds are set for Friday, with the remaining four rounds on Saturday. ABC, ESPN and NFL Network will televise the draft, starting at 7 p.m. CDT Thursday, 6 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.

Read More

General

Broadway superstar coming to Alabama, singing classics from ‘Wicked,’ ‘Rent’ and more

You know her as a Broadway star famed for her work in “Wicked,” “Rent” and other musicals. Your kids love her as the voice of Elsa in the “Frozen” franchise. Maybe you’ve seen her on television in “Glee,” or in movies such as “Enchanted” and “Disenchanted.” And yes, there was the time John Travolta messed up her name at the 2014 Oscars ceremony.

Idina Menzel, the acclaimed singer and actress, is coming to Alabama this summer, as part of her “Take Me or Leave Me Tour.” It’s a rare concert here for Menzel, set for Aug. 6 at the Gogue Performing Arts Center in Auburn, in the center’s Woltosz Theatre. Tickets for the 8 p.m. concert are $125 plus service charges, on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, April 26, via the Gogue Center website.

Three VIP packages are available for the Auburn show, priced at $125, $225 and $349. Various perks are included in the packages, such as photos, commemorative merchandise, a Q&A with Menzel, a group photo with her and an “intimate pre-show performance” with the star. The $349 package includes a ticket with seating in the first 10 rows of the theatre. The other packages don’t include a ticket to the show, just the additional perks.

A fan presale is underway, and an access code for that can be found on Menzel’s website.

Menzel, 52, has announced 21 dates for her 2024 tour, starting on July 19 and ending on Aug. 18. The Auburn show is the only stop she’ll make in Alabama. Menzel hasn’t performed often in the state, but she did make a visit to Birmingham in August 2017, appearing at the BJCC Concert Hall.

Menzel, a mezzo-soprano, won a 2004 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical her role as Elphaba in “Wicked.” She also earned Tony nominations for her work in “Rent” and “If/Then.” Menzel also has seven studio albums to her credit, including 2023′s “Drama Queen.”

Menzel has voiced the character of Elsa in two “Frozen” movies — that’s her powering through the anthem “Let It Go” — and she’ll perform again in “Frozen III,” reportedly set for release in 2026. She received a Disney Legend Award in 2022, a top honor from the Walt Disney Co.

Menzel promises a career-spanning setlist on her summer tour, including jazz standards, album tracks and songs from musicals such as “Wicked,” “Rent” and “Frozen.”

“I often wrestle with the fact that I often assume that people will be bored if I sing the same songs over and over, like ‘Let It Go’ or ‘Defying Gravity,’” Menzel said in a recent interview with Billboard. “I’m always trying to rewrite things, discover or cover new songs, reinterpret them and then I always get this feedback of ‘No, we want to hear these songs!’ I’m trying to strike a balance between performing songs the way I think my audience would want to hear them and feeling like, as an artist, that I’m growing and singing the songs in a way that their lyrics resonate with me. I juggle it and then I sit with my band and we play with it and assess it and sort of see what kind of floats to the top.”

The name of her tour, of course, is a reference to the song “Take Me or Leave Me” from “Rent.” Menzel made her Broadway debut in the musical in 1996, earning fame for her role as Maureen Johnson.

Read More

General

Goodman: Saban’s run of first-rounders changed the game

This is an opinion column.

______________________

Feeling ambitious, Nick Saban left college football for the NFL when he was 53 years old. It didn’t take long for Saban to figure out that he had it made back on campus.

Leaving the Miami Dolphins for Tuscaloosa was the best decision he ever made, but trading the studio for the sideline at the dawn of college football’s pay-for-play era was a pretty good one, too.

On Thursday, Saban will be back inside the NFL’s orbit for the first time in 21 years. He’s now a football analyst for ESPN and he’ll be helping the network break down the NFL Draft. Few understand the draft better. He has put more players in the first round than any other coach.

The number stands at 49 total, but more are expected to join the list with Saban’s final draft class.

At Alabama, Saban built an empire with future NFL talent. Why did he leave the NFL for college football? NFL teams have one first-round pick every year, he would say, but at the college level Saban could stockpile first-round talent like bars of gold in Fort Knox.

It kept the Crimson Tide in contention for a national championship every season for 16 consecutive years.

RELATED: AL.com mock NFL Draft

Saban’s total of first-round draft picks while at Alabama stands at 44, but more names will join the list with the 2024 draft class. Pass rusher Dallas Turner is expected to be the first player from Alabama taken off the board. Offensive lineman JC Latham and cornerbacks Terrion Arnold and Kool-Aid McKinstry could also go in the first round.

Saban’s power as a recruiter shaped the NFL and changed the game of college football. The best players in the country flocked to Alabama and then to the SEC. It titled the entire axis of the football world towards the South. I’ll never forget former Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who is from Hawaii, tell the story of how his father made him pick Saban’s Alabama over USC.

Father Tagovailoa knew what was best, though. Son Tua went in the first round despite a devastating hip injury and now he’s expected to sign one of the largest deals in NFL history.

Quarterback Bryce Young of California followed Tua to Alabama and became Alabama’s first No.1 pick since Woodlawn High’s Harry Gilmer in 1948. At that point, the elite players from the West Coast all felt like they had to either attend Alabama or a school in the SEC.

It was Saban’s Alabama that motivated California governor Gavin Newsome to sign into law the first NIL bill for college athletes in American history. Don’t let anyone ever forget it.

The modern game was forced to change again and again to account for Saban’s reign at Alabama.

Finally, after giving players a chance to transfer after every season for cash, the game was able to put a governor on Saban’s Ferrari of a football program.

Some of my favorite players at Alabama during the Saban years weren’t even first-round picks. Saban has had eight defensive backs represent Alabama on the big stage, but no one will ever be able to tell me fourth-round pick Eddie Jackson wasn’t better than all of them.

Jackson represents one of the biggest what-if questions in the history of Saban times at Alabama. Had he not suffered a broken leg during the 2016 season, then I am certain Alabama would have taken down Clemson once again for back-to-back national championships.

Of course, the same can be said for the injury to second-round receiver John Metchie III, too — another one of my all-time favorites.

It was Metchie who delivered one of the greatest plays in the history of Alabama football, and he did it with a hit and not catching a pass.

Saban’s run of first-round picks at Alabama changed everything. Given the changing dynamics of college football, it’s a record that may never be broken. Then again, teams like Texas A&M and Ohio State might just buy up all the first-round talent from here on out and pay for the value that Saban gave Alabama with his ability as a recruiter.

Saban recruited players on Thanksgiving of 2020 while dealing with a case of COVID-19. He complained about the timing of national championship games because he thought it interfered with his ability to sell players on Alabama. Now the bottom line of NIL collectives are all that matter.

It’s a different game without Saban. It’s a different Alabama, and new coach Kalen DeBoer can’t be expected to maintain a level of dominance in recruiting that Saban knew was slipping away.

Alabama isn’t for everyone, Saban would tell the recruits. Only the toughest of the best could survive. Then the first round was the biggest recruiting tool of all.

It was a machine, and it built Alabama into a standard-bearer of opulence the game will probably never see again.

SOUND OFF

Got a question for Joe? Want to get something off your chest? Send Joe an email about what’s on your mind for the weekly mailbag. Let your voice be heard. Ask him anything.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the most controversial sports book ever written, “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”

Read More

General

Alabama group will relocate snakes for you

There aren’t a lot of people who would be happy to find an unwanted snake in their home or yard, but there is an Alabama group that would be happy to help remove it.

Frankie Ferguson and Mark Hay founded Alabama Snake Removers, a volunteer organization that helps relocate all species of snakes throughout the state, in 2013. Ferguson said their motivation for offering the service was pretty simple — they wanted to stop snakes from being killed.

READ MORE: How to identify Alabama’s most venomous snakes

“I was already getting calls before we started Alabama Snake Removers,” said Ferguson. “So me and Mark [Hay] decided we’d try to keep people from killing the snakes and help people relocate them instead because most of them are harmless.”

Ferguson said since the group, which has around eight volunteers spread throughout the state and more than 11,000 followers on Facebook, was created, they’ve helped remove and relocate hundreds of snakes, with the Dekay’s Brown Snake and Gray Rat Snake being the most common.

READ MORE: Non-venomous snakes of Alabama

While many people acquire a fear of snakes from an early age, Ferguson and Hay have loved them since they were young, and Ferguson said they’re committed to helping snakes, and the people who fear them in the process.

“Mark and I have had a passion for snakes ever since we were kids,” said Ferguson. “We became friends around 12, and we were catching snakes and keeping snakes then. I’ve caught thousands, and I’ve never seen one that just wanted to attack you. There are just a lot of folklore associated with them here in Alabama that’s not true.”

That said, not all of the calls received by the organization are for harmless snakes. Snake removal is a dangerous job, which is why Ferguson said volunteers must have experience with snakes and understand proper snake handling prior to responding to calls, especially since volunteers might not know what kind of snake — or how many — they’re dealing with until they arrive.

“Last year, Mark [Hay] did a removal where there was a child’s play area and they saw a snake,” said Ferguson. “It turned out there was five or six copperheads all around the area. [The caller] didn’t see but one at the time, so sometimes we get into more than we think we are.”

That said, Ferguson feels that regardless of what kind of snake it is, it’s important to understand that they all serve a purpose and in the majority of cases, relocation is the better option.

“The biggest misconception with snakes is that they’re all bad and the only good one is a dead one,” said Ferguson. “They’re very beneficial to the eco-system. They’re a large eliminator of ticks, fleas and diseases that rodents can carry, and there’s a lot of medical benefits. They’re not just here as a nuisance.”

So if you find yourself in the presence of a snake, and would rather not be, you can reach out to Alabama Snake Removers for assistance. Ferguson said the best way to make contact is by sending a message to their Facebook page. In most cases, all the organization charges for the service is a small relocation fee to cover the price of gas for the volunteer.

Read More

General

Ranking Mobile’s top 7 spring performances this week

Each Thursday during the spring sports season, the Press-Register will rank the seven top high school performances from the Mobile area.

Coaches may nominate a certain performance by emailing [email protected] or [email protected]. Nominations also come from roundup information submitted by coaches.

Read More