Star Jackson transferring, Tiffin cut from Browns

It was a busy news day, and of course I was wrapped up working on other stories and missed some of the bigger headlines of the day.

First, in a hardly surprising move, it appears Star Jackson’s Alabama career is over. Nick Saban confirmed the sophomore quarterback’s plans to transfer at today’s stop on the Crimson Caravan, the Mobile Press-Register reported.

Since the once heralded recruit is third on the quarterback depth chart behind Greg McElroy and AJ McCarron, this hardly came as a surprise.

In NFL news, former Crimson Tide kicker Leigh Tiffin got some bad news a day after getting some good news. The Muscle Shoals product was cut by the Cleveland Browns a day after signing a free agent deal.

Checking in on ‘Bama NFL rookies

It’s been about a month since the NFL draft and the Crimson Tide players selected are settling into their new surroundings. Here are a few updates courtesy of the beat writers who cover the teams and a few other newspapers.

Leigh Tiffin wasn’t drafted, but he signed on with the Cleveland Browns. The TimesDaily ran this update in today’s paper.

Terrence Cody appears to be doing well with the Baltimore Ravens, according to this story and this story.

Javier Arenas is working at nickel back with the Chiefs, the Kansas City Star reports.

Mike Johnson is working with the Falcons second-team offensive line, so says the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

Rolando McClain, the San Francisco Examiner says, is “a stud.”

Kige Ramsey didn’t play at Alabama, but he does like his Tennessee Titans jerseys and makes great videos. Here is your Kige video of the day.

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)

McClain named Bama player of decade

Of the 3,000 or so ballots cast in the BAMA Magazine voting, only three didn’t include Rolando McClain. Despite that, the Decatur product earned enough to be named player of the decade by the publication. He was one of six players from the 2009 title team to make the team of the decade released Wednesday afternoon by BAMA Magazine.

Full coverage can be found in the spring issue of the magazine, but editor Kirk McNair gave us a preview today. McClain, not much for the individual accolades,  wasn’t expecting this one

 “Really, I’m surprised, particularly since we had a Heisman Trophy winner n this decade,” McClain told BAMA Mag. “There have been a lot of great players at Alabama over the past ten years, so this is really an honor that I appreciate. But it’s also a team award. Because we accomplished so much as a
team, we have had a lot of individual honors.”

The other 2009 team members honored include that Heisman winner Mark Ingram, offensive lineman Mike Johnson, nose tackle Terrence Cody, cornerback Javier Arenas, placekicker Leigh Tiffin and wide receiver Julio Jones.

Upchurch heading to Senior Bowl

Roy Upchurch got the call late Sunday that he’d be invited to the Senior Bowl. LSU’s Charles Scott (you might remember him as “Chuck the truck”) is hurt and Upchurch was available.

He’s the sixth Alabama player to make the roster after being the No. 3 running back in the Tide offense this season. Javier Arenas, Terrence Cody, Mike Johnson, Colin Peek and Leigh Tiffin will also be in Mobile this week.

The game is at 3 p.m. Saturday and will be televised on the NFL Network.

Awards week continues…

Anyone else worn out by all these awards? It’s hard to keep track of them all, to be honest. At least today’s are made easy for us since ESPN airs an awards show live tonight. Here’s the rundown:

• Muscle Shoals product Leigh Tiffin is up for the Lou Groza Award for the nation’s best place kicker. Read this story about him in the Palm Beach Post
• Mark Ingram is up for two awards: The Maxwell Award and the Doak Walker Award. Of course he’s got the Heisman Trophy on the radar too on Saturday.
• Terrence Cody has been shut out so far this week, but he could still win the Bednarik Award tonight.

The show starts at 6:30 p.m. CST on ESPN.

News and notes from the Monday after

It’s Monday afternoon so there are the usual nuggets to report. Here are the highlights.

• Javier Arenas was named SEC defensive player of the week for his seven tackles against LSU that included two for loss.
• Game time for the Nov. 21 meeting with Chattanooga was set for 11:21 a.m. CST and will be televised on the SEC Network.
• Nick Saban delivered a passionate defense of referees in his afternoon news conference. Read more about that Tuesday.
• In other award news, Leigh Tiffin was named a semifinalist for the Lou Groza presented to the nation’s top place kicker. He joins an army of teammates who also made the semifinalist cut for national awards.

Check back later for updates from this afternoon’s practice.

A little extra on Tiffin story

Most of the time when you read a story in the paper, there is a lot more information that needs to be chopped off a story to fit the space limitations of print.

But online, the space is endless!

So here are a few extra quotes from Leigh Tiffin that didn’t make it into today’s paper but were still interesting enough to pass along.

On Nick Saban’s “assassin” quote:
“He’s told me that before … I think that’s a very accurate description of the mindset a kicker has to have because you only get one chance. These other guys get three downs and they aren’t scrutinized in the same fashion. They are just judge a little differently, but that’s the nature of it.”

When asked if he’d ever watched Buffalo Bill kicker Scott Norwood’s famous last second field goal miss in Super Bowl XXV (or 25 for the non Romans):
“Is that the guy who kicked for the Bills? I was thinking about that the other day. I feel bad for the guy because he probably never overcame that stigma. … If you don’t want to live with that, then you shouldn’t really (be a kicker).”

(Please note Tiffin was only 2-years-old when Norwood’s kick sailed wide right to give the Giants their second of three Super Bowl rings)

On the mental aspect of kicking:
“Sometimes it can be a little over-rated. Now-a-days, people tell you that you can think your way out of anything.