Earlier on Tuesday, it was announced that Alabama athletic director Bill Battle will be taking a leave of absence following difficulties of dealing with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. Tuscaloosa News writer Cecil Hurt joined Ryan Fowler to discuss Battle's decision to step away for the time being.

Hurt broke the story on Tuesday afternoon for The Tuscaloosa News, and reported that Battle is only in the earliest part of Stage 1 of the myeloma prognosis, and the illness isn't considered life threatening. However, as Battle is dealing with his treatments and medical procedure, he will take some time away from his position as athletic director to make sure his health is in order. Hurt mentioned that Battle had been dealing with these issues for a couple years.

"Bill has been dealing first with plasmacytoma, which is sort of the precursor to multiple myeloma, and the diagnosis with multiple myeloma since really 2014."

Part of the treatment that Battle will receive is stem cell replacement at the Winship Cancer Center at Emory University in Atlanta over the next two weeks. Hurt explained what that would entail with Fowler on The Game.

"They felt like a trip to Emory (University) for... a very advanced procedure, what they really call it is stem cell rescue, where they take all your white cells out and then put stem cells in and rebuild the white cell count. And they feel like that will help keep the cancer in remission for an indefinite time."

You can hear the rest of the conversation about Battle and his leave of absence below, and you can also hear the entirety of Fowler's interview with Hurt in our podcast center.

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