She came in to score four pitches later on a wild pitch to give Alabama the 1-0 lead. In the latest college football head coach rankings by College Sports Wire‘s Patrick Conn, DeBoer ranks No. 7 on a list of the top-12 coaches from across the nation. The Alabama Crimson Tide coaching staff is wrapping up its time on the road as the NCAA contact period comes to an end on Friday.
This would have been an epic Camp Randall Stadium night game, right up there with the best atmospheres in recent memory. It’s a different Alabama team with Nick Saban retiring during the offseason. Yet it’s still a formidable team likely to open the season ranked in the top 10. Fickell will have an opportunity to earn a signature win during his brief time at Wisconsin.
The Oklahoma Sooners join the SEC and are given a nice gift in getting to play Alabama at home in their first season with the conference. In 2024, the Sooners flew under the radar, but are going to look to make a splash in their first season with the SEC, as they’ve been overshadowed by Texas, who is also joining the conference and is expected to be a national title contender. I don’t believe fans are immediately counting this as a win, but I haven’t seen too many talk about how dangerous of a game this will be, especially late in the season. "This settlement is also a road map for college sports leaders and Congress to ensure this uniquely American institution can continue to provide unmatched opportunity for millions of students," the joint statement said.
They signal the end of the NCAA's bedrock amateurism model that dates to its founding in 1906. Indeed, the days of NCAA punishment for athletes driving booster-provided cars started vanishing three years ago when the organization lifted restrictions on endorsement deals backed by so-called name, image and likeness money. Analysts and experts have attempted to project how the Crimson Tide’s 2024 season will transpire.
A difficult schedule that features challenging games at home and on the road could leave Alabama with either an impressive resumé or an ugly record after November. Nick Kelly is the Alabama beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and he covers Alabama football and men's basketball. Reach him at or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter. He was a starter during the 2023 season after transferring from Maryland, but he wasn't used much in the passing game. Even with the elite receivers that quarterback Michael Penix Jr. had at Washington to whom he could throw in 2023, former Washington tight end Jack Westover still managed to catch 46 passes for 433 yards and four touchdowns in DeBoer's offense. "He's been a guy that's been waiting for this opportunity," DeBoer said Tuesday.
In the regular season series against Tennessee, Alabama only scored one run total in all three games. Centerfielder Kristen White led off the game with a single down the left field line. Rylie West couldn't corral the ball, and White was able to reach third on the play.
It certainly was not Allen’s best, following Pro Bowl nods in 2021 and 2022. Billy Tucker of ESPN broke down what his transfer to Alabama means for the program heading into the 2024 season. The news of Saban’s retirement initially broke in the early evening of Wednesday, Jan. 10.
NCAA President Charlie Baker along with the commissioners of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Asianbookie Livescore Pac-12 and Southeastern Conference released a joint statement saying they had agreed to settlement terms. They called the move "an important step in the continuing reform of college sports that will provide benefits to student-athletes and provide clarity in college athletics across all divisions for years to come." "One of the things that we wanted to do with the program was that we always wanted the players to have a better chance to be more successful in life because they were involved in the program," Saban said. When Saban announced his retirement, numerous high-profile players hit the portal and pledged to continue their collegiate careers at other big-name schools. Defensive back Caleb Downs joined the Ohio State Buckeyes, wide receiver Isaiah Bond went to the Texas Longhorns and offensive lineman Kadyn Proctor transferred back to his home state of Iowa to join the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Whether Fontenot becomes part of the settlement is unknown and it matters because the NCAA and its conferences don't want to be on the hook for more damages should they lose in court. In the new compensation model, each school will be permitted but not required to set aside up to $21 million in revenue to share with athletes per year, though as revenues rise so could the cap. Terms were not disclosed, though some details have emerged in the past few weeks.
The class-action federal lawsuit at the center of the settlement, House v. the NCAA, was set to go to trial in January. Now it is not far-fetched to look ahead to seasons where star quarterbacks or top prospects on college basketball teams are not only cashing in big-money NIL deals but have six-figure school payments in the bank to play. The deal still must be approved by the federal judge overseeing the case and plaintiffs will have the opportunity to opt out or challenge terms of the agreement.