LSU Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin may have played the most extreme form of 3D chess to force the Alabama Crimson Tide's hand during the January transfer portal window and potentially force some pain on his former team.
CBS Sports' Brad Crawford predicts the quarterback market's dried-out nature, with almost everyone gone, even former USC Trojan Husan Longstreet, who was available at the time but who's since also been scooped up by Kiffin, could force the Miami Hurricanes to go all in on swaying Ty Simpson from the NFL draft.
Simpson said he wouldn't take any offer, revealing some went as high as $6.5 million for one season, because he's forever loyal to Alabama. He also revealed that Sam Leavitt taking Lane's offer made The U come back with a gaudier proposal.
"We could potentially see a new record-setting deal for a quarterback if the Hurricanes are able to convince Alabama's signal caller to play one more season at the college level. With Leavitt signing with LSU this week and high-end quarterbacks now unavailable in the transfer portal outside of USC's Husan Longstreet, the Hurricanes have decisions to make. Simpson holds lucrative offers from several programs, but those close to the situation have said it's unlikely he decides against going pro. An ideal fit for Shannon Dawson's offense for the Hurricanes, they're going to do all they can before the deadline to make this happen," Crawford wrote.
Simpson revealed that Miami, the Ole Miss Rebels, and the Tennessee Volunteers were all after him in the portal. He stressed that he didn't want to lose everything he's built with the Crimson Tide's fanbase, including their acceptance.
“Miami was kind of like, ‘All right, we’re moving on,’ and then they lost out on Sam Leavitt and came back with that big number,” Simpson told On3's Chris Low. “And then Ole Miss called again and said they could match it. I had a knot in my stomach. I didn’t know what to do.
“I really felt good with my decision to go pro, but that amount of money to play college football again for what amounts to about eight months makes you stop and think. I remember my parents telling me that $6 million was more than they had made the whole time they had been married, but the thing they wanted most for me was to be happy.
“KD and Coach Grubb have been so good to me,” Simpson said. “I’m sure they were wondering what was going on because they wanted a decision from me last Thursday so they could start building their roster for next year. I was honest and told them what I’d been offered, but that I just couldn’t do it because of everything I stood for and what Alabama had meant to me and the legacy that I built there. Everybody would just remember me as the guy who took all this money and went to Miami or Tennessee for his last year. But I was a captain. I put my hand and footprints in the cement at Denny Chimes. I would have lost everything that I built at Alabama.”
What a mess it would be if Simpson did the unthinkable between now and Friday.