Nigel Bowden, our stud inside linebacker who suffered a severe concussion early in the season and was lost for the year, is coming back for 2016. That’s huge news as Nigel and Zach Cunningham could form the top inside linebacking corps in the SEC and one of the best in the country. Usually, if you’re one of the best in this conference, you’re one of the best nationally. Really excited about the Nigel news. He’s an outstanding linebacker and a leader for this defense along with Zach. We’ll also get back stud tight end DeAndre Woods and super left tackle Andrew Jelks for 2016. Both suffered season ending injuries this season; Andrew before the season and DeAndre early in the season. DeAndre was off to an awesome start before he got hurt. Not totally sure about stud wideout C.J. Duncan. Pretty sure C.J. will be back, but he suffered an Achilles injury and those take longer to recover from. Hopeful all three and Nigel will be locked and loaded for 2016. Really excited about this 2016 Coach Mason team.
Nigel Bowden, basketball, baseball
Four-star cornerback Joejuan Williams, high three-star quarterback Deuce Wallace, and high three-star safety Zaire Jones will be enrolling early and be ready to go for spring practice. That’s awesome news. All three of these guys will be major impact players for our football team, maybe even next year, at least Joejuan and Zaire may be. Not sure what Coach Ludwig wants to do with Deuce, but he’s high quality. We have Kyle Shurmur coming back, who everybody is excited about, Johnny Mac will be back along with Stank and Wade Freebeck. It’ll be interesting to see what we decide on the Deuce. Should be good competition at QB in the spring and in fall practice. Love the class Coach Mason is putting together. About five or six other guys could pull the trigger for us before it’s over. We have 16 commits now.
Spring game is March 25th, a Friday, at 6 PM, according to a report I’ve gotten. We might have a running backs and special teams coach by the end of the week. Auburn tight ends/special teams coordinator Scott Fountain is a name that has surfaced. Will keep you posted on that. Auburn has good special teams play, and their running backs are outstanding. I know Fountain is not directly responsible for the running backs, but he sounds like a good coach and he’s supposed to be an outstanding recruiter.
Basketball struggled against LSU, but it’s just the first game of the SEC slate. Plenty more left. We’re at Arkansas tomorrow night, Tuesday, at 8 PM CT/9 PM ET on the SEC Network. Arkansas is tough at Bud Walton, so we’ll have our hands full. They lost to A&M on Saturday at A&M, but they’ll keep improving under Coach Mike Anderson. I expect us to play well tomorrow night though.
Baseball getting closer, too. I looked at our team roster yesterday and we have some studs coming back in center fielder Bryan Reynolds, right fielder Jeren Kendall, infielder Penn Murfee, third baseman Will Toffey and outfielder Ro Coleman. We have some good arms as well. Excellent freshman class. Perfect Game ranked it the best in the country, so they should step in immediately. Both catchers, Karl Ellison and Jason Delay, will be back, so we’re in good hands behind the dish. We’ve got a good mix of right handers and southpaws on the hill. Will try to get the man, Corbs, on the horn in the next couple of weeks and preview our squad.
Will be in touch.