Kendrick Blackshire; House of Love and Death (via MyPerfectFranchise.Net)
- By Alex Dunlap
- Inside the 40 Acres
- 16 Replies
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Kendrick Blackshire is a good player.
The Bama transfer LB committed to Texas in during his recent visit to Texas and left many wondering if this was a re-do of the Ben Davis, Jahleel Billingsley and Agiye Hall experiments where Texas went after Alabama's scraps in the transfer portal and Longhorn fans were appalled to eventually find that Texas had indeed come away with ... well ... scraps.
Today certainly feels different for many reasons. First, Texas is in a new place now. The team is entering the SEC coming off its first appearance in the College Football Playoff and a Big 12 Championship, sending that trash heap of a conference down the river for good. Second, Alabama is flailing. Just flailing, and it's really a sight to behold. The Tide is hemorrhaging impact difference-makers to the transfer portal and to decommitment following the retirement of Nick Saban. I'd say not to take too much joy in it, because the pendulum always eventually swings back and one day you might find yourself in a similar situation somehow, but screw it. You can have all the fun you want watching Alabama suffer. It's college football, afterall, and Bama fans have been among the most insufferable for basically a generation at this point.
CFB commentator Josh Pate had a good analogy on his radio show (or podcast?) this week that I saw clipped on X. He said that Alabama fans under 35 are "trust fund fans". Kind of like a trust fund baby who grows up with money, gets everything handed to them, and never knows real suffering or hardship. They don't know about worrying over 8-win seasons or, God forbid, sweating something like bowl eligibility or even contemplating a recruiting class outside of the national Top 10.
Texas went out and got one of the bigger properties on Bama's monopoly board in WR Isaiah Bond right off the bat, while now other premiere assets such as Caleb Downs and Kadyn Proctor have hit the open market. Kendrick Blackshire isn't that kind of name.
And let's be clear: he's a backup at Alabama. He came to Tuscaloosa as a highly praised recruit who looks like a million bucks and has freakish strength. But, he simply wasn't as good as starters Deontae Lawson (no.32) and Jihad Campbell (no.30) at the true, off-ball inside linebacker position. Unless, of course, you listen to PFF, who has Blackshire ranked as the best player on the Tide's whole defense for 2023 (subscription required).
And we can talk all day about why you shouldn't read too much into PFF grades (PFF data for alignments, routes, throw direction, etc. is not the same as their cockamamie grades and is actually valuable), but the reason I went there in the first place wasn't to examine his grade at all, it was just to see what games Blackshire played the most in so I'd know which ones to go watch. What I found is he played a pretty decent bit in 2023: 102 total snaps. He played about as often for Alabama as someone like Morice Blackwell did for Texas. The difference being, Blackwell was used as a third LB in sub packages for Texas. So was Jett Bush. So was Anthony Hill before he finally, inevitably, won a starting job. That is not how Blackshire got on the field. He was not a third, sub-package LB. He was a backup and a platoon player who played almost exclusively in an off-ball alignment in the box, never outside, only twice all season even up on the line of scrimmage. He was an inside linebacker's inside linebacker for the Tide.
He will surely start out at the mike linebacker position for Texas and should push David Gbenda for starting duties next to Anthony Hill at the will in base sets. Despite being a backup at Alabama, he's actually a very good downhill thumper. He's not the fastest sideline to sideline and he's a little bit stiff as many muscle-bound dudes tend to be. But he has a nose for the football, is extremely adept at shedding would-be blockers in pursuit and is a very sure form-tackler who wraps up and brings his hips through the collision. On a Texas defense that will be losing a little bit of ground as far as stoutness against the run with the loss of Byron Murphy and T'Vondre Sweat, Blackshire will be an asset at level two of the defense with his physicality, strength and ability to navigate through traffic to the football.
He's no Ben Davis, that's for sure.
*****
Getting Caught up on a few Book Reviews
Football Done Right by Michael Lombardi
FROM THE PUBLISHER: With Football Done Right, Lombardi tackles all aspects of the sport, discussing the best of the best. He channels his 35+ years of experience with the NFL into an all-encompassing celebration of the game. More than just ranking the giants of the league, Lombardi shows how and why each affected the game. Mixing first-person, in-the-locker-room experience with little known history and hard stats, Lombardi makes a definitive case for the most influential coaches and the best players, and also offers an insider look to how drafts and trades operate behind the scenes and honoring the sportscasters who played an essential role in popularizing the sport. Both a full history of the sport and a comprehensive re-imagining of the Football Hall of Fame to honor every deserving athlete and coach, Football Done Right will change the way you watch, discuss, and debate the gridiron.
ALEX'S THOUGHTS: I read everything Lombardi writes, and finally something came along that didn't interest me at all: him arguing why certain coaches and players should be in the hall of fame. It's just not the kind of football talk I gravitate to, but if you do ... Lombardi is among the best communicators alive about football so I'm sure you would love it. I DID NOT FINISH THE BOOK SO IT RECEIVED NO GRADE AND IT WILL NOT BE ADDED TO THE LIST.
The Trackers (Series) by Nicholas Sansbury Smith
FROM THE PUBLISHER: Five days ago, North Korea detonated three strategically placed nuclear warheads over the United States, triggering an electromagnetic pulse that crippled the country. A second attack destroyed the nerve center of America in a nuclear blast that flattened the nation's capital. As the government falls apart in the aftermath, the survivors must decide how far they will go to save the ones they love.
In this lawless new world where the most ruthless thrive while innocents suffer, a sheriff, a retired marine, a nurse, and a senator turned secretary of defense are faced with keeping their communities and families safe. One thing is certain - they won't be able to save everyone. Not with their humanity still intact.
The explosive Trackers series is a harrowing story of survival and a realistic depiction of what an EMP attack and the aftermath might look like from former Homeland Security disaster mitigation officer and New York Times best-selling author Nicholas Sansbury Smith. Packed full of action, survival tips, and a unique twist on the EMP genre, the Trackers series has thrilled hundreds of thousands of fans across the world.
ALEX'S THOUGHTS: This series is fine. The whole EMP-genre of post-apocalyptic thriller is interesting to me, and when you add in a tracking/outdoors/Native American legends elements to it, I figured I would be totally hooked, and they did get me for two books, but those two books felt like one in the same. I didn't care to read the final two for this reason. Entertaining, but the series as a whole didn't keep my interest anywhere near some of the other series in the list below. I DID NOT FINISH THE SERIES SO IT RECEIVED NO GRADE AND IT WILL NOT BE ADDED TO THE LIST.
The House of Love and Death by Andrew Klavan
FROM THE PUBLISHER: Cameron Winter is known for having a sense about crime. His background as a spy trained his mind―and his body―for action, and his current role as an English professor gives him a sharp understanding of human nature. But beyond that, he was born with a "strange habit of mind"―the ability to recreate detailed crime scenes in his imagination and dissect the motives and encounters that produced them. And after reading a puzzling news story about a wealthy family killed in a small town in the Chicago suburbs, he can't resist the chance to apply this deductive power in the pursuit of justice for the victims.
Three members of the family, along with their live-in nanny, were pulled from their burning mansion, already dead from gunshot wounds. The only survivor is a young boy whose memory of the event raises more questions than answers. The police seem happy to settle on a simple explanation and arrest the most obvious suspect―but Winter knows that obvious solutions are seldom the correct ones, and all too often hide a darker truth.
ALEX'S THOUGHTS: Andrew Klavan is a master of the written word, it's like he takes hours to craft every sentence. I just love his style of writing that I first came to know in the first novel of the Cameron Winter series called "When Christmas Comes." Neither this book (the third in the series) or the previous one (the second, "A Strange Habit of Mind") live up to the original book which was my introduction to Winter -- a truly unique and mysteriously likable protagonist, but man all of these are really good. There's always some sort of twist and Winter is always some kinda weird. I certainly recommend this book and GIVE IT 3.75 STARS.
- Alex's Daily Short Reading List (updated1-18-2024)
Books I've read or listened to on Audiobook since I've been sharing these reviews on OB (this list is not encompassing of all of my favorite books although it certainly includes a few of them - books I recommend reading/listening to start at 3.5 stars - I will review every book I read, but only list those that I awarded 3.5 stars and up here).
Lonesome Dove (5 stars)
Joe Pickett Series (5 stars)
The Undoing Project (5 stars)
The Accidental Superpower (5 stars)
I Am Pilgrim (5 stars)
Empire of the Summer Moon (5 stars)
Gridiron Genius (5 Stars)
The Cartel (5 stars)
Disunited Nations (5 stars)
Lone Survivor (5 stars)
The Terminal List Series (5 stars)
The Gray Man Series (5 stars)
The Son (4.75 stars)
Seasons of Man Series (4.75 stars)
The Lincoln Highway (4.75 stars)
The 4-Hour Work Week (4.75 stars)
Astroball (4.75 stars)
Project Hail Mary (4.75 stars)
Tier One Series (4.75 stars)
Shantaram (4.5 stars)
Dueling With Kings (4.5 stars)
Wanderers (4.5 stars)
Back of Beyond (4.25 stars)
Blue Heaven (4.25 stars)
The Border (4.25 stars)
Wrath of the Khans - Dan Carlin Podcast Series (4.25 stars)
The Time it Never Rained (4.25 stars)
Hard Country (4.25 stars)
This Tender Land (4 stars)
Supermarket (4 stars)
Ready Player Two (4 stars)
When Christmas Comes (4 stars)
Hollywood Park (4 stars)
Fields of Fire (4 stars)
Terminal Rage (4 stars)
The Great Alone (3.75 stars)
Hunting El Chapo (3.75 stars)
The President is Missing (3.75 stars)
The First Conspiracy (3.75 stars)
REAMDE (3.75 stars)
American Wolf (3.75 stars)
The End is Always Near (3.75 stars)
Second Wind (3.75 stars)
The End of the World is Just the Beginning (3.75 stars)
A Strange Habit of Mind (3.75 stars)
The River (3.75 stars)
The House of Love and Death (3.75 stars)
A Bright Shore (3.5 stars)
The Lost City of the Monkey God (3.5 stars)
The Summer That Melted Everything (3.5 stars)
The North Water (3.5 stars)
Deep Survival (3.5 stars)
The Boy From the Woods (3.5 stars)
The Frackers (3.5 stars)
Arliss Cutter Series (3.5 stars)
AS ALWAYS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW ANY BOOKS YOU WOULD RECOMMEND, PREFERABLY THAT ARE AVAILABLE ON AUDIOBOOK. MANY OF THE BEST BOOKS ON THIS LIST HAVE COME VIA RECOMMENDATIONS ON ORANGEBLOODS.
Packers were Mean to Cowboy Cheerleaders
- By HornLegacy
- Inside the 40 Acres
- 33 Replies
Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse.
"Y’all, the Cowboys versus Packers game last Sunday, I have never experienced such disrespect from the other team’s players to the cheerleaders in my five years as an NFL cheerleader," she explained in the video. "Like, we would literally be minding our own business and the Packers just scored a touchdown – this is just one example. They would come up to us standing on the sidelines, minding our own business, and start yelling at us.
Lassiter’s teammates, Jensen Merrill, posted in the comments to back up her story. "Literally was on the verge of tears," she wrote.
www.foxnews.com
"Y’all, the Cowboys versus Packers game last Sunday, I have never experienced such disrespect from the other team’s players to the cheerleaders in my five years as an NFL cheerleader," she explained in the video. "Like, we would literally be minding our own business and the Packers just scored a touchdown – this is just one example. They would come up to us standing on the sidelines, minding our own business, and start yelling at us.
Lassiter’s teammates, Jensen Merrill, posted in the comments to back up her story. "Literally was on the verge of tears," she wrote.
Cowboys cheerleader goes viral saying Packers players were disrespectful during game: 'On the verge of tears'
A Dallas Cowboys cheerleader went viral after claiming the Green Bay Packers were disrespecting them during their Wild Card Game win this past weekend.
