Alabama football In-State Recruiting Concerns & Roster Countdown: Brailsford and Nicholson

despite having the number two class in the country a lot of people feel like Alabama is getting beat up on the [Music] trail you are locked on Bama your daily podcast on the Alabama Crimson Tide part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hey everybody welcome back into Lon Bama HSA Radio Network Luke Robinson that's me B on L's Jimmy Stein that's him want to thank everybody who Tunes Us in every day you guys are the best those every dayers we love you we love the newbies too and thanks for making this your first listen every single day and also want to thank FanDuel for being this sponsor Jimmy we're going to talk into the countdown a little bit more we got Parker braford and yet another kicker um coming in on your countdown today those come later in the show but right now let's call it spade a spade Auburn's been kicking Chicken in state when it comes to Alabama recruiting okay Alabama's got the number two class in the country um it's an incredible class it if you take a step back and go just you know look back on June nobody was hotter than Alabama it feels like right now nobody's hotter than auburn and again that's fine Alabama's class is still better and um it's you know they're still getting great players but as a member of the ahsa radio network I do have an affinity for instate guys um I hate to see them go other places at the same time I want Alabama to get the best players they can get so uh it's a bit of a conundrum um because Anquan fagins from Thompson who did come to the cookout this past weekend he ended up committing Auburn just like we all thought he would um Auburn got a lot of 2026 guys to commit uh I think Alabama's going to end up with some 2026 guys you know like Zion Gibson maybe sedarian Morgan who knows um out of the out of this state and they may flip some of those guys you know it's a long way to go Derek Smith he also flipped yesterday from Alabama Auburn so if you want to just look at the state Auburn's you know beating Alabama over the head kind of like Nick sain did with auburn back in ' 08 but you know the difference is Tommy tville wasn't doing so well nationally so I think Alabama's fine I think Alabama fans are just having a hard time understanding oh Auburn's recruiting better because they finally have some of their ducks in a row and um again Auburn is one of the top 15 20 programs in NCAA history all time whether or not Alabama fans want to admit it and um you know yeah Alabama's probably the best but they're going to get there sometimes and we've been used to there using uh the coach harson and things like that and Gus maon who didn't necessarily recruit quite as well they'd get a Derek Brown every now and again but in the end um you know I feel like it's a case of Alabama's doing really well and Auburn is catching up some but they hadn't gotten there and so I'm I'm sort of of the opinion yeah it kind of sucks that we're not getting instate guys at the same time look at the class guys it's an awesome class yeah I I think the extremist on either side or are are missing the boat you know the people that go too far on either side and by that I mean those that are making too big a deal of this I can't see the forest for the trees Alabama's recruiting class is ranked number two you you want to trade with anyone other than Ohio State uh is there is there a class out there worth trading all that matters is Talent acquisition I'll give you a good example I mean right now there's an instate running back that's committed Alabama and turbo Rogers he's on the commitment list uh Alabama's trying to get a commitment and and we believe at B is going to happen from AK deer he's an out of state kid that may cause potentially or or be a factor in uh in Turbo Rogers not signing with Alabama should we care that AK deer is from Mississippi I mean it's a universally considered to be a better Prospect universally not just Alabama's opinion that's just the recruiting rank rankings the goal in recruiting is Talent acquisition not where you get the players from so anyone making too big deal of this isn't acknowledging where Alabama's class sits number two with a chance to finish number one uh even if Alabama doesn't have any players from inside the state why would that matter at all as long as Alabama finishes one or two that'd be incredible now that said those that think this is a nothing Burger well I disagree with that too uh that it's not sustainable for Alabama to recruit uh at a high level year after year after year if Alabama doesn't get more than its share of the top instate town so I I I think it's this is an issue to watch and it's an issue to Monitor and it's something that dor and his staff need to redouble their efforts you know and and and uh you know we're not telling them anything they don't already know about hey you know that it's it it benefits Alabama greatly to sign the best players from Alabama so it is a thing and it it's not a nothing Burger it's also not reason to ignore where Alabama sits in the recruiting rankings which is which is what matters so uh one final point I would make is look this isn't a pattern I would look at the top 10 players in the state and look at each individual case why didn't Alabama get this guy why didn't Alabama get this guy if you want to look for the the answer is not going through the top 10 because we lost to Auburn because we lost to Auburn because we lost to alurn no that that's not gonna that's not the alord is probably the top prospect in the state he ain't going to Alber either you know and I think we all can guess as to why Alabama and Auburn are are likely to fail to get Naim offer you know into the signing class I mean he he's a national recruit that that's that was just out there looking for the best for himself and he's very happy with his Ohio State situation and that that's F that's fine that's fine but that's not Alabama losing a player to alurn some players by the way that are ranked in the industry top 10 are players the University of Alabama did not consider top 10 players in Alabama okay it's Alabama doesn't go by on threes rankings or the industry ranking or 247's rankings Alabama has its own opinion about these players that they've evaluated and there are players ranked in the top 10 that Alabama viewed as a no take no offer okay so those aren't players Alabama has lost out on um there are players like a Derek Smith like Antonio Coleman that Alabama viewed as we want these guys and Auburn out recruited us to sign those too you gotta tip your cap to them they well they had signed them yet they Haven signed them yet and they may not and Alabama will continue to effort particularly as a relates to Derrick Smith Jimmy let me stop you for one second and say that um you know the one thing that number one I do hate it as a member of the HSA Radio Network and and a native alabamian because I do appreciate the guys who are from the state of Alabama that end up doing so well I mean it doesn't mean love Tu Tunga Naji Harris Devante Smith you know it's like we know them better these are kids we know because they and and we feel like have more of a connection um and the other thing is in this transfer portal world I wonder and again it's too early to tell but I wonder if um if you do commit to the home state are you more likely to stick it out I I don't know in fact it Part of Me Goes Part of Me Goes probably not because in the end it's going to be number one is somebody else offering you something and secondly you know you you want to play and if that means you have to transfer to South Alabama or to Troy or whatever if you want to stay in state so be it so I'm I'm a little torn on this yeah I do I I am not going to lie and say that it doesn't bother me uh at the same time you know boy I've listened to some of the other Auburn podcasts Etc and some here on locked on and you know it feels like Alabama's an also ran program in their minds right now and I'm thinking you still have the second best program in I mean still second best class in the country I mean again the extreme takes are always wrong the extreme and let's also see how it plays out because in June Alabama was cream of the crop the end of July has been awesome for aubert let's see how this season goes and let's see because like you said Alabama's not gonna stop recruiting and you know I feel quite confident that uh This staff's Not Gon gonna stop and I feel like they're they've got some more good good good players to get if not great players to get so um I feel like Alabama has a shot at the number one or number two class and it all you can do is ask for that no matter where they come from and uh you know speaking of that we're going to talk about a couple of guys that didn't start out at Alabama and aren't Alabama natives in your countdown right now but of course I'm going to tell you about FanDuel look I love sports I love sports so much that I never want them to stop 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all the screaming and the you know the takes of you know I saw something the other day on Twitter that came through that Mad Dog Russo said Shaquille O'Neal in one of the best five centers all time and Stephen A Smith's head exploded and it was just it was crazy um and I was thinking I was thinking number one that's just a dumb take and it's only a dumb take because he wants it to be a dumb take so people say it's a dumb take um and we don't want to do that here on lock onama we're gonna give you good takes or takes we think are good that may just turn out to be dumb accidentally we're going to tell you that Shaq is good yeah we're gonna say Shaq we might have gone to LSU but guess what Shaq was good um okay so we have made our way to the center of the Shrubbery maze meaning Parker brailsford uh and next on the countdown right after brailford is going to be gram Nicholson Jimmy if you had told me your countdown in the top six would would go six James burnup uh five Parker brailsford and four our kicker gram Nicholson meaning punter Center kicker that sounds like hey a punter Center and a kicker walk into a bar with the Pope joke you know what I mean it just feels like it's not right but I think you've nailed it because hey if Parker brailsford is on last year's Alabama team they win the national championship that's a he'll all die on that's a good point I don't think I heard that before that's a pretty good I I don't I don't dispute it I I think that's interesting take let's remember this about Parker braford as a red shirt freshman this is how good this kid is as a red shirt freshman he was the starting center on the Joe Moore award winning offensive line I mean that's that's impressive stuff as you know the center gets everybody lined up the center's sort of the big toe of the offensive line uh it's sort of the center's group he's respons much he's the middle of of that group and that group won the Joe Moore award Parker was then second Team all Pack 12 he was a consensus freshman All-American on every freshman All-American team uh unbelievable freshman year U and then he transfers to Alabama and uh I know that you know he missed the second part of the spring that that caused a lot of consternation amongst the fans I can tell you from inside the building that uh there wasn't nearly the consternation that fans had and uh Hey if you want some evidence instead of like oh well yeah just just repeat some some uh Shady rumors which is not what I do but uh if you want some hard evidence is look James brocker had a good spring and proved this spring that he's ready to be a starting center at the power four level and he left he left to be the center somewhere else why because he knew he wasn't going to beat out Parker braford Parker brailford was going to be the center if there was a good chance that Parker was just quote not going to show up this fall or wasn't a thing James brocker wouldn't have left but he left because he wanted to be the starting center he's a red Shir Jr and it's time to either start or never start and uh so he picked a place where where he felt he could start if uh Parker was going to be the center at Alabama James knew that and uh wow what a good player he's go he's got to get a little bigger I mean I I think that's what he's GNA be working on in his time at Alabama is size and proving to the NFL that he could play at the highest level at his size because he's not the biggest guy in the world but hey you know who else wasn't the biggest guy in the world Jason Kelce who just who just you know retired from the NFL he's one of the smallest starting centers in the NFL happens to be maybe maybe the best center of all time I mean it's not not a not crazy to say that but certainly the best center of his time uh in the NFL so look you don't have this isn't a position where you have to be 310 to be successful so Parker braford will do for Alabama's offensive L what he did for Washington's a year ago and as Luke just said hey may maybe him not being here last year uh you know was a big difference I mean what if every snap was uh was dead on the mark last year wonder how every snap forget every snap give me one snap give me 10% more snaps that weren't terrible I mean first of all listen I hate to do this but it's sort of like you know how um people in the kick six are so thankful Nick Sabin got the timeout or got out of bounds on the one second thing or whatever I'm sort of thankful Seth mlin uh snapped some worm burners back to uh jayen milro or else we wouldn't have fourth and 31 now it would have saved me you know some heart palpitations at the time and still now when I watch that game when I see when it comes on my YouTube feed and I'm going down to Alabama rabbit hole on YouTube 4th and 31 comes up I I still go I I can't believe I can't even watch it I'm like this is ridiculous this makes no sense and to I mean they talked about it on Dusty and Danny in the morning today that Dusty dorek said that came on and he said that's one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life he said it that shouldn't happen ever he said I watched the last five minutes of that game on SEC network and I was like there's no way he said even I knew the outcome and I was like there's no way um but so in a way thanks Seth for the bad snaps because it did make one of the more memorable moments in Iron Bowl if not college football history and at at the same time boy if we just if he if there's one snap that's better against Michigan we we probably win that game and I'm not talking about the last snap I'm talking about a Litany of terrible snaps against M One Snap is better we probably win and we can rest assur that the snaps will be better Parker is more of I mean you know obious viously Seth developed that problem and and uh we'll see I'm guessing by the way that Seth has worked it out I I bet I bet at Ohio State that we don't see that same level of of what we saw last year with Seth but uh know Parker there was there was no snap issues this spring from what we're told and what we saw at uh when we're allowed media is allowed to attend practice from what we saw at practice what we saw at aay uh there was no significant snap issues at all at Alabama this spring with Parker or James or the young fresh like Joe AATA who played quite a bit of Center and he's probably the long-term center of the future at Alabama's Joe ayata but today is about Parker brailford and uh he's the fifth best player on this football team which is saying a lot because this is one of the best teams in the country all right so the guy coming up next is another transfer it's a kicker and he's probably the best one in the country but you know I want to tell you about iata I look I I've been talking about iata here and they've been a sponsor before and I appreciate them a ton and I've had iata for quite some time and right now I still got like $27 of of cash back over the last few months and you like27 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to a minimum there things are ready in two minutes um call to action I'm telling you you need to go check this out you all of you guys need to go check this out this is my call to action for you head to factor.com loock on50 and use code locked onol 50 get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month that's code locked on50 at Factor meals.com loock on50 go check them out okay so gram Nicholson transfers to Alabama after the alltime leading score in NCAA history leaves Alabama for the Minnesota Vikings who's doing really well for them in will rord by the way and what happens he's not even First Team all SEC preseason that Plum goes to Bert Auburn apparently so it's like a double whammy insult for Alabama um you know the guy from Texas who's named Auburn beats out your guy who won the uh luk Rosa award last year makes a lot of sense I guess um anyway um gram Nicholson you know I hated him last year because he stole the Luke Rosa from will rard if you ask me I sure be loving him this year because he's gonna make us a bunch of fgs Jimmy good player for sure and he's always been a good player uh he wasn't just a one hit wonder that had a magical season he showed up at Miami of Ohio a good player uh I don't know where he was ranked out of high school as if with kickers I don't really think that matters too much to be honest but 15 of 20 his freshman year I mean that that's that's a really solid freshman season then I think he followed that up with 18 of 23 his sophomore year so he got he he started out really good got better and then last year the magical season 27 of 28 I mean how good do you have to be to beat out rard the answer is 27 of 28 that's just a remarkable season of Kicking and uh he's improved every year he's been at Miami of Ohio his private trainer says he will kick in the the NFL and has compared them to Sebastian Janikowski U Graham Nicholson basically it's like getting another year of rikard really I mean in terms of like Alabama's been really good at kicker for five years thanks to will rard now it'll be a six year in a row because this is a rord level kicker or better uh which is hard to imagine but again 27 to 28 speaks for itself um My Hope I've been trying to wish this into existence guys uh this is this is probably not going to happen no one needs but wouldn't it be great if Alabama next April saw Graham Nicholson get drafted which is possible James burnup get drafted which is possible and even neilan hibbit maybe the number one Long Snapper in college football if all three Specialists got drafted that that's college football history I've not looked it up but I don't even have to there's no way that's happened before that three kickers were taken in a seven round NFL draft uh or three Specialists so uh that's how good Alabama is at Specialists this year at at kicker at punter and Long Snapper all three could get drafted and this is a position where it's hard for anyone to get drafted at any of those positions but uh Alabama could potentially pull it off again trying to wish that into existence I hope it does come into existence I'm also hoping that uh graah Nicholson I'm looking at his career STS by the way he's from Cincinnati um and his field goal percentage career is 96.4 yeah pretty good that's pretty good extra point he's 94.6 isn't that weird he he has missed I know these these numbers off the top of my head he's only missed 11 kicks in three years 11 kicks but he's missed seven extra points that's just weird you know my my first answer without again I don't know this is this is this is just total specul that could be way off I wonder if they're bad snaps that's something that we know a little bit about would that be ironic we know a little bit about bad snaps but we don't know about bad long snaps because Neil inhibits got that un locked down he's been good he's been good but at Alabama we do know a little bit about bad snaps the past year so may maybe that's it because it doesn't really make a lot of sense but uh hey uh you know the kid was 27 28 last year on the field goals so hey we'll just we'll just simply ask for a rep of that performance here here's my only request from grab Nicholson this year if he wins the L grosa again he gives the other one to will rer is't that fair I don't think you can I don't think you can do that I don't think he'll do that I mean you just give him the trophy I do think for all the talk and I'm not trying to minimize rer I think for all the talk I mean you know rer wasn't 27 of 28 last year I mean Nicholson's numbers were better than than than r last year now what Ryker deserved and this is what he deserves is some sort of a career L groa award and that doesn't exist yeah maybe we'll have a will rer award later we'll see we'll see how he does in Minnesota like you said I mean the the early word is good and man it'll be fun to watch uh rard kick for these uh that purple team it will all right that's going to do it for today's podcast we'll be back tomorrow with more the countdown is winding down bro and we got some big names coming up you know what practice tomorrow yeah and I'll be there so uh maybe on the next show an actual practice report how about that here we go all right until then roll out everybody roll out