Through four weeks of college football, the Alabama Crimson Tide football team has a 3-0 record and is ranked fourth in the latest Associated Press poll. This week marks the beginning of two bye weeks for the team as it prepares for Georgia’s arrival. On Thursday, wide receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard and defensive backs coach Maurice Linguist addressed with the media about their position groups’ preparations.
“Certainly we have done a job job of displaying were able to block on the perimeter violently and striking people” , according to Shephard. “We have demonstrated that when the opportunity arises in critical situations when our players must make plays and get us into the endzone, they can do so. We’ve also demonstrated that we can be explosive.
Last week against Wisconsin, quarterback Jalen Milroe connected with Germie Bernard at the conclusion of the first half to prevent Wisconsin from gaining momentum at Camp Randall Stadium. When discussing Bernard, coach Shephard says he does things that not all receivers do.
“The route he ran was fantastic I mean it’s a super detail route with the vertical pressure that he has to put on a defender to keep him deep enough so when he breaks to the inside but again its the physical toughness that he has to run through contact,” Shephard told ESPN. “You know a lot of guys in that situation contact they stat flailing their arms saying hey that was pass interference, no he was not allowing it because he was hungry for it and he wanted that one.”
Switching to the other side of the ball, one of the most pressing questions for this year’s Alabama team was how good the defense would be without former head coach Nick Saban. So far this season, the defense has only allowed 26 total points. Throughout three games in the defensive backfield, multiple players have played to contain Western Kentucky, South Florida, and Wisconsin receivers. When questioned why the Alabama defense uses so many defensive backs, coach Linguist responds that we need numerous individuals with experience to win at the highest level.
“We don’t know who’s going to be the guy at what time that were going to need that’s going to be making that one player have that one game that’s going to help us win a championship,” says Linguist, “but hopefully so we got to continue to prepare guys and get guys ready so your seeing a lot of volume of guys play and really play well and do their job”
The losses of Kool-Aid McKinstry and Terrion Arnold in the cornerback room have created openings for other young players to stand up. Zabien Brown, a freshman defensive back, has emerged as one of the key players. Brown, a five-star cornerback from Mater Dei High School, has been thrown into the fire at Alabama, and he has improved in each game this season. When asked about his development coach, Linguist stated that he is going through what many young cornerbacks go through.
“You know when your young and your talented theirs an inner belief because you have been successful at high school but then their is a gap of well I have not done it at this level yet, so let me go prove that I can do this and let me go prove to myself that I can do it ,” says Linguist’s coach. “I think right now the development that’s happening with him is that theirs a little bit of a head nod where he’s like you know I can do this.”
Alabama’s receivers and defensive backs will be tested next Saturday when they face the second-ranked Georgia Bulldogs in Tuscaloosa.
