On Monday night Alabama middle linebacker Dylan Moses dropped some huge news on the college football world announcing that he would be returning for his senior season. Moses is the first draft-eligible player to announce his intentions to stay with the Crimson Tide as he made it clear that he wants to receive his degree from the university.
This is not only good for Moses who will be graduating from Alabama with a diploma next year, but it is also beneficiary to Nick Saban’s defense and the leadership of the team. That being said Moses’ decision to give it one last go may have started a domino effect that might influence some others to return as well.
And it’s funny I said domino effect.
— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) December 31, 2019
The Alabama football twitter account tweeted this gif out early Tuesday morning following Nick Saban’s press conference, making it obvious that Moses may have started a trend amongst the draft-eligible players.
Alabama has nine juniors who were evaluated for the NFL Draft who still have big decisions to make. This includes quarterback Tua Tagovailioa, wide receivers Jerry Jeudy Henry Ruggs and DeVonta Smith, offensive linemen Alex Leatherwood and Jedrick Wills, running back Najee Harris and safety Xavier McKinney.
Outside linebacker Terrell Lewis was the ninth junior evaluated for the draft but has decided to sit out the team’s bowl game and enter the draft.
Despite Lewis’ decision, out of the eight remaining juniors, there is still a shot a good deal of them return. Saban has mentioned over and over again if someone has a grade of a top 15 pick then he understands it may be too hard to pass up. But Saban revealed that only one player who is draft-eligible has received that kind of grade.
And it’s Tua Tagovailoa.
“I told the players, I said ‘Look, if you’re a top-15 pick in the draft, aight. It’s a lot of money. I can understand why you wouldn’t want to play in the bowl game,” said Saban. “But if you’re not, it’s an opportunity for you to showcase your talents in terms of being able to move up in the draft,’
“And I said, ‘We only have one guy that has that high of a grade, and he’s not going to play in the game because he’s injured. And that injury may affect his grade, unfortunately for him right now, aight.”
Although he is still valued as the second-best quarterback on numerous draft analysts’ big boards there still can not be an accurate gauge of where Tagovailoa may land since this season quarterback class is relatively deep.
Other than Tagovailoa there are a couple more who may be leaning closer to staying. Jeudy and Wills will likely land on leaving as they are near the very top of the rankings at their positions. But somebody like Ruggs is a different story and with the help of Tagovailoa may have dropped a hint at what he may do.
On Monday Tagovailoa posted a poll to his Instagram story, which he is very active on, asking whether Ruggs would return or not next season. If this gives any indication that Ruggs would be returning then it may lead to Smith coming back as well.
Even after a huge junior season where he caught 65 passes for 1,200 yards and 13 touchdowns it still doesn’t seem like Smith gets the recognition he deserves. And after getting snubbed from the awards season that may add more fuel to the fire to return and prove the doubters wrong again.
Speaking of awards snubs McKinney could be the returnee who puts the team over the top. With two strong presences in him and Moses on the Crimson Tide’s defense, along with a now youthful and experienced defensive front, there may be a return to form for that side of the football.
With one day left until Alabama’s matchup with Michigan in the Citrus Bowl, it is unlikely that any more announcements will come out before then. But after it’s matchup with the Wolverines dominoes will be falling in Tuscaloosa. Whether they fall in the same direction is still up in the air
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
