3rd Saturday in Blogtober

A Brief Look at the Crimson Tide in the NFL

During the last decade, save the occasional outlier, Alabama had not maintained any eminence it may have ever held as an elite football talent factory.  However, success in that arena has improved the past couple seasons, demonstrated by the production of three first-round picks and six other former Tiders snagged in the first three rounds of the last two NFL Drafts.
As the Big League enters its second week of 2010 warmup games, ‘Bama boasts a total of 33 32 former players, including 10 nine rookies, on NFL preseason rosters.  Some of them are turning heads, and UA will likely be better represented than it has been in recent years, quantitatively at least, when the regular season begins in early September (For example, on opening day in 2009 the Tide had only 18 former players on active NFL rosters. Two years prior (2007) wasn’t much better with 21).

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On NFL draft day, there was some concern about Eric Berry being drafted where he belonged because of the salary structure associated with the first several picks. Taking a safety with that high of a pick basically ensured that by paying him the going rate for that pick, you’d be breaking the pay scale of NFL defensive backs across the board.

The Kansas City Chiefs didn’t care. They saw an elite talent, picked the former Tennessee All-American fifth overall and on Friday, signed EB14 [who is now EB29??] to a six year, potential $60 million contract with $34 million in guaranteed money. He is currently on his way to training camp, where he’ll start knocking heads for an SEC-loaded Chiefs team that became my favorite team with the addition of Berry. For all you other KC fans, they also drafted Javier Arenas and Dexter McCluster — both of which are impressing thus far.

Berry confirmed signing on Twitter by saying: “Bout to head to St. Joe. AKA, deal’s done!”

In case you don’t know much about Berry, the 2009 Jim Thorpe Award winner is the closest thing Vols fans have had to bragging rights in years.

Vols fans were duped by BB

It was March 16, 2009, a day I hammered  the “Refresh” button like a carpenter on crack, waiting, anticipating the impending decision of Bryce Brown. The No. 1 player in the nation according to Rivals.com was going to pick where he would supposedly spend the next four years of his life. A Tennessee hat was on that table, and we needed another top running back in the stable.

I’ll never forget Brown — the talented but tainted running back from Wichita, Kansas — putting on that orange cap, donning the Power T. It was recruiting glory in all its raw euphoria. It was calling my buddies and WOOOOO!ing like some fools do when they sing Rocky Top. It was puffing out our chest and putting in the rear view the frustrating past few years. It was smack-talking with everybody who dared say anything about Lane Kiffin that the man was doing work. It was a sign, that day at least, that the Big Orange was back.

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Gary Russell’s multiple stories makes me wonder just who we can trust?

How many of you Vols fans out there are ready for this newest nightmare to be over?

Yes, I know every one of you raised your hands in unison. Me too. But patience is a virtue, and we absolutely have to practice that in this situation. Here’s why: The Tennessee bar brawl story has so many twists and turns, so much finger-pointing and so many players who may/may not be involved that, at this point, we should all really just sit back and wait until the investigation is completed before we rush to judgment.

I know that’s not easy.

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Awful news this afternoon. Former Alabama defensive coordinator and interim head coach Joe Kines‘s daughter was killed in a head-on auto collision today in Tuscaloosa.