Let’s fire up a Thursday edition of “The Joe Gaither Show on BamaCentral” with Mason Woods as we dive into two notable recruiting notes, the College Football Playoff’s Week 2 rankings, the Crimson Tide secondary, the Mercer Bears and more.

The show opens with recruiting as Alabama suffered a decommitment from a prominant recruit. Is losing Caleb Cunningham from the Crimson Tide Class of 2025 a big blow? Who else is rumored to be flirting with decommitting from the Capstone?

We continue with the conversation as the College Football Playoff committee put out its Week 2 poll. Alabama moved up in the polls after destroying LSU, but did the committee’s choices make sense? Georgia dropped out. Notre Dame, Penn State and Texas are all ahead of Alabama, how does the committee make sense of the rankings so far?

The show then transitions into this weekend as Alabama football plays agains the Mercer Bears. Does Mercer have any shot at coming into Tuscaloosa and beating the Crimson Tide? We discuss what the Bears could do to threaten Alabama and identify our three players to watch this week at Saban Field at Bryant Denny Stadium.

The show can be seen on the BamaCentral YouTube channel. Keep up with each show on YouTube,Facebook and Twitter. Shows can also be heard on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon.

Alabama football has seemingly turned the corner after a difficult October that saw the Crimson Tide go just 2-2 and see its hopes of a national championship go up in flames.

But the beauty of an expanded playoff is that the second loss was not the end of the season for Alabama. All it did was remove the margin for error. Since the loss to Tennessee in Knoxville, Alabama responded with dominant wins over ranked opponents in Missouri and LSU.

Last week’s 42-13 win in Baton Rouge might have been Alabama’s single most impressive win of the season, perhaps more so than the home win over Georgia at the end of September.

Alabama now sits at 7-2 and seemingly controls its own destiny for the College Football Playoff, and sits in a good position to make it to Atlanta for the SEC Championship if things break the way most expect.

Prior to Alabama finishing the regular season with back-to-back SEC games against Oklahoma and Auburn, the Crimson Tide faces Mercer at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday.

In last week’s bold predictions, we correctly predicted that Alabama would force multiple LSU turnovers. And while Jalen Milroe didn’t quite get to 400 yards of total offense, he was still the star of the game as predicted. The only real miss was Ryan Williams leading the team in receiving as Alabama’s passing game revolved around the running backs.

So even in a game that isn’t getting as much hype as the others, we’re still going to come up with some bold predictions that are guaranteed to be 100% accurate.

3. Caleb Odom scores his first career touchdown

Ryan Williams was obviously the prized WR of Alabama’s 2024 class, but Caleb Odom was highly ranked in his own regard and has unicorn traits. Odom has yet to be a big factor in the passing game, but he has seen his playing time increase in recent weeks.

With Cole Adams out for the season, Odom has more of a path to getting on the field. Against Mercer, if Alabama takes care of business, this should be a game where the starters are out by halftime. That should open the door for Ty Simpson to come into the game and run the full offense, and a guy like Odom could benefit from that.

I’m betting Odom finds the endzone for the first time in his career on Saturday.

2. Richard Young leads the team in rushing

I’m banking on Alabama coming out of the gate and playing well, learning from its lesson against Vanderbilt following the big win over Georgia earlier in the season. If that’s the case, there should be plenty of playing time for backups like Richard Young.

Young missed some time earlier in the season following an injury he suffered against Wisconsin. He’s been the No. 3 guy in the pecking order behind Justice Haynes and Jam Miller, but Young has impressed when he has gotten the opportunity.

He broke a 62-yard run three weeks ago against Missouri, and he found the endzone for the first time this season last week against LSU in the 4th quarter. I think Young will get a lot of playing time in the second half this week, and I think he’ll break a big run or two and ultimately be the team’s leading rusher.

1. Alabama finally scores a non-offensive touchdown

Alabama is fourth in the country in takeaways forced per game. It’s almost mind-boggling that they haven’t turned a single turnover into a defensive touchdown yet.

Either by a pick-six, scoop-and-score, or a special teams punt/kick return, I believe Alabama will find the endzone this week.

Ryan Williams looks explosive as a punt returner and if the Tide’s defense plays well then he should get a plethora of opportunities early in the game to make a big play in the return game. Williams had a 28-yard punt return last week against LSU.

I think it will be Williams who finds the endzone, but I won’t be surprised if Alabama houses a pick-six, either.

Class 7A in Alabama high school football hosts the 32 largest high schools in the Yellowhammer State, and 16 of those programs entered the 7A playoffs last weekend. Now onto the second round, just eight teams are left.

This Friday — Auburn will face Thompson, Enterprise heads to Baker, Phenix City Central and Vestavia Hills square off, and Hoover will play Opelika.

Of those eight teams, six have head coaches in the top 10 of Alabama 7A coach salaries, per AL.com.

Below are the 10 highest-paid 7A high school football head coaches in the state of Alabama.

1. Mark Freeman

School: Alabaster Thompson
Base Salary: $84,323.55
Coaching Supplement: $77,731.06
Total: $162,054.61

Mark Freeman has been the head coach at Thompson since 2015. In that time, the Warriors have racked up several state championships. This season, Thompson is 8-3 and set to play Auburn this weekend after thrashing Daphne 50-0 last Friday. The Warriors are ranked No. 3 in Alabama, according to the On3 Massey Ratings, and No. 71 in the United States.

2. Patrick Nix

School: Phenix City Central
Base Salary: $62,568
Coaching Supplement: $92,532
Total: $155,100

Patrick Nix became the head coach at Central in 2020. He played quarterback for Auburn from 1992-95 and previously held the offensive coordinator job at Miami. Phenix City Central put up a whopping 70 points on James Clemens in the first round to improve to 8-2 on the year. The Red Devils, home to Miami commit Daylyn Upshaw and Alabama pledge Mal Waldrep, are the No. 5 team in the Yellowhammer State.

3. Josh Floyd

School: Hewitt-Trussville
Total: $151,107.36

Brand new to Hewitt-Trussville, Josh Floyd led the Huskies to a playoff berth in his first season under the hood. Hewitt-Trussville was upset by Baker in the first round, but still put together an impressive 8-3 season and finished No. 7 in the Alabama high school football rankings. Recent alumni include class of 2023 prospects Hunter Osborne and Rickey Gibson.

4. Keith Etheredge

School: Auburn
Base Salary: $104,755.70
Coaching Supplement: $43,813
Total: $148,588.70

Keith Etheredge took over the Auburn job heading into the 2021 season. Now with the best team in the state, the Tigers are looking to get over the Central hump for a state championship. Auburn continues to roll with a perfect record. The Tigers are undefeated and No. 1 in the state of Alabama, fresh off of a 63-27 win over Bob Jones in the first round. They will play Alabaster Thompson this weekend.

5. Robert Evans

School: Birmingham Vestavia Hills
Base Salary: $97,841
Coaching Supplement: $47,500
Total: $145,341

Rob Evans returned to his alma mater in 2022 after serving as the defensive coordinator at Mountain Brook. Vestavia Hills is still alive in the postseason. Evans’ Rebels are just 6-5 against what has been a brutal schedule. They are the No. 10 team in the state and coming off of a three-score win over Mary G. Montgomery.

6. Bryan Moore

School: Opelika
Base Salary: $71,812
Coaching Supplement: $69,467
Total: $141,279

Head coach Bryan Moore has been suspended for Opelika’s playoff game this week after he was seen on the sidelines at Hoover’s round one playoff game against Fairhope last Thursday. A picture captured by Under The Lights shows Moore holding a pen and binder watching the Hoover game on the sidelines. He was also wearing a credential, which, according to WKRG’s Simone Lee, was intended for Opelika student media.

7. Ben Blackmon

School: Enterprise
Base Salary: $91,423.32
Coaching Supplement: $48,534
Total: $139,957.32

Ben Blackmon was also suspended for a single game by the AHSAA for advance scouting earlier this season. A video submitted to WKRG showed Blackmon sitting beside an Enterprise assistant filming Opelika’s (Ala.) game against Dothan (Ala.) ahead of Enterprise’s clash with Opelika.

8. Shane McComb

School: Birmingham Oak Mountain
Base Salary: $62,923.22
Coaching Supplement: $73,442
Total: $136,365.22

Shane McComb took over the Oak Mountain job heading into the 2023 season. The team was coming off of a 3-7 season and went 1-9 in McComb’s first year. This season has seen a marked improvement with a 4-6 record. The Eagles did not make it to the Alabama high school football playoffs.

9. Bert Browne

School: Albertville
Base Salary: $78,493
Coaching Supplement: $48,900
Total: $127,393

Also new to his program in 2023, Bert Browne’s Aggies are 0-20 in his tenure. But, he had a tall task ahead of him when he took the job. In the two years before Browne’s hiring, Albertville had won just two games.

10. Chad McGehee

School: Madison James Clemens
Base Salary: $83,937
Coaching Supplement: $41,789.58
Total: $125,726.58

Chad McGehee took over as the head coach at James Clemens in 2021 after three years as the defensive coordinator at Hoover. The Jets made the postseason with a 6-4 record but fell 70-14 to Phenix City Central in the first round.