Tommy Rees to Bama? Signing Day Part Deux, Crowdfunded Collectives, & more!

Happy Groundhog Day! You know, despite being a native Pennsylvanian and graduating from Penn State, I never made it out to Punxsutawney on the big day. I'm told it's a hell of a party from one friend who drank enough hard cider to kill a horse. Anyway, Phil saw his shadow again, which means we'll have six more weeks of winter weather. Don't act surprised, Phil has seen his shadow about 84% of the time dating back to 1887. Oh well.

SABANISMS

REESUS TO BAMA?

Well, then.

Just days after Washington's Ryan Grubb turned down the position, Notre Dame's Tommy Rees has emerged as the top target for the open offensive coordinator position at Alabama, according to ESPN's Chris Low. Though no decisions have been made, Rees is visiting the Tuscaloosa campus today.

Rees, just 30 years old, is considered one of the top assistants in college football. He had the opportunity to follow Brian Kelly to LSU, but chose to stay with the Irish and Marcus Freeman. Working with Nick Saban is different, though. Rees has head coaching aspirations and being offensive coordinator at Alabama has recently been a bullet train to other high-profile jobs.

It's hard to say whether Rees would be a good fit at Alabama. Last season, he skillfully developed a solid running game and adapted his scheme around backup quarterback Drew Pyne. Case in point: The Irish won nine games with Pyne and dominated Clemson with 263 rushing yards. But we haven't seen a formidable passing attack, perhaps because Pyne and Ian Book haven't given him the chance. Talent would certainly not be an issue calling plays for the Crimson Tide.

If Rees leaves for Alabama, it would also trigger a mini shockwave in the Notre Dame fan community, just a few weeks after Sam Hartman transferred from Wake Forest.

Stay tuned on this one!

CROOTIN'

SIGNING DAY: PART DEUX!

It used to be that we'd wake up on the day after National Signing Day with a college football hangover, still processing the events of the previous 24 hours. No longer the case! As of a couple years ago, the new February version of NSD became a holiday for the recruits who shilly-shallied their way into the new year, searching for a better offer, some inner peace, or just a little more attention.

As always, we trust our friend Brandon Huffman implicitly when it comes to putting these things in context. And on today's episode week took a close look at a handful of teams. Here are a few key notes you should know from yesterday:

• Alabama finished with the top class of 2023, followed by Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma and Ohio State. By the numbers, Bama's class was the third best ever and broke a record by reeling in nine five-star recruits. What an underdog story!

• Jaden Rashada, the four-star quarterback from California, signed with Arizona State. Rashada was previously committed to Florida, but left after an NIL deal went south. The question now is whether he has what it takes to win the starting job from Drew Pyne this fall.

• Nyckoles Harbor, the five-star athlete from Washington, DC, signed with South Carolina. Harbor has been compared to the next Kyle Pitts and has track star speed. This is a major signing for Shane Beamer, who was recruiting against Oregon to secure Harbor's services. The momentum continues in Columbia!

• Cormani McClain, the top-ranked cornerback in the class, signed with Colorado. For the second time in as many cycles, Deion Sanders was able to lure a blue chipper away from a school in Florida. Last year, it was Travis Hunter, the top overall recruit. And now, McClain. Good news for Colorado fans: Both guys will be in your secondary this season!

NAME, IMAGE AND LUNACY!

OUR CROWDFUNDED COLLECTIVE INEVITABILITY

LSU ushered in an exciting new era this week by introducing Bayou Traditions, the crowdfunded "official" collective of the Tigers. They did so with the not-at-all wooden video above, featuring athletic director Scott Woodward. Give it a quick watch. If that doesn't get the juices flowing, well, pretty much anything else will!

To be clear, crowdfunding is not a new model, it's just being applied to a new wrinkle in college sports: Athletes can now be paid. Thus far, most of that money has come from wealthy boosters, but relying on the rich-folks-with-dumb-money plan isn't sustainable over the long haul. By announcing this partnership, LSU is joining the growing number of other FBS powers that have already come to the same realization. Until schools are forced to pay players directly and share revenue, they're continuing the time-honored tradition of passing the buck to passionate consumers. Here's a glimpse at what that looks like from the Bayou Tradition standpoint:

I have many thoughts on this. For starters, it's only a matter of time before every FBS school has their own version of a crowdfunded collective, because there are definitely a lot of fans who would find value in it. If you're an LSU fan who lives in New York, these plans offer a cheaper way to support the team than paying for airfare, lodging and tickets to Tiger Stadium. For teams with more national fan bases like Notre Dame and USC, it's easy to imagine this type of collective being very successful.

Also, there are potentially huge freaking implications if college football becomes more of a fundraising sport. Sure, there have always been alumni relations people working to secure funds for renovations or even coaching buyouts. But this is different. Democratized fundraising at this scale, in this emotional sport, for the purpose of talent acquisition?! What could go wrong? Fans having this much influence means that coaches will act even more like politicians who are fearful of losing donors. It'll be easier than ever to quantify a fan base's level of satisfaction.

And finally, while schools will always want your fandom, they will now crave your email address. Expect a steady diet of ads on every team-specific site, podcast, radio station, and Facebook page. The real battle will be won and lost by an army of digital marketers sending out targeted emails in hopes of converting your fandom into funding.

COACHING CAROUSEL

JOSH GATTIS OUT AT MIAMI

When Mario Cristobal hired Josh Gattis to run his offense at Miami before the 2022 season, it was widely commended as an aggressive hire of a young, rising coach. Just what the Canes needed to rediscover their swagger, right?

Or not. Miami never got into rhythm and finished as a below average offense that couldn't generate big plays. To make matters worse, quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, who looked like a surefire NFL prospect after his 2021 campaign, got noticeably worse before eventually getting hurt. So, for a multitude of reasons, Cristobal decided one year was enough for Gattis, who won the Broyles Award as the nation's top assistant just a season ago.

It's unclear which direction Cristobal will go next. Despite some initial rumors, it doesn't seem like Scott Frost will be the guy. Marcus Arroyo, former UNLV coach, would make a ton of sense. James Coley, current Texas A&M receivers coach, worked with Cristobal at FIU and knows the state of Florida really well. Former USF coach Jeff Scott has also gotten some buzz, as has Florida native Joe Brady, who is legally required to be considered for all high-profile college vacancies.

OTHER NOTES

• Kirk Ferentz isn't planning any changes to his coaching staff! Weeeeeeee!

• Pitt and Syracuse are playing their 2023 matchup at Yankee Stadium

• Stetson Bennett was picked up for public intoxication in Dallas

• Sam Huard, former 5-star Washington quarterback, is transferring to... Cal Poly?

THE VERBALLERHOOD

WHAT'S GOOD IN THE VERBALLERHOOD?

We drop two public podcasts every week throughout the offseason. On Tuesday, we took a step back and NAMED NAMES of SEC players and coaches that had the greatest impact on the course of the 2022 season. Today, we looked closer at Georgia, LSU, Oregon, Texas and Oklahoma and picked apart their recruiting classes. Listen to the podcast by clicking here or check out our individual episodes below. You can also view full episode videos and smaller clips on our YouTube channel.

THIS WEEK'S PODCAST EPISODES:

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Thanks for reading. Until next week, stay solid!-Ty Hildenbrandt