Talked to a friend from Longview and he knows the Hale family,he said that Jalen Hale is considering hitting the portal ,wants to be closer to home--utx

Miley Candy for @Ketchum

What was she thinking?

Just got a DM from Bolden that he's still scheduled to visit this weekend and that he'll be arriving in the morning.

I would like for the sub to appear on my Amazon list of subs. In attempting to subscribe through my fire TV I’m being asked to create a peacock account login/Pass. That threw me off a bit. Will it still appear on my Amazon list of subs?

Don't know if some of you have seen this. She is considered one of our own.

Technically this is level 3 info but it’s relayed to me by close friend who spoke to a level 1 in Norvell’s camp that would definitely know.

Norvell was offered the job. The money was right. He was very close to accepting. However, it became clear to Mike that Saban would have his hand way up his ass for quite a while. He did not want to live under Nick’s thumb so he declined.

It Took The Best Program of the Last 15 Years Four Inquiries/Interviews to Get a "Yes".

How Much of That Was the "GOAT Effect" - That People Were Uncertain of Following Not Only a Legend, But Also the GOAT Coach of CFB?

Did Saban Become Alabama and Alabama Become Saban To Such An Extent That With His Departure The Shine is Off?

Or Were The First Three Choices Just in a Better Place Than What They Saw In Their Future at the Crimson Tide?

***

1st Choice - Steve Sarkisian - Texas

By All Reports Was The Guy They Coveted For All The Reasons Listed Many Times on This Board

But How Does Sark See It - Texas and It's Leadership Gave Him a Shot At Redeeming Himself as a Head Coach at a Blue-Blood School. Someone That Preaches Culture Like Sark Where Emphasizing Trust and Loyalty Staying at Texas Was In His Character. I Think His Personality is More ATX Than Tuscaloosa (And Apparently for His Wife Too). He Sees the Resources of Texas - Money/NIL/Alumni/World's Most Recognized College Brand/Fan Support That Far Exceeds Bama Without Saban. He Gets to Create His Own Legend/History Here Outside the Shadow of The GOAT CFB Coach. He Also Knows He Has the Pieces In Place to Be In The Championship Race Annually Without Having to "Start Over" or Convince Kids to Stay at Bama vs Hitting the Portal & It Will Be a Rebuild at Bama As They Lose Top Talent Over the Next 30 Days. He Has His Guys and He's Loaded With More On the Way (Exception for Now Being DT & TE)

2nd Choice - Dan Lanning - Oregon

Obviously When Nike is YOUR NIL You're in a Good Spot During Portal Kombat Season. I Don't Think Alabama Will Ever Have the Financial Resources of The Ducks. Lanning's Personality Which Seems to Be a Bit "Cocky" is Likely a Better Fit On The West Coast Than the Deep South Especailly in Tusculoosa and a Stark Comparison to Saban. He's Also Just Finished Year 2 of a New Gig Assembling a Team - Doubt He Wants to Already Go Through That Process Again So Quickly. His Brand of Football Will Be Exciting in the Boring BIG Now in The BIG Can Also Recruit Better Than Being In the PAC - He Remains Plugged Into West Coast Talent & Gets Better Games and Game Times

3rd Choice - Mike Norvell - Florida State

He's Experinced a Recent Rebuild of a Major Program Already - Even Doing a Mini-Rebuild May Not Have Been Appealing - He Was One Injury Away From the Playoffs. FSU is a Strong Program and Just Outside a Blue-Blood. Best Reason to Stay Put is Staying Out of The Ultra-Competive SEC and Coaching in the ACC. The ACC is Not the SEC but it is "Respectable" With FSU/Clemson Being Top Tier Then UNC/Miami as Solid Teams Followed by Up and Down Teams Like Va Tech/Pitt/Louisville. Win That Conference and You Are Guaranteed a Playoff Spot Without Grinding Your Team Thru the SEC. Like Austin Tallahasse Is a Better Fit/Offer More Than Tusculoosa. All in All Easier to Be a Big Fish in a Smaller Pond

***

So As Much As Has Been Talked About The "GOAT Effect" of Not Wanting To Follow a Legend I Don't Feel That's Why Bama Had to Go With Their 4th Choice.

The Top 3 Choices Just See Better Opportunities Where They Currently Coach

On the Other Hand, It Also Says Alabama is Not The Premier Job In the Country or It Would Have Been Filled After the First Inquiry/Interview

Like Everything In Life it's a Mixed Bag

Have a Great Weekend and Hook 'Em!

https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/stor...football-georgia-secondary-coach/72214265007/

Hope the next headline is “Alabama DL Coach to Texas”.

Saban may have followed in the Bear’s footsteps and replaced him as GOAT, but I hope he doesn’t follow The Bear’s footsteps into retirement. Bryant died 4 weeks after he retired. I grew up in Birmingham in the 60s and early 70s, and had no choice than to be a ‘Bama fan. I’d watch The Bear’s after game show every Sunday, eating the same Lays potato chips and drinking Pepsi like the Bear. Between his eating habits and smoking like a chimney he looked much older when he retired at 69 than Saban does in his 70s. Coaching must be a hard life, but Saban seems to have taken care of himself. I hope he gets to enjoy many years in retirement. He certainly earned it.

https://x.com/mzenitz/status/1745920053428584901?s=46&t=qXDxLlRHJLRVABLOkGgkRA
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Cousins holding down the corners? Sounds good to me. Any idea if he will consider Texas mods?

z

The coaches are probably aware of this...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ot...3968f60fd1a78a72303&ocid=winp2fptaskbar&ei=17

Any smoke?

Cliffs Notes: Alabama linebacker transfer Kendrick Blackshire's has scheduled a visit to Texas for this upcoming weekend.

Rankings: Here's the industry breakdown of his 2021 HS rankings...

LSR: (5.8) Low 4 star, No.28 in Texas
Rivals: (5.9) Mid 4 star, No.122 nationally, No.19 in Texas
On3: (90) Low 4 star
247: (91) Low 4 star, No.221 nationally, No.34 in Texas
ESPN: (82) Low 4 star, No.236 nationally, No.41 in Texas

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Resume: Played primarily as a reserve at linebacker for Alabama the last three year, while also playing on special teams. Recorded 16 total tackles, had a quarterback pressure, a fumble recovery and a tackle for loss for the Tide in 2023. Recorded three tackles in the game against the Longhorns in September. Played roughly 20% of Alabama's defensive snaps at linebacker early in the season, but that number dropped slightly as te season progressed. Pro Football Focus listed him with only 102 defensive snaps during the season and all but 4 of those snaps were in the box.



Evaluation: Blackshire is an in-the-box linebacker that Alabama people will tell you is more than solid in the box as a downhill, run-stuffing force who brings solid athleticism to the table, although not the most diverse set of skills to the table, as he was rarely used in coverage or as a pass rusher/blitzer. Plays with a high level of energy and attitude

Is he any good? Alabama folks seem to think he a pretty good player who provided solid depth at the linebacker position, although almost everyone seems to acknowledge that he simply might have never been able to crack the starting line-up for the Tide. It sounds like those that follow the Tide would have loved the veteran experience he brings to the table. It sounds like the return of starting middle linebacker Deontae Lawson was the final straw in Blackshire's Alabama career because he is looking to be a starter in year four of his college career and it wasn't happening with the status quo.

Why it matters: Assuming David Gbenda returns (no announcement has been made), the Longhorns have three linebackers with experience on the depth chart - Gbenda, Anthony Hill and Morice Blackwell. Yet, none of those guys are Mike linebackers. Are either Liona Lefau or Derion Gullette ready to start? If the answer is no, Blackshire would likely give them veteran depth at a minimum and possibly a starter at best? The move would seem to be a bit of an insurance policy.

What an Alabama source says: "Built like Tarzan, not sure if he hits like Jane? Definitely 1000000% better than Ben Davis. I think it would be a solid pickup and something to be excited about tbh. (He's) behind two NFL guys. He’s real good. Deontae Lawson and Jihaad Campbell are first round type guys though. I think it’s a tough loss for Bama."

According to IT. Oregon also after him. Washington players on sale too, just like Bama.
I don’t know that any corner did a better job on Worthy the times they played each other.

anyone playing the 100k grander tournament tomorrow. In SA

Here are a few notes about players I have gathered after checking in with multiple sources on Friday night:

1. Texas tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders is leaning toward returning for the 2024 season. There is nothing definitive at this moment. However, Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian outlined to Sanders why returning for his senior season makes sense and the tight end is listening.

2. EDGE Barryn Sorrell is contemplating entering the NFL Draft. Sorrell is weighing his options but people inside the building want him to stay.

3. There is nothing new to report about receiver Adonai Mitchell. No news is good news for the Longhorns at this point.

4. Texas is working on backup plans if Mitchell leaves. However, everyone inside the building wants Mitchell back next season.

5. Ketch previously reported Texas LB David Gbenda is expected to return.

6. Longhorn QB Quinn Ewers has not officially announced he will return but that seemingly remains a formality.

7. Houston defensive lineman Jamaree Caldwell to Texas is trending in the right direction.

Before I get into the specific of some of the tweaks that we're making to the Orangebloods Live line-up, I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for the support this football season for the OB Youtube Channel. When we made the move to go live for 9+ hours of daily content on the channel, it was a little bit of a leap of faith because there really weren't any examples for us to follow.

That so many of you have enjoyed and supported the shows means a lot to us. It's food for the soul.

That being said, as we get ready to head into the biggest off-season in the history of Texas football (maybe some hyperbole, but maybe not), we're making a few tweaks to what we're doing. It turns out that less is more in the way of Youtube success. All of the analytical data shows us that 90+ percent of the audience comes nowhere close to listening to the full shows that we're putting together and that the total running time on videos scares off potential viewers because of the sheer viewing-time demands.

We knew much of this was a real possibility going in, but you can't hit home runs if you don't swing the bat and we wanted to swing the bat and see if we could create success with an unprecedented idea. While we feel like what we did this season was a success, the analytics are telling us that we need to make some tweaks.

Therefore, we're moving to a new line-up on Monday. It'll be many of the same shows with shorter running times and a few tweak mixed in. Here's the new Monday thru Friday daytime line-up.

Monday/Wednesday/Friday

9AM - The Old Fashioned (with Anwar Richardson)

12PM - House Divided (with Geoff Ketchum and Chad Hastings)

2pm - Football With Friends (with Alex Dunlap)

4pm - Orangebloods Recruiting Hour (with Geoff Ketchum and Chad Hastings)

Tuesday/Thursday

9AM - The Old Fashioned (with Anwar Richardson)

12PM - House Divided (with Geoff Ketchum and Chad Hastings)

2pm - The Crapbag (With Chad Hastings)

4pm - The Orangebloods Modcast

Of course, The Outsiders will still run three nights a week at 9PM and we'll continue to look to add new shows to the channel, while increasing our weekend content, but this is where things stand as of this moment.

The 3 things that we want to accomplish are the following:

a. More viewer-friendly content.

b. More Modcasts.

c. More recruiting.

We hope you enjoy the changes.

He does things other players can't do

Wonder if Washington responds BIG

Finebaum reporting that Pete Thamel says Deboer has informed UW he is accepting the Bama job and will hold a team meeting at 3:30 pm to inform the team.

Offensive lineman Michael Fasusi is one of the country’s top prospects in the 2025 recruiting class. The Lewisville standout has collected nearly 40 scholarship offers at this early stage of the recruiting process. A five-star prospect, Fasusi knows he’ll need to trim his list at some point. Those cuts should be coming soon.

After National Signing Day in February, Fasusi’s plan is to narrow his focus down to 8 or 10 schools. It’s still a work in progress, but Fasusi says the Texas Longhorns will be one of the schools that remains standing when he puts out a list.

“That’s not even in question,” Fasusi said.

Prior to revealing his favorites, Fasusi will take a tour of some junior day visits in January. He’ll visit Texas A&M this Saturday. On January 20, he’ll be at either Missouri or Texas. On January 22, he’s planning to get to Oregon for a visit.

Fasusi has been a regular visitor to the UT campus, having made multiple stops by the 40 Acres since picking up a Texas offer roughly 11 months ago. He and Texas offensive line coach Kyle Flood have formed a strong bond, and Fasusi said it gets better by the day.

“Our relationship getting deeper every single day. If I end up choosing to visit them on the 20th, that would be a good choice,” Fasusi said.

Fasusi is also friendly with some of the current Texas team members, as well as some of the incoming freshman class.

“The brotherhood (stands out). I know a lot of the team up there. I have a bond with them,” Fasusi said. “Neto (Umeozulu), he had just texted me. They’re reaching out for sure. That’s something I love. And you see how far they went this season … they’re going to be great next year too.”

Though he’ll be cutting his list down soon, Fasusi doesn’t have a firm timeline for a final decision.

“I don’t really know. I really just want to take my time,” Fasusi said. “I’d say in the meantime, it’s really me just narrowing schools down.”

The 6-5, 284-pound Fasusi is the No. 4-ranked player in the state of Texas and the No. 11-ranked player in the country overall.

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Confirmed that Bond will be visiting this weekend.

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Here's some Oklahoma history books for you since you asked.

Our Land before we Die. It's a story of the Seminole Indians tribe that was sent to Oklahoma and the reservation they were on and the former black slaves that they shared lands and families with.

Uniquely Oklahoma. One of the basic histories of Oklahoma.

Before the land run: a story of some of the historic all black towns of Oklahoma.

There are a lot of others Mitch I would suggest checking Amazon or thrift books and type in Oklahoma history you might find something that interest you.

I found some really good Texas history at Thrift Books.

A few notes to pass along from both Anwar and I on the events of the last 24 hours...

1. In light of the Bo Davis situation, we'll make sure not to be too emphatic about how strongly we word this (because folks change their minds), but as of now there doesn't seem to be any real uneasiness with regards to Steve Sarkisian and the Alabama job. We've checked around with multiple people and the vibe we get is that the focus is much more on getting an extension done than there is fear of losing Sarkisian.

2. We were told everyone needs to be patient, but there's no doubt that there's a sense of urgency to get an extension for Sarkisian done. He's going to get p-a-i-d, but it sounds like there's maybe not quite a sprint to get it done, but maybe a slight jog.

3. The bottom line is that the focus is on getting Sarkisian's extension taken care of as quickly as possible without being reckless about it. No one has even mentioned Alabama's job opening other than to confess that the timing of the opening isn't great when you're trying to be diligent (yet careful) in putting together an extension that everyone is happy with.