Die Macht » Rolle (seven interceptions) headline the a

This story appears in ESPN The Magazines Dec. John Riggins Youth Jersey . 26 / Jan. 2 Issue. Subscribe today!AN HOUR BEFORE the sidelines at the SEC championship game are lined with Southern football dignitaries. All available previous MVPs of SEC title games are here, along with current coaches of teams that didnt make the game and a pair of television news desks, one from ESPN, the other from CBS.Retiring play-by-play man Verne Lundquist greets a receiving line of well-wishers at the CBS desk, all while sidestepping Alabamas warm-up drills. The defending national champ is preparing for a game it will win 54-16 over Florida to remain undefeated and formalize its invitation to the College Football Playoff.These dudes are so big its a little scary, says former Gators QB Danny Wuerffel, extending his hand after waiting in line.No, Uncle Verne replies. Whats scary is that most of them are still teenagers.Anyone who bought the 2016 college football preview magazines last summer will remember the questions. How will Alabama replace Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry? How will the Crimson Tide account for losing quarterback Jake Coker, a 23-year-old transfer from Florida State with five years experience? How will they replace 11 starters? (Those questions were posed in ESPN The Magazines preview by the same scribe you are reading right now.)Alabama entered the season with the SECs least experienced roster. Ohio State did the same in the Big Ten. Ditto for Clemson: bottom of the ACC. But it was actually much starker than that. Phil Steele, the king of preseason mags, uses a five-part formula to determine experience, and he ranked the Tide roster 116th out of 128 FBS teams. Clemson was ranked 101st. Ohio State was dead last at 128th.So if youre scoring at home -- and recruits are -- then three of this years best four teams were also among its youngest, somehow surviving one of the most unpredictable regular seasons in recent memory. The holdout is Washington. The Pac-12 champ ranked fourth in its conference and 43rd overall in experience, with only four returning senior starters but a whopping 80 percent of the roster having already played enough to earn a varsity letter.It really does go against what I guess youd call conventional coaching wisdom, says Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, who returned two senior starters from his 2015 team that went 12-1 and finished the year ranked fourth in the AP poll. This year the team is 11-1 and will play Clemson in the CFP semifinals. But I would also say, OK, who are those two seniors and who are your juniors? I like those juniors I have in the middle of my defense. And I really like that junior I have under center leading my offense in J.T. Barrett.They say the same at Clemson about their quarterback, Deshaun Watson. Along with his fellow juniors -- running back Wayne Gallman and wide receiver Mike Williams -- hes had to carry a roster heavy on underclassmen to a much higher degree of difficulty than a year ago, when Clemson pushed Alabama in the title game.I know its a cliché to talk about having another coach out on the field, but thats what Deshaun is, says Clemsons actual coach, Dabo Swinney. In the end, we can only run so many drills, watch so much film and install so many plays. When those young guys are out there and its time to actually run those plays, then its Deshaun who is looking them in the eyes. Freshmen or not, they are going to do what they have to do to not let him down.That pressure of not wanting to become the weak link in the chain is indeed a great motivator. A kid who spent the past few seasons watching Watson lead Clemson to a stack of prime-time wins doesnt want to be the one who causes that pipeline to rupture.And that brings us back to Alabama.My single biggest fear every day was that I did not want to be the guy who caused the winning to stop, Henry says. Standing along that same Georgia Dome sideline watching his former Tide teammates, he is straight-faced serious. He recalls his freshman year in 2013, joining the team as it came off consecutive BCS national championships and its third in four years. One year removed from high school, he carried the football just 36 times. Upperclassmen incessantly reminded him of his responsibilities.So did his phone. It was blowing up all the time with texts and calls from former Alabama players, Henry says. You better listen to the coaches, you better keep this going, you better stick with the Process. I didnt even know these guys. But now I do the same thing. Ill be doing it here tonight.Ah yes, the Process. When Nick Saban used to drop his trademark mantra, it was greeted by those outside Tuscaloosa -- and some inside the city limits -- with eye rolls and bingo calls of Drink! Such attitudes have since vanished, pounded into the ground by the win-loss record that has also buried Bamas SEC rivals. In the early days, when hed visit the living rooms of recruits, Saban would preach the programs relentless attention to every detail as a way to shed light on his grandiose plans. But now that those plans have come to historic fruition, that speech has changed. Either youre on board with the Process or you arent. Not on board? Enjoy your time playing elsewhere. If you are, well need your ring size.There is a way we do things at Alabama and they arent easy, but we arent looking for players who are looking for easy, Saban explained in February on national signing day after inking a class ranked second best in the nation by ESPN.com. I think what weve been able to accomplish here makes it easy for kids to identify what we are about. If they think they can fit into that, and we think they can fit into that, then I think the potential benefits are fairly evident.Thats code for Why yes, at Alabama we love five-star athletes. But only the ones who can hack it.The crown jewel in that 2016 recruiting class was a quarterback from the Houston area named Jalen Hurts, the son of a high school football coach. Hurts size and strength were off the charts, as were his football IQ and his academic record. Per Sabans freshman policies, the 18-year-old doesnt talk to reporters. An early enrollee, he already played the role of Watson as his new team practiced to play Clemson in the title game last January. Now he has a chance to lead his team to a victory in this years version of that same game and become the first true freshman QB to win a national title since Oklahomas Jamelle Holieway in 1985.People say, Well, how can you win with a freshman quarterback? says Alabama radio color commentator Phil Savage, a former NFL general manager who deals with college footballs best players annually as executive director of the Senior Bowl. But they arent doing it with just any old freshman quarterback. Jalen Hurts is special. He fits. And Alabama is fortunate enough to be in a position where they dont just sign five-star recruits. They sign the ones that fit.That fortunate position Bamas in is the top, where the view is nice and the shopping list nicer. Over the past four years, Bama has inked classes ranked first, first, first and second. Ohio State has never dropped below seventh, while Clemson has spent the past two years in the top eight. Only heavyweights like them can afford not to play the waiting game with their prospects. Because while beggars cant be choosers, choosers rarely have to be beggars.Sure, college coaches will tell you that todays high school recruits arrive more football-ready than ever before, thanks to prep programs that have become more aggressive with both their playbooks and their training programs. But experience still matters for nearly all the rest of college football. Washington, which has hovered from 19th to 45th in recruiting, needs its players to stick around. Colorado went worst to first in the Pac-12 South with its experience-heavy roster (ninth in the nation), and Michigan State did the complete opposite in the Big Ten as it hit the bottom of its cycle as an annual fifth-year-player factory. According to Steele, the Spartans were ranked 117th in the nation in experience and 13th in the Big Ten. They finished 3-9.The goal is to create an environment of winning, Saban explains in what sounds like total coachspeak but is in fact, well, fact. Seniors and alums expect a certain level of success, and in turn, they teach the kids who have just arrived to expect that level of success. Only a certain type of young man can handle that. And if you can handle that, then it doesnt matter how old you are.But it does matter where you play. Bryce Love Youth Jersey . All of the scoring came in the final 20:04. Lucic scored on a power play at 15:46 of the third period, when he tipped a shot over Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen for a 3-1 lead. Sean Taylor Redskins Jersey . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. https://www.redskinssportsgoods.com/Wome...nverted-Jersey/ .com) - Manchester City midfielder David Silva is expected to miss the next four weeks because of a calf problem.While all eyes will be on how South Dakota States prolific offense fares against Villanovas hard-hitting defense, thats not the matchup that most concerns Jackrabbits coach John Stiegelmeier ahead of this weekends second-round playoff showdown.Fresh off its first Missouri Valley Football Conference title and a first-round bye, No. 7 South Dakota State will try to advance to the FCS quarterfinals for the first time Saturday when it hosts the ninth-ranked Wildcats in the first playoff game at Dykhouse Stadium.Villanova (9-3), which tied for second in the Colonial Athletic Association Conference before topping Saint Francis 31-21 in the opening round last week, is hoping to once again extend coach Andy Talleys 32nd and final season.The Wildcats are playing well on both sides of the ball, totaling 72 points and 518 rushing yards in their last two games. Their offense features four players with at least 447 rushing yards in Aaron Forbes (787), Javon White (513), quarterback Zach Bednarczyk (510) and Matt Gudzak (447). Bednarczyk also has thrown for seven touchdowns and one interception in the past two.The Jackrabbits (8-3) did have their share of trouble slowing the run, finishing seventh in their 10-team conference with 170.1 yards allowed per game. However, they held Northern Iowa to a season-low 56 in a 45-24 road win in the regular-season finale.They have a number of backs, said Stiegelmeier, who was named MVFC Coach of the Year. They have a quarterback who runs the ball. Im very concerned about their option game, because you have to be sound in all phases and if you arent, they have the skill to get up the field really quick.SDSU, which has never faced Villanova, poses its own set of problems for opposing defenses. The squad easily paced the MVFC with 37.4 points and 481.7 total yards per game.Everything starts with MVFC Offensive Player of the Year Taryn Christion, who led the conference with 306.3 passsing yards per game and 29 touchdowns. Darrell Green Redskins Jersey. The sophomore also has rushed for four scores over the past four games and added a TD reception against the Panthers. All-MVFC wide receiver Jake Wieneke (70 receptions, 1,204 yards, 16 TDs) and all-conference tight end Dallas Goedert (78, 1,146, 10) are the top targets in the passing game.Theyre certainly one of the elite teams in the country, Talley said. Their quarterback is probably the best quarterback that we have seen all year. He is difficult to put pressure on because hes got great feet and can run. The problem is that if you pressure him, he can take off and run and break you down and hurt you. Hes a running threat that can really get down the field, and hes got a great arm. Hes able to run and throw, so they put a lot of pressure on you.Villanova ranks second nationally with just 15.4 points allowed per game and finished fourth in the CAA with 170.7 passing yards allowed per game. Defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon (21.5 tackles for loss, 11 sacks) and safety Rob Rolle (seven interceptions) headline the aggressive defense. Kpassagnon, defensive end Bryan Osei and safety Jeff Steeb combined for six sacks last weekend when the Wildcats also limited the Red Flash to 27 rushing yards.Villanova is in the playoffs for the 12th time under Talley, who has announced hell retire at the end of the season. SDSU, meanwhile, is making its fifth straight postseason appearance under Stiegelmeier, though the school has never made it past the second round in six trips since joining Division I and the FCS in 2004.The winner will play San Diego (10-1) or No. 1 seed, MVFC co-champion and five-time defending national champ North Dakota State (10-1) in the quarterfinals. The Jackrabbits handed the Bison their only defeat, 19-17, on Oct. 15. ' ' '