Over his five seasons as coach, Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats has occasionally joked about UA’s reputation as a “football school,” and suggested it can be a “basketball school” as well. Based on the way the Crimson Tide has played on the gridiron the last three weeks, it’s looking more like a basketball school, indeed. And never more so than on Saturday with about a minute left in the first half of a 24-17 loss to Tennessee, when wide receivers Germie Bernard and Ryan Williams mimicked a basketball shot during a QB sneak by Jalen Milroe.
It was a bad look, and the reasonable presumption that the two had no blocking responsibility on a sneak doesn’t make it a good look.
It would’ve been a bad look during a blowout win over a non-conference opponent.
It was an even worse look against the rival Volunteers on a day when the Crimson Tide offense was a sputtering mess. Hypothetically, it would’ve been still more embarrassing had Milroe been stuffed on the sneak attempt for a turnover on downs, and he very nearly was — it took a generous spot from officials for Alabama to move the chains.
HOOPING ON GRIDIRON: What Alabama football OC Nick Sheridan said about WRs mimicking basketball shots on sneak
BIG FLAG: Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer addresses costly Kendrick Law personal foul vs Tennessee
It was clownery, plain and simple.
All of which had me convinced that when Crimson Tide offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan was asked about it on Monday, his response would be something along the lines of “that’s not who we are, and it won’t happen again.”
To my surprise, it was much the opposite: “There’s nothing on the field we’re not coaching,” Sheridan said.
In other words, clownery was part of the plan.
Is it possible that the players acted on their own and Sheridan’s answer was his way of shielding them from criticism? College coaches have been known to take heat on behalf of their players in many ways and under many circumstances, so that can’t be entirely ruled out. For purposes of this column, I’m taking him at his word.
Either way, it wasn’t smart.
Either way, head coach Kalen DeBoer should rip that and any other foolishness out of the playbook, and waste no time doing it. Pretending to shoot a basketball during a football play is the sort of thing that would probably go largely unnoticed at schools where winning isn’t paramount. But it’s paramount at a tradition-rich, high-stakes program like Alabama, to the exclusion of on-field sideshows. A pretty large chunk of fans on some of the country’s westernmost campuses might’ve had a “that’s cool” reaction. Alabama fans, in my experience, look at the same thing and think “that’s weak.”
The argument that it’s just a game and “let kids have their fun” fell apart the moment Sheridan suggested that it was actually part of the play. The coach owned it, so the only thing that can be inferred from his answer is that the coaching staff was having fun.
On a day that was anything but fun.
As for the argument that it was inconsequential because the two receivers weren’t involved in the play, that’s both true, and conveniently non-responsive to question of optics. Inconsequential though it might’ve been, it modeled unseriousness at the worst possible time — a time when an Alabama football season is quickly slipping into the realm of forgettable. And the notion that it came from the playbook rather than the imagination of two young men doesn’t exactly align with what DeBoer has been saying of late about the need for serious focus.
Inconsequential?
The people who write checks to help Alabama’s NIL efforts probably weren’t amused, and they’re pretty consequential. It was a goofy display that had zero upside, and the downside that it came across as emblematic of a larger discipline problem on a team that lacked discipline on Saturday to the tune of 15 penalties. Legendary UA coach Nick Saban was fond of saying “if you’re not coaching it, you’re letting it happen.”
Initially, I thought that applied in this case.
But apparently, it doesn’t.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.
