and so it goes.

Former four-star LB, Michael Ferns, leaving Michigan for WVU-cft

College Football's Postseason Awards for 2014-athlon

Athlon hands out the hardware for 2014.

Alabama’s early entry candidates-sds

The best teams will always lose talent early to the NFL draft, and Alabama certainly falls into that category. The Crimson Tide have been somewhat fortunate the last two years, losing just seven players in total to early entry. Nick Saban and his coaching staff are likely preparing for that number to jump after Alabama’s season is finished.

Who are the players that could put their name into the ring for the NFL draft come springtime?

Landon Collins, safety

Collins could well become the second Alabama safety in three years chosen in the first round, following Mark Barron and HaHa Clinton-Dix. Thanks to his size, speed and instincts — not to mention his impressive season, in which he led Alabama with 90 tackles and three interceptions — Collins should be a first round pick, and some projections have him as high as the top five. If that’s the case, it would be silly for the Thorpe Award finalist to risk hurting his stock in his senior season.

Amari Cooper, wide receiver

This is a no-brainer, and Lane Kiffin already has said publicly that he fully expects Cooper will put his name into the draft. After shattering just about every Alabama receiving record imaginable, winning the Biletnikoff Award and earning a trip to New York as a Heisman finalist, there’s nothing left for Cooper to prove at the college level. He’ll be a top-10 pick come draft day.

Ryan Kelly, center

Kelly is one of the best centers in the SEC and has a claim among the top tier of centers in the nation, but he seems like a lock to come back for his senior season. Losing him would be a major blow for the Crimson Tide, as Arie Kouandjio, Leon Brown and Austin Shepherd were all seniors in 2014. Kelly once again missed several games this season, but if he had been healthy this would be more of a question.

Reggie Ragland, inside linebacker

After spending his first two seasons on campus mostly on special teams, Ragland took hold of a starting role and impressed as a junior. He finished second on the team with 86 tackles and had 8.5 tackles for loss, and the AP voted him as a first-team All-SEC performer. With only one year of starting experience, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Ragland come back for another year of seasoning, but his strong season and physical skills leave the door open.

T.J. Yeldon, running back

The NFL is not anywhere near as keen on drafting running backs as it was just a few years ago, when Alabama standout Trent Richardson was the third overall pick in 2012. Even after a lackluster junior year, Yeldon’s stock might not get any higher than the second-round grade that most experts have assigned him. This will be a running back-heavy year, though, with Todd Gurley, Tevin Coleman, Melvin Ingram, Ameer Abdullah and Duke Johnson all projected to go ahead of or right around Yeldon should he enter the draft.

Grading Alabama’s recruiting class entering the dead period-sds

The Alabama Crimson Tide hardly have to recruit to bring in a stud recruiting class. The Tide have had four straight No. 1 recruiting classes, and with seven weeks until National Signing Day they once again have the top-ranked class in the country.

Entering the recruiting dead period, the Crimson Tide are ranked No. 1 by 247sports’ composite rankings with 23 commitments, ahead of No. 2 Florida State. Alabama already has four five-star recruits in this class and coaches are still working on several others.

Offense: A (10 total commits)

Alabama’s future looks extremely bright, despite presumably losing record-breaking receiver Amari Cooper to the NFL, as well as quarterback Blake Sims and several linemen to graduation. The Crimson Tide will bring in the top-ranked quarterback and wide receiver in the country, with dual-threat QB Blake Barnett and WR Calvin Ridley already committing to the Crimson Tide. Alabama has four four-star offensive guard commits, but only one running back so far in this class.

Defense: A (13 total commits)

After a bountiful recruiting haul last year, Alabama is bringing in just as much talent in 2015. They’ll supplement the two five-star defensive backs from the 2014 class with two more this year, CB Minkah Fitzpatrick and S Deionte Thompson. Alabama has eight four-star recruits on the defensive side, although only one of them is a defensive end.

Recruiting needs

Alabama is still working on a few running back recruits that would help bolster depth at the position. T.J. Yeldon may leave for the NFL draft, which would leave Alabama with just one running back with significant experience heading into 2015. They could also use a boost at defensive end, where they’re chasing two of the top prospects in the nation. That position isn’t quite as pressing, as the Crimson Tide expect former five-star recruit Da’Shawn Hand, who didn’t play much as a freshman this year, to take a leap forward in 2015.

Saban tops list of finalists for Dodd Trophy for coach of the year-sds

Although most of the college football awards have already been handed out, University of Alabama coach Nick Saban was one of 12 finalists named for the Dodd Trophy for Coach of the Year.

Four other coaches from the Southeastern Conference made the list: Hugh Freeze of Ole Miss, Dan Mullen of Mississippi State, Gary Pinkel of Missouri and Mark Richt of Georgia.
The Dodd Trophy “recognizes the head coach of a team that emphasizes the highest ideals of scholarship, leadership and integrity on and off the field.”
It’s one of the few coaching of the year awards that Saban hasn’t won, but Bill Curry did at Alabama in 1989.
The finalists:
Art Briles, Baylor, Big 12
Jimbo Fisher, Florida State, ACC
Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss, SEC
Bryan Harsin, Boise State, Mountain West
Urban Meyer, Ohio State, Big Ten
Jim Mora, UCLA, Pac 12
Dan Mullen, Mississippi State, SEC
Gary Patterson, TCU, Big 12 2009 Winner
Gary Pinkel, Missouri, SEC
Mark Richt, Georgia, SEC
Nick Saban, Alabama, SEC
Dabo Swinney, Clemson, ACC 2011 Winner
The winner will be announced in Atlanta during Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl week.

Alabama Ace Recruiter: Mario Cristobal-sds

Mario Cristobal is one of many big names on a star-studded Alabama staff. Nick Saban hired the former Florida International head coach away from Miami’s staff before the 2013 season to be his offensive line coach. Cristobal has recruiting ties to South Florida, but has a reach that extends across the Southeast.

Cristobal has helped put together offensive lines that have dominated the past two seasons, ranking first and third in the SEC in sacks allowed in 2014 and 2013, respectively. He’s also been instrumental in bringing in several big-time commitments in his two years in Tuscaloosa.

Cristobal’s top all-time commits at Alabama

• Five-star LT Cam Robinson, West Monroe, La. (2014 class)
• Five-star WR Calvin Ridley, Pompano Beach, Fla. (2015 class)
• Five-star CB Minkah Fitzpatrick, Jersey City, N.J. (2015 class)

Current targets

• Five-star OT Martez Ivey, Apopka, Fla. (2015 class)
• Four-star RB Jacques Patrick, Orlando, Fla. (2015 class)
• Four-star DT Daron Payne, Birmingham, Ala. (2015 class)

Salary

• 2014: $500,000

History with Crimson Tide

Cristobal was an up-and-coming coach when Florida International brought him over from his alma mater Miami in 2007 to be its new head coach. FIU had only had a football program for six years at that point, and Cristobal was their first coach hired at the Division I-A/FBS level. Cristobal went 27-47 in six years, getting the Panthers to two bowl games before being fired after 2012.
Cristobal landed on his feet back at Miami as offensive line coach in January 2013, but a month later Saban came calling. Alabama’s offensive line needed rebuilding after former line coach moved up to the NFL level with the Philadelphia Eagles. Cristobal came in and immediately hit the recruiting trail, offering more than 10 recruits in his first months on the job. That continues this year, as Alabama has landed four four-star linemen and just flipped a former LSU commit.

Alabama players love the fans in their crazy state-sds

Everyone knows it: football in Alabama is just different.

It’s not just a perception, either. Fans in the Yellowhammer State are more football-crazed than even their neighbors in the SEC. A recent, fairly unscientific study by the New York Times showed that more people in Alabama “like” a college football team on Facebook than in any other state, further proof of the love Alabama has for its college teams.
The players at Alabama and Auburn feel the love, too. No matter where they come from, they feel the passion that emanates from the stands.
“I can definitely tell that football is a huge part of the culture,” said Alabama’s JK Scott, a Colorado native.
Scott, a freshman punter, earned attention all on his own with his stellar season. The Ray Guy Award nominee finished third in the country in punting average. Even playing a significant role for a high-profile team as a true freshman, he didn’t anticipate the kind of attention he receives.
“It’s a much bigger deal (in Alabama),” Scott said to SDS at the Home Depot College Football Awards. “All aspects of football, you know, special teams, the punting, I guess you’re going to get attention.”
Alabama fans proved that in spades as Scott walked the red carpet before the awards show, as the punter was unable to go more than a few feet at a time before one of the Crimson Tide faithful lining the barricades would scream for him to stop for a picture or autograph.
And that’s life as one of the more unrecognizable players on the team — Scott says his fellow students don’t usually recognize him around campus yet. Amari Cooper and Landon Collins, both on hand as nominees at the College Football Awards along with Scott, received even bigger receptions from the fans at Walt Disney World, and draw far more attention on a regular basis.
On the awards’ red carpet, Cooper and Collins kept interviewers waiting as the adoring Crimson Tide fans called their names. Cooper, for one, appreciates all the love the fans give to the team.
“Since my freshmen year, they’ve been treating everyone on the team like they love them,” the record-breaking receiver said to SDS.
Just like Coopoer came from Miami to Alabama to play football, he knows that plenty of his classmates came to Alabama to watch him and his teammates play.
“The fans in Alabama love football,” the Biletnikoff award winner said. “The students love football. It’s part of the reason they come to the school.”
Cooper, Scott and the rest of the Crimson Tide have made any students who based their decision to attend Alabama feel pretty smart this year. Just as they reward the fans who come out by the thousands every Saturday, the fans give the love right back.