Nick Saban's Alabama football depth chart saga is fake controversy. Just ask Hugh Freeze | Toppmeyer

Authentic, team-issued depth charts are endangered species. They’re going the way of the fullback.

Nick Saban withheld Alabama's depth chart from the publicly disseminated pregame materials. Auburn published a depth chart, but coach Hugh Freeze said it’s malarkey.

I know I’m supposed to care. I’m a journalist, and we demand transparency, gosh darn it! But, I can’t muster much enthusiasm for this faux controversy.

Anyone who understands how these school-issued depth charts work knows they’ve become something of a farce.

Depth charts included in pregame materials are often crafted by team media personnel, rather than the coaching staff, making them of little more usefulness or accuracy than the depth-chart projection you’d find at Ourlads.com or from your intrepid local newspaper beat writer.

“I don’t do depth charts, so this is really nonsense,” Freeze said of the depth chart Auburn's sports information department released.

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I didn’t expect Saban would reveal his starting quarterback choice in a Monday depth chart, and he went a step further by doing away with the piece of paper entirely.

Saban’s rationale for withholding a depth chart was that it “creates a lot of distractions” on Alabama’s team. Don’t think I buy that one, particularly because Saban admitted players already “know who should start in the game and who shouldn’t start.” A depth chart just puts it in ink.

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Alabama isn’t the first school to ax depth charts, and it won’t be the last. What Saban does, other coaches mimic, so depth charts probably will dry up at a few additional outposts – as if obscuring the two-deep is the secret to Alabama’s success, and not its bevy of blue-chip talent. If Saban opted for pink hair dye, salons would need to stock up on bubblegum product.

None of it strikes a nerve on my end. We’ll learn Alabama’s depth chart when the Crimson Tide plays Middle Tennessee State on Saturday, when there will be no hiding Alabama’s starting quarterback.

Depth chart saga is fake news. Jalen Milroe’s play will be real news

Intrigue in the Alabama’s depth chart became heightened because Saban has not announced Alabama’s starting quarterback. However, he’s also said nothing to dissuade the idea that Jalen Milroe will take the first snap.

Milroe has shown “a significant amount of improvement,” Saban said, and he’s developing more comfort in the pocket and more confidence in his execution.

Milroe exited spring practice as Alabama’s best option. The April addition of Notre Dame transfer Tyler Buchner doesn’t seem to have altered Milroe's place atop the pecking order.

I believe Milroe's dual-threat and big-play abilities offer the Crimson Tide the highest potential ceiling this season – if he displays the consistency, ball control and intangibles needed to win at a high level.

Email of the week

Mike writes: I had looked forward to seeing the (Notre Dame-Navy) game, but my blasted cable company, Spectrum, had (an outage). Missed the gymnastic championship Sunday, too. Aghhhh.

My response: A $25.99 antenna from Walmart is your friend in these disastrous outage scenarios.

Three and out

1. You can’t say Tennessee fans don’t put their money where their mouth is. Vols quarterback Joe Milton’s Heisman Trophy odds from Draft Kings are 22-to-1, but 9% of the handle (total money wagered) has been placed on Milton. The only players with more money wagered on them to win the Heisman are Southern Cal’s Caleb Williams (4½-to-1 odds), Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. (20-to-1) and LSU’s Jayden Daniels (11-to-1). No Vols player has ever won the Heisman.

2. A new Missouri state law allows high school athletes who sign with instate schools to begin cashing in on NIL deals, post haste. Asked whether that creates an unfair playing field with schools in other states with different laws, Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz fired back that college football’s playing field is hardly level, anyway, regardless of NIL. To wit, he said, look at budget differentiation. USA TODAY reported Ohio State’s athletics revenue for fiscal year 2022 at $251.6 million and its expenses at $225.7 million. Missouri’s revenue checked in at $141.2 million and its expenses at $125.6 million. Good point, Drinkwitz. No one clamored about an imbalanced playing field until athletes began to get a bite of the pie.

3. Arik Gilbert, the former LSU and Georgia tight end now at Nebraska, is staying busy while he awaits an NCAA eligibility ruling. Police arrested Gilbert this week in Lincoln, Nebraska, on a felony burglary charge. He’s accused of breaking into a liquor and vape store and absconding with $1,600 worth of stolen items. Some have speculated this is the end of the road for Gilbert’s once-promising football career. I’m wondering where Urban Meyer will be coaching next season. Find Meyer, and you might find Gilbert as the starting tight end.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's SEC Columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.

The "Topp Rope" is his SEC football column published throughout the USA TODAY Network. If you enjoy Blake’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it. Also, check out his podcast, SEC Football Unfiltered, or access exclusive columns via the SEC Unfiltered newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Alabama football depth chart saga is a farce. Just ask Hugh Freeze