Happy Friday, everyone. Keelon Russel has officially signed with Alabama, and was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in the nation’s most talent-rich state.
With the announcement Friday, Russell becomes the first Gatorade Texas Football Player of the Year out of Duncanville High School. The award recognizes the top high school football player in Texas. Other winners of the award include DJ Lagway (2023-24) and Jackson Arnold (2022-23).
AdvertisementRussell was also named as one of three finalists for Gatorade National Football Player of the Year with Alvin Henderson (Elba, Alabama) and Jackson Cantwell (Nixa, Missouri). Previous winners of this award include Emmitt Smith (1986-87), Peyton Manning (1993-94) and Kyler Murray (2014-15).
Russell, a 6-foot-3, 175-pound dual-threat quarterback is the second-ranked quarterback in the country per the 247Sports Composite. Russell has thrown for more than 3,600 yards through 12 games his senior season with 52 touchdowns while also adding more than 250 yards on the ground and two touchdowns.
Unbeaten Duncanville has won back to back 6A state titles with Russell as the starting QB, and will play in the quarterfinals this weekend as they vie for a three-peat. For reference, they have one other state title in school history, back in 1998. Kid might just be a winner.
Russell sat down with Emily Proud of 247 Sports about his commitment to Alabama. It’s a solid six minute interview.
You never know about a high school QB, but it may be tough keeping this young man off the field next season.
The big news of the weekend for Alabama has nothing to do with Alabama, of course. We are all SMU Mustangs tomorrow night to make things easy for the College Football Playoff committee. The debate about what would happen should Clemson steal a bid has been running hot.
Joel Klatt believes that SMU’s 75th ranked schedule, even with the slight improvement they’d see playing Clemson, simply isn’t good enough as they lack the quality wins to make a playoff.
“That’s just not tough enough,” Klatt said of SMU. “In my estimation, you can’t just blindly reward the fact that they were in a conference championship game because of that path. It’s just far different.”
By comparison, Alabama has three wins against teams that were ranked in the Top 25 at the time those games were played: vs. the Georgia Bulldogs, Missouri Tigers and LSU Tigers.
“I think in a direct comparison, SMU is going to lose the argument to Alabama. I really do,” Klatt said. “That’s why I told you (earlier) in the rankings reaction that Alabama was going to be in regardless and there they are as the 11 seed and going to Columbus to face the Ohio State Buckeyes.”
This is a logical take. SMU has a chance to earn its first ranked win on Saturday. If they fail and have zero ranked wins, letting them in with two losses to the only ranked teams they played all year, both outside the top 15, doesn’t make much sense.
The ACC commissioner disagrees, as you would expect.
“SMU is in the tournament,” Phillips told The Athletic. “I don’t see any way you can’t keep SMU in regardless of what happens on Saturday. Playing in a conference championship game, there cannot be a negative residual to that if you are in the field going into that weekend. If you are in the top 12, there should be no downside.”
(According to the latest projections from The Athletic’s Austin Mock, SMU currently has an 89 percent chance of making the Playoff.)
That point is the big question for coaches, players and commissioners heading into the weekend. SMU and Oregon are the only Power 4 teams that went undefeated in conference play. The SEC and Big Ten both will hold conference championship games involving two surefire Playoff teams, but the Big 12, ACC and Mountain West appear to have only their champions guaranteed a spot. What will the committee do?
Clemson is also still the standard bearer for that conference, and the game will be played in Charlotte. Particularly with a Clemson win being the only chance for the ACC to get a second CFP check, SMU shouldn’t plan on getting any calls that night.
Lane Kiffin weighed in as only he can.
“You guys actually meet for days and come up with these rankings??” Kiffin wrote. “Do you actually watch the quality of players, teams, and road environments (we played in one of yours this year) or just try and make the ACC feel relevant??”
Kiffin referenced Wake Forest, a team Ole Miss beat 40-6 on the road this season, while pointing out that the Demon Deacons canceled a future game with the Rebels. He then took aim at Clemson, ranked No. 12 last week (No. 17 this week), and sarcastically noted their struggles against SEC teams. They were beat 34-3 by Georgia during Week 1 of the season.
“Btw one of your teams paid us not to play again next year. Same #12 spot you guys had Clemson ranked last week. How did that go against the SEC??? Rewatch UGA Clemson closely if you want a reminder of the two conferences.”
Lane seems to always have our backs when it matters most.
So, what’s your prediction in this hypothetical scenario that we would rather not happen?
Poll
Who will get the last at large bid if Clemson beats SMU?
Say less, Nick Kelly. Say less.
10. Any team can show up Saturday
If this season has taught us anything about this version of Alabama, it’s that you need to pay attention each Saturday. The team that wears the crimson and white might be the team that can beat anyone. Or, it might be the team that can’t muster more than three points on the road against a .500 team. We know this edition of Alabama can, and too often will, play to the level of its competition. That’s a good and bad thing. At least it bodes well if/when the Crimson Tide faces a good team in the College Football Playoff.
This team has kept things interesting, to say the least.
Brandon Miller did another thing.
Just another ho hum 26 point, six rebound effort on 5/12 three point shooting.
Last, Josh Jacobs and Jahmyr Gibbs each went over 1,000 yards in last night’s action.
Jacobs had an incredible game against the Lions. He had 18 carries for 66 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Jacobs now has two games this season with three rushing touchdowns. Barkley and Henry have not accomplished this in any game this season, while Joe Mixon did rush for three touchdowns only once. This puts Jacobs in a class of his own.
Later on in the game, Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs joined that club as well by passing the 1,000 rushing yards mark. Other NFL running backs like Kyren Williams (926) and Chuba Hubbard (919) have a good chance of joining that club this week as well.
There are now four NFL players with 1,000 rushing yards. Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley are the others, which means that Alabama has 75% of the NFL’s 1,000 yard club at this point in the season.
That’s about it for today. Have a great weekend.
Roll Tide.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
