Latest news with #GermieBernard
USA Today
6 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Alabama duo named to preseason watch list for 2025 Biletnikoff Award
As likely expected, a pair of Alabama Crimson Tide wide receivers have been named to the preseason watch list for the 2025 Fred Biletnikoff Award. That duo is Ryan Williams and Germie Bernard, as both returning wideouts were among the list of names announced on the preseason watch list. Alabama's top two receivers a year ago, Williams led the Crimson Tide with 865 yards and eight touchdowns a year ago on 48 receptions as a true freshman. Bernard, a now senior, had 794 yards and two touchdowns on 50 catches after transferring to Alabama from Washington. Awarded annually to the nation's top receiver, the Crimson Tide have won the Biletnikoff Award three times before. Those winners were Amari Cooper (2014), Jerry Jeudy (2018), and DeVonta Smith (2020). Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion.
USA Today
24-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
NFL Draft Summer Scouting Report: Germie Bernard, WR, Alabama
Summer is here, and it is everyone's favorite time of the year, scouting time. Every year, we do Summer Scouting to preview college football for Vikings fans, but also give them an idea of names to follow and watch in the fall as needs pop up for Minnesota. Are we going to write about quarterbacks? You know it, but why? Because other NFL teams will draft them, just as they will draft every other position. It all matters whether these players end up on the Vikings, the Bears, or the Steelers. We write these so Vikings fans can be the most informed fans. So if you are still with us, enjoy our latest Summer Scouting report as we prepare you for the Fall. Player Information Player: Germie Bernard School:Alabama Height/Weight: 6-1, 209 lbs. Player Background - 4-Star Recruit - Gatorade Player of the Year in Nevada in High School - Played Basketball and Track in High School - Transferred from Michigan State to Washington before landing at Alabama Career Stats Heading into the 2025 Season - 91 Receptions - 1,341 Receiving Yards - 14.7 Yards Per Reception - 6 Touchdowns Notable PFF Numbers Heading into the 2025 Season - 71.8 PFF Receiving Grade - 6.5 Yards After Contact Per Reception - 2.05 Yards Per Reception Run - Average Depth of Target of 10.3 Yards - 7 Contested Catches Player Traits - Good contact balance - Excellent body control as a runner and in the air - Has the size and strength to be a fun slot option - Strong, reliable hands - Vision and awareness to track the ball Player Summary Germie Bernard is another Alabama wide receiver with the makings of an NFL wide receiver. He took a while to make it to Tuscaloosa, but he made an impact in his lone season with the Crimson Tide. I really appreciate his contact balance, he shows both in terms of his blower body skills, as well as his strength. He also boasts strong hands, making him a quarterback's best friend and a reliable target at the next level. Where he could really thrive and develop is in the slot position as a wide receiver if he can focus his efforts there. Everything about his size and skillset makes me think that is what he is made for. Lots to watch on Alabama every fall, but don't forget about him.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Who benefits from College Football Playoff expansion to 16 teams?
When Oregon State went 9-3 during the 2022 regular season – its best season in 16 years – the Beavers earned a trip to the Las Vegas Bowl. If a 16-team College Football Playoff had been in place that season, the Beavers would have qualified. Conference commissioners are debating the playoff's future format for 2026 and beyond, and momentum swells behind growing the playoff from 12 to 16 teams. Advertisement If the playoff indeed expands by four teams, it will become a more attainable destination for three-loss teams from coast to coast. No two-loss team ever qualified for the playoff until the playoff grew from four to 12 teams. No three-loss team has ever qualified, but my analysis of the 11-year playoff era shows that at least two three-loss teams would have made the playoff each year if a 5+11 playoff format had been in place during those seasons. That 5+11 model is the favored format by the Big 12 and ACC, and it's gaining support within the SEC, too. In that model, the top five conference champions would gain automatic bids, and the remaining 11 spots would be filled via at-large selection. The Big Ten favors a different 16-team model in which most qualifiers would gain entry via an auto-bid process. For the purposes of my analysis, I used the 5+11 framework. South Carolina linebacker Bam Martin-Scott (22) pursues Alabama wide receiver Germie Bernard (5) as he carries the ball during the first quarter at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The analysis became tricky, because so many teams changed conferences in the past 11 years. I counted teams in the conferences that they'll call home in 2026. So, a bid for Texas counted toward the SEC, a bid for Oregon counted for the Big Ten, and so on. In some years when Texas or Oklahoma, now in the SEC, won the Big 12, I awarded an automatic bid to the Big 12's runner-up. Other years, I assigned the Big 12's auto bid to Central Florida or Cincinnati – those schools are now in the Big 12 – when those schools were highly ranked and won conference championships. Assigning the Group of Six's automatic qualifier became a chore in certain years, too, because of conference realignment. Advertisement You could conduct this analysis in slightly different ways, but it wouldn't change the upshot that a 16-team playoff would have been a boon for three-loss teams these past 11 years. FALL FROM GRACE: SEC explanations shows its no longer top playoff dog NO CUPCAKES: If SEC wants playoff respect, it needs tougher games Last season, a trio of three-loss SEC teams – Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina – would have qualified. The SEC and Big Ten would have benefited most from the four extra at-large spots, as compared to a 12-team playoff, but teams from the Big 12, ACC, the reconstructed Pac-12 and Notre Dame also would have grabbed last-four-in spots in some years. Advertisement In 2014, a whopping seven teams with three losses scattered across each of the Power Four conferences would have qualified for a 16-team playoff using the 5+11 format. Oh, and how about this: The playoff would have featured its first four-loss teams. Auburn (2016), Stanford (2017) and Texas (2018) were four-loss teams ranked high enough to crack a 16-team playoff. In other words, once the playoff hits 16 teams, it's no longer a destination reserved for the elite. Kentucky, Northwestern could have made 16-team playoff Based off past results during the playoff era, the four extra at-large bids would have helped teams ranging from Northwestern, Kentucky, UCLA, Washington State and Georgia Tech to blue bloods like Alabama and Michigan. Advertisement 'Sixteen teams, you'd get more people excited about it, more people in play,' said Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin, a proponent of a 16-team playoff. Beyond the 16 teams that qualify would be many more remaining in playoff contention into November. The 12-team playoff "created a lot of interest," Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said during a call with reporters. "Going to 16 teams, I think, there's more of that.' The four-team playoff became an exclusive party reserved for top-perch programs like Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Clemson. A 16-team playoff would broaden avenues of access to the middle class and even traditionally lower-tier teams within power conferences that could align the stars and crack the bracket with a 9-3 record. Advertisement Blue-blooded Alabama twice would have been among the last-four-in in a 5+11 playoff format. That's also true of fellow blue bloods like Michigan and Notre Dame. Also, though, Northwestern twice would have qualified in the last-four-in. Three times in the past 11 years, Ole Miss would have been in the last-four-in of a 5+11 playoff, ranking the Rebels as the biggest beneficiary of the playoff expanding by four teams. Is it any wonder Kiffin wants 16 teams? Expanded College Football Playoff would help blue bloods, too Here are some other findings from my analysis applying the 5+11 format to the past 11 seasons: Advertisement ∎ Alabama and Ohio State never would have missed the playoff. Georgia would have qualified in nine of 11 seasons, and Clemson would have qualified eight times. ∎ Notre Dame is among the programs that would have qualified seven times. ∎ The Big Ten would have led with 53 bids, followed by the SEC's 51, meaning each conference would have averaged more than four bids per year. The Big 12 and ACC would have averaged more than two bids per year. ∎ Fourteen of the SEC's 16 programs would have qualified at least once, with Arkansas and Vanderbilt as the only exceptions. ∎ Twelve of the Big Ten's 18 programs would have qualified at least once. The non-qualifiers would have been Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, Purdue and Rutgers. Advertisement ∎ The Big Ten would have peaked at six bids but never qualified fewer than four teams. ∎ The SEC's bid total would have bottomed out at three bids but peaked with seven bids in 2018 and again in 2023. ∎ Thirty-one programs would have qualified as a last-four-in team at least once throughout the 11 years. No wonder the 16-team playoff concept gains steam. The four extra spots would help a wide range of programs gain playoff access. College football accelerates away from an era that demanded an undefeated or one-loss record to make an elitist playoff, and toward a terrain in which 9-3 equals a playoff berth instead of a mid-tier bowl bid. Advertisement Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@ and follow him on X @btoppmeyer. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College Football Playoff expansion to 16 teams. Who benefits most?
USA Today
03-06-2025
- Business
- USA Today
ESPN predicts win totals, playoff and championship odds for Alabama football in 2025
ESPN predicts win totals, playoff and championship odds for Alabama football in 2025 Alabama football will open the 2025 season with a new quarterback and new weapons at skill positions, including additions to its receiver room to complement star sophomore Ryan Williams and senior Germie Bernard. On defense, Alabama will be replacing Jihaad Campbell and Que Robinson at linebacker, plus defensive tackle Tim Smith and safety Malachi Moore. With Ty Simpson the favorite at quarterback and freshmen like Lotzeir Brooks and Derek Meadows at receiver along with Miami transfer Isaiah Horton, the Crimson Tide begin Year 2 under Kalen DeBoer looking to put a disappointing finish to its 2024 season behind them. On Tuesday, ESPN unveiled its first Football Power Index ratings (FPI) for the 2025 season. The FPI ratings are ESPN's best model for predicting a team's record, its chances of winning its conference and reaching the 12-team College Football Playoff and national championship game. FPI also tracks teams' strength of schedule, plus individual ratings for offense, defense and special teams. Alabama landed at No. 3 in ESPN's first FPI with a 24.2 overall rating. In national championship odds based on FPI, the Texas Longhorns, Georgia Bulldogs and Ohio State Buckeyes were the only teams ahead of the Crimson Tide. Here's a breakdown of where Alabama landed in the FPI. ESPN FPI projections for Alabama football Projected wins: 9.6 Chances of reaching CFP: 66.2 percent (4th) Chances of winning SEC: 17.2 percent (3rd) Chances of reaching national championship game: 20.2 percent (4th) Chances of winning national championship: 10.4 percent (4th) Offensive rating: 11.8 (3rd) Defense rating: 11.3 (3rd) Strength of schedule ranking: 10th Alabama will again have one of the toughest schedules in the nation in 2025, with road trips to Georgia in Athens on Sept. 27 and its regular season finale at Auburn (Nov. 29). The Crimson Tide will face LSU and Tennessee in Tuscaloosa and will open the season in Tallahassee against Florida State on Aug. 30. What is ESPN FPI? ESPN explains FPI this way: "Just to refresh our memories, the FPI is a predictive rating system that estimates each FBS team's strength (in points per game relative to the national average) on offense, defense and special teams, making adjustments for starters lost, recruiting talent and other personnel changes. Those numbers are then plugged into the schedule, and everything is simulated 20,000 times to track each team's odds of winning its conference, making the playoff and advancing through to the national title." Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinions.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Todd McShay Names Next Breakout WR Beside Ryan Williams
If not for Jeremiah Smith, Alabama Crimson Tide receiver Ryan Williams would've been the undisputed best freshman at his position last season. Due partly to the attention Williams will draw for Kalen DeBoer's team this upcoming campaign, NFL draft analyst Todd McShay believes Germie Bernard will enjoy a breakout go-round. "But Germie Bernard, I'm excited to watch at Alabama," McShay said last Thursday on "The McShay Show." "They think that they got some of their offense rolling, the passing game is gonna get rolling again this year. I think Germie is gonna have a lot more opportunities. The thing about Germie that I liked? He showed up, like, big moments. He would find a way to uncover, get open. ... He's obviously got a superstar true freshman opposite (him) that they're targeting." Alabama Crimson Tide wide receiver Germie Bernard (5).© Gary Cosby Jr.-Imagn Images Bernard, a senior, previously made stops at Michigan State and Washington. He was a Crimson Tide starter last season, leading the crew with 50 receptions. His 794 yards and two touchdowns ranked second behind Williams. Tight end C.J. Dippre, the team's third-leading pass-catcher a year ago, joined Mike Vrabel and the New England Patriots as an undrafted rookie. Advertisement Last month, Bernard made a bold claim about the Crimson Tide's receiver room, dubbing it the best in college football. "We got a lot of speed, we got a lot of strength," Bernard said. "We got guys that can block, we got guys that can make contested catches. We got guys that are tough. We got guys that can get open." Related: Ryan Williams Calls DeVonta Smith his Favorite Alabama Receiver of All Time
