Good evening New York Giants fans! Bowl Season is well and truly under way, and we have the first game of the College Football Playoffs under the Friday Night lights.
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl
(8) Oklahoma vs. (9) Alabama
TV: ABC
Time: 8 p.m.
This should be an exciting game and will also be a “must watch” game from a scouting perspective.
While Alabama lost to Georgia in an embarrassing fashion in the SEC Championship, they still have a ton of future NFL players on their roster. Oklahoma, meanwhile, features talented players of their own as well as a well-schemed defense courtesy of Brent Venables.
Speaking of the Draft and scouting, the Giants might want to pay attention to Alabama receiver Germie Bernard. The injury to Malik Nabers has revealed a lack of depth in the Giants’ receiving corps, with Wan’Dale Robinson as the team’s only other natural separator. There have been far too many instances of the Giants’ receivers not getting open, forcing Jaxson Dart to hold the ball or scramble. Either way, it exposes him to risk as he takes it upon himself to make a play when his teammates can’t. Bernard has solid size at 6-foot-1, 205 pounds, with strong hands, good ball skills and body control, as well as high football IQ as a route runner. He might not be a high-ceiling WR 1b like the Giants could find at the top of the first round, but he could be a good possession receiver and a dependable number two across from Nabers.
It’s also notable that Robinson is a free agent after the season, and the team could be left with a particularly bare cupboard even with Nabers returning.
Oklahoma’s John Mateer is another fascinating case. He got off to a hot start at the beginning of the season and looked like he built upon a promising 2024 season to become a first round pick. Then he suffered an injury to his throwing hand and his play (understandably) fell off a cliff. Mateer has said that he feels better than at any point following the injury, but we’ll just have to see whether that translates to better play on the field.
The two quarterbacks will be one of the bigger stories of the game. Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson could be one of the first two or three quarterbacks off the board in April — assuming he decides to come out.
Players to watch
(8) Oklahoma
- John Mateer (QB – 10)
- Jaren Kanak (TE – 12)
- Deion Burks (WR – 4)
- Jayden Ott (RB – 0)
- Damonic Williams (iDL – 52)
- Gracen Halton (iDL – 56)
- R. Mason Thomas (DE/EDGE – 32)
- Sammy Omosigho (LB – 7)
- Kendal Daniels (S/LB – 5)
- Peyton Bowen (S – 22)
(9) Alabama
- Ty Simpson (QB – 15)
- Kadyn Proctor (OT – 74)
- Parker Brailsford (OC – 72)
- Jaeden Roberts (OG – 77)
- Josh Cuevas (TE – 80)
- Germie Bernard (WR – 5)
- Tim Keenan III (iDL – 96)
- Deontae Lawson (LB – 0)
- Domani Jackson (CB – 1)
- Keon Sabb (S – 3)
- Bray Hubbard (S – 18)
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