Anders signs with Browns

The day after the draft, the free agent signing news is rolling in. Eryk Anders’ agent John Phillips just confirmed his client signed a deal with the Browns.

Anders also spoke with the Giants and Bears before deciding Cleveland was the right place for him.

There are also reports indicating Cory Reamer signed with the New York Jets and Colin Peek did so with the Atlanta Falcons.

Brandon Deaderick makes it seven

Barely escaping the title of “Mr. Irrelevant,” former Tide defensive end Brandon Deaderick became the seventh Alabama player taken in the NFL draft when the New England Patriots took him with the 247th pick. Only eight players followed Deaderick.

The seven picks makes this the most Alabama-heavy draft since it shrunk from 12 rounds to seven in 1993.

Still, several hopefuls went undrafted including Lorenzo Washington, Leigh Tiffin, Colin Peek and Justin Woodall.

Stay tuned for any free agent news.

NFL Draft eve reading assignments

As you know, the NFL draft is one of the most over hyped, over analyzed events of any calendar year. Thank you ESPN and interwebs. So, to feed the beast they have created, I provide you with a reading list of stories as I work on a few of my own.

Rolando McClain hopes to mimic careers of other athletes battling Crohn’s Disease (New York Daily News)

The agent selection process has changed at Alabama since Sugar Bowl (Mobile Press-Register)

NFL draft to be loaded with Tide, Gators (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

Tiffin hopes to keep rolling in NFL (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Tide’s Cory Reamer: I’m going to do everything I can to make it in the NFL (Press-Register)

Will Alabama’s Cody be a mountain of a bust? (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Beat writers mock draft (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

If Alabama LB McClain slips, he’s a slam dunk for Giants (New York Post)

McClain could be surprise first-round pick for Chiefs (Kansas City Star)

Colin Peek ranked 15th best tight end (Chicago Tribune)

Iron Bowl week theme: Efficiency

Nick Saban preached it, then practiced it Monday afternoon. With a short week to prepare for Auburn, the key is being efficient. He went on to give the fastest moving Monday news conference of the season with precise answers and not much dead time.

There simply isn’t a minute to waste.

Here are the other highlights from Monday:

• Javier Arenas was named SEC special teams player of the week after breaking the league mark for punt returns for touchdown Saturday. No big surprise there.
• Colin Peek (a.k.a. Holla McGhee) met reporters for the first time in a while. He spoke about his knee injury and the fight to get back. Read more about that later. We’ve missed his entertaining interviews.
• The theme of this Iron Bowl will be Alabama’s ability to shut down Auburn’s running game. Also, you will get to read more later in the week.

Updates on pregame warmups

A few line-up notes to keep in mind:

• Colin Peek is listed as the No. 1 tight end and he is dressed in his No. 84 jersey for warm-ups. Remember, his knee sprain was suffered in the same run-through two weeks ago against Tennessee.
• Running back/kickoff returner Terry Grant was not listed on the depth chart provided before the game. Mike McCoy OR Trent Richardson were the only others listed with Javier Arenas as kickoff returners. We’ll see who gets the nod soon enough.
• The place is starting to pack in now that kickoff is 20 minutes out.

Video: Colin Peek practices on bum knee

Check out the video and photos below of injured Crimson Tide tight end Colin Peek (aka Holla McGhee) at practice Monday. He ran, caught passes and got in an out of a three-point stance without much trouble.

Remember, Peek hurt his left knee in pregame warmups against Tennessee on Oct. 24. Nick Saban said he was “day to day” earlier Monday.

In other injury news, Dre Kirkpatrick was riding the exercise bike and Terry Grant wore a black jersey while working out with the team.

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Saban already sick of LSU hype

Now in his third go-round as the Alabama coach facing his old LSU team, Nick Saban is obviously tired of the hype surrounding Saturday’s match-up. He fired back at a reporter this afternoon who tried to ask about the implications of the game after Saban addressed the issue in his opening statement.

Let’s just say he wasn’t feeling the question and wasn’t going to brush it off quietly.

Other than that, there wasn’t any major news coming out of the weekly round with reporters. Saban did say Colin Peek was “day to day” and that the senior tight end ran in the pool Sunday and hopes to do so on dry land this afternoon. Stay tuned for updates.

Otherwise, read the paper Tuesday for more highlights.

Holla McGhee’s got jokes

The topic was bound to come up sooner or later when Colin Peek spoke to reporters. Later came Wednesday.

Long discussed, but never addressed, a reporter finally asked the Alabama tight end about his appearance on the now-defunct MTV show “Yo Momma.” He made the appearance while still playing at Georgia Tech, but Alabama message boards discovered the tape of his moment under the lights on the web.

In case you’re confused, Holla McGhee is Peek’s alias on the show that matched two competitors in a battle of wits and insults.

I hesitate to post a direct link to the video because the language is a little salty. It’s not safe for work and not suitable for children’s ears. But if you want to find the video, I’d suggest typing Holla McGhee into a Google search.

To see the video of Peek talking about the video, click here. Skip ahead to the 4:25 point to hear the MTV talk. I have to admit, it was one of the funniest group interviews I’ve even been around. Everyone in the room was cracking up by the end of it. Colin is a real character and you’ll see why after watching some tape.

A few Monday afternoon notes

Now that we’re done with the weekly news conference and player interviews, I can update some of the day’s news.

• Game time was set for the Oct. 3 game at Kentucky. Like last week’s game, it will be the 11:21 a.m. SEC Network game. Those decisions are made every Monday for games two weeks in advance. This week’s game with Arkansas was picked up by CBS as the 2:30 p.m. game of the week.
• There weren’t any Alabama representatives made the SEC player of the week honors for the first time this season.
• Greg McElroy and Colin Peak were Alabama’s offensive players of the week as selected by the coaching staff. Mark Barron and Terrence Cody shared the defensive honors while Javier Arenas, Robby Green and Chris Jordan was recognized for their special teams work against North Texas.
• Nick Saban said Julio Jones and Roy Upchurch will both practice today and will continue to be evaluated on a day-to-day basis.
• Check out where ESPN.com’s Chris Low slots Alabama in his weekly SEC power rankings by clicking here.