Tag: Roman Harper

Saints Hall of Fame inducting Roman Harper, Jahri Evans during Falcons game

Saints Hall of Fame inducting Roman Harper, Jahri Evans during Falcons game

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New Orleans Saints fans attending this week’s game with the Atlanta Falcons are in for an extra treat: the Saints Hall of Fame will be inducting two Super Bowl XLIV champions to the list of honorees in strong safety Roman Harper and right guard Jahri Evans. The decision to induct both retired players was announced in June 2020, but the Saints opted to wait until the Caesars Superdome could give them a warmer reception in 2021.

Harper and Evans will join a host of their former Saints teammates in the team’s Hall of Fame, which includes Reggie Bush, Marques Colston, Lance Moore, Pierre Thomas, Jonathan Vilma, Carl Nicks, and the late Will Smith, among many others. Here’s what I wrote on the pair following last summer’s announcement:

Harper, who recently accepted a position with ESPN’s college football broadcast team, spent 9 of the 11 years he played in the NFL with New Orleans. He earned two Pro Bowl nods and helped win Super Bowl XLIV, ultimately suiting up for 132 games in black and gold (including the playoffs). He retired following the 2016 season, bowing out with the Saints after spending two seasons with the Carolina Panthers.

Additionally, Evans was a six-time Pro Bowler during his 11-year Saints career, including four appearances on the All-Pro first-team list. The right guard retired after the 2017 season, appearing in 14 games with the Green Bay Packers (all starts). He also won a title in Super Bowl XLIV and started all 179 games he played for the Saints, including the postseason.

What better time for these two Saints legends to get the recognition they deserve than in front of a 70,000-strong crowd turning up for a heated divisional rivalry game? Let’s hurry up and get on to Sunday.

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Former Alabama defensive back predicts Tennessee to defeat Ole Miss

A former Alabama defensive back predicts Tennessee to defeat Ole Miss.

Tennessee (4-2, 2-1 SEC) will host No. 14 Ole Miss (4-1, 1-1 SEC) Saturday at Neyland Stadium.

Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. EDT (SEC Network).

Ahead of Saturday’s contest, former Alabama defensive back Roman Harper provided his game prediction between the Vols and Rebels.

On SEC Network’s pregame game show “SEC Nation,” Harper mentioned Tennessee will beat Ole Miss.

Harper played at Alabama from 2001-05.

2021 Tennessee Vols’ football schedule

  • Sept. 2 Bowling Green (W, 38-6)
  • Sept. 11 Pittsburgh (L, 41-34)
  • Sept. 18 Tennessee Tech (W, 56-0)
  • Sept. 25 at Florida (L, 38-14)
  • Oct. 2 at Missouri (W, 62-24)
  • Oct. 9 South Carolina (W, 45-20)
  • Oct. 16 Ole Miss
  • Oct. 23 at Alabama
  • Nov. 6 at Kentucky
  • Nov. 13 Georgia
  • Nov. 20 South Alabama
  • Nov. 27 Vanderbilt

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Various CFB experts make their Alabama-Ole Miss predictions

Experts have made their picks between Alabama and Ole Miss!

Alabama and Ole Miss is shaping up to be a heavyweight bout between the top-15 teams. Ole Miss hopes to head home with a huge upset over the No. 1 team in the nation on the road.

Experts with the ESPN family of networks made their picks on College GameDay and SEC Nation, today.

Most Crimson Tide fans may not be pleased with some of the results, but it seems that one panel was smart enough to avoid a hot-take. 

College GameDay’s decision was unanimous, with all four experts picking the Crimson Tide to triumph over the Rebels at home.

The SEC Nation crew was a little bit more diverse. Former Alabama DB Roman Harper, Paul Finebaum and former Florida QB Tim Tebow picked the Crimson Tide to win. 

Jordan Rodgers, on the other hand, chose to be the odd-man out and picked Ole Miss to deliver the upset. 

No. 1 Alabama is set to take on No. 12 Ole Miss on CBS at 2:30 p.m. CT. 

Stay tuned to Roll Tide Wire for the best up-to-the-minute coverage of Alabama sports! 

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Layne Gerbig on Twitter @LayneG_29

SEC Network hires Deuce McAllister to analyst role

SEC Network hires former Saints RB Deuce McAllister to analyst role

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Good news, SEC fans. Legendary New Orleans Saints running back Deuce McAllister accepted a position with the SEC Network to work as a college football analyst this year, bringing the proud Ole Miss product back to his old stomping grounds. His first assignment will be working the Sept.11 game between Auburn and Alabama State, so mark your calendars.

Interestingly, McAllister will continue to work Saints games for WWL Radio — he’s now joined in the booth by longtime television broadcaster Mike Hoss, who replaces Zach Strief. So he’ll have quite a busy schedule in the fall.

McAllister is the latest former Saints player to join the SEC Network, along with his teammate and Super Bowl XLIV champion Roman Harper (an Alabama alum) and fan-favorite tight end Benjamin Watson (who studied at Georgia). With Jonathan Vilma calling NFL games for FOX Sports and Drew Brees on the call for Notre Dame kickoffs on NBC Sports, there’s quite an assembly of former Saints on the airwaves this year.

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WATCH: SEC Nation analysts unanimously pick Florida and Alabama for title game

Analysts Jordan Rodgers, Roman Harper and Tim Tebow all shared their picks for who will win each respective division title – UF and Alabama.

Just a mere week away from the start of the Southeastern Conference’s 2020 football schedule, the “SEC Nation” television crew gave its opinions on the upcoming season in a preseason preview show broadcast on Saturday morning.

Analysts Jordan Rodgers, Roman Harper and Tim Tebow all shared their picks for who will win each respective division title, with the Florida Gators and Alabama Crimson Tide both unanimously selected to face off in the SEC Championship Game.

The Gators and the Tide have a rich and storied history against each other in the SEC Championship Game having faced each other 12 times, with the Tide holding a firm 8-4 edge in the series; UF has an overall 7-5 record in the title game.

The championship rivalry dates back to the inaugural matchup back in 1992, which ‘Bama won thanks to the infamous interception of Shane Matthews by Antonio Langham. Florida would face the Tide in four of five of the first title games — with the Gators appearing in all five of the first SEC title games — taking the next three against Alabama while winning four in a row themselves with a victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks sandwiched in.

Florida went on to win just one more SEC Championship Game battle with ‘Bama in 2008 en route to their third and last national championship. The last two matchups between the Crimson Tide and the Gators in the Georgia Dome came in 2015 and 2016, with ‘Bama winning by a combined score of 83-31 — 29-15 and 54-16, respectively.

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Former Alabama S Roman Harper to be inducted into Saints HoF, join “SEC Nation” crew

It’s been a busy week for former Alabama S Roman Harper. He was announced as a new member of the SEC Nation crew and is to be inducted…

After it was reported that Paul Finebaum and Marcus Spears would no longer be members of SEC Network’s “SEC Nation” pregame show on Saturdays, their replacements have been named.

Jordan Rodgers, brother to Aaron Rodgers and former star of “The Bachelorette,” will be filling one spot. The other will belong to former Alabama safety Roman Harper, as made public by Sports Business Daily.

Harper will specifically fill Spears’ spot as an analyst.

The former Alabama safety was drafted in the second round of the 2006 NFL draft by the New Orleans Saints, where he’d spend most of his 10-season career.

Harper will also be inducted into the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame.

Roll Tide Wire will keep you updated on all things Alabama football, including those in, and beyond, the NFL!

 

Roman Harper pushes back against ex-49er Donte Whitner’s trash talk

Former New Orleans Saints safety Roman Harper fired back after ex-San Francisco 49ers safety Donte Whitner took jabs at his team on Twitter.

The San Francisco 49ers are readying to kick off against the New Orleans Saints in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Sunday, leading former players from both teams to take to social media to reminiscence about their glory days, and maybe air some grievances ahead of this year’s Festivus celebration.

Former 49ers safety Donte Whitner fired the opening salvo, claiming his team delivered “karma for Bountygate” to the Saints in their infamous 2011 playoff game. In that matchup, Whitner got away with a dangerous helmet-to-helmet hit on Saints running back Pierre Thomas on the opening drive, knocking Thomas unconscious and concussing him. Whitner insisted that his tackle was made “The legal way,” which angered retired Saints safety Roman Harper.

“Bro what a joke,” Harper wrote, pointing out how the 49ers won that game after the Saints offense committed five turnovers, and giving Whitner’s defense credit for creating so many takeaways. He then warned Whitner against putting on a tough-guy act on social media.

At the time, Whitner’s hit on Thomas was ruled legal because Thomas not a defenseless player, having completed several football moves (catching a pass and running upfield) prior to being struck. But after increased public awareness about the dangers of concussions suffered in sports put pressure on the NFL, rules changes in 2017 and 2018 outlawed all helmet-to-helmet hits like this under a blanket policy. Thomas was lucky to not suffer line-changing effects from the brain injury Whitner inflicted on him; others haven’t been so lucky.

Harper was one of several Saints players involved in the NFL’s “Bountygate” scandal, in which league commissioner Roger Goodell used the testimony of a disgruntled former Saints team employee (who now works in the league office) as grounds to suspend multiple players and team personnel for much of the 2012 season. Upon reviewing Goodell’s evidence for the claims made against the Saints and the under-oath testimony of then-linebackers coach Joe Vitt and others implicated in the drama, NFL-appointed arbiter and former commissioner Paul Tagliabue overturned all player suspensions and later reprimanded his successor in an interview with Rolling Stone.

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