re: Official In-Season Practice, Injury Reports and Press Conferences Thread: 12-0

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Alabama will face arguably the best quarterback on its 2016-17 schedule Saturday in Ole Miss’ Chad Kelly. And after last year’s meeting between the SEC West teams, the Crimson Tide isn’t taking him lightly.

Through two games, Kelly has completed 41-of-66 (62.1 percent) of his passes for 532 yards a league-high seven passing touchdowns. He also is second in the SEC with three interceptions. Kelly’s success through the air has Alabama’s attention four days ahead of kickoff, but head coach Nick Saban and the Tide players are also well-aware of his ability to run the football.

“He’s an outstanding passer,” Saban said of Kelly on Monday. “He’s very accurate with the ball. He knows this offense very well. He has the ability to extend plays. He’s a really good competitor and he’s a playmaker type guy.

“And the combination of those things make him very effective in terms of what they do. It’s going to be important that we do a good job pushing the pocket on him, not letting him scramble around, but at the same time effecting him where he can’t be as good a passer as he’s capable of. We do that with good coverage, as well as good pass coverage.”

Last season in Tuscaloosa, Kelly threw for 341 yards and three touchdowns in Ole Miss’ 43-37 win over Alabama. He also carried the ball eight times for 21 yards and another score in the Tide’s lone loss of 2015. But in two games this year, Kelly’s running ability has been silenced, as he has only rushed for 28 yards on 17 carries in the first two weeks of the 2016 season.

Still, Alabama’s players are focusing on playing with discipline when it comes to defending Kelly this week in practice. They’ve seen what he can do when he escapes the pocket and want to limit that aspect of his game Saturday.

“You just have to have good pressure getting to the pocket,” senior defensive end Jonathan Allen said Monday. “You have to have all guys rushing in their lanes and just doing a good job containing them.”

Some may describe Kelly as a “risk taker” with some of the throws and decisions he makes on the football field, but Allen and the Tide defense would rather face a player like that than a sound technician behind center.

“We love quarterbacks that take risks, that gives us more opportunities for us,” Allen said when asked if taking risks makes defending Kelly difficult. “We’re just going to go out there, do our job, play a good game defensively.”

After leading the conference with 310.9 yards per game, 4,042 yards and 31 touchdowns a year ago, Kelly will welcome Alabama to Oxford as one of the best -- if not the best -- quarterbacks it will face this year. He no longer has his favorite target of Laquon Treadwell, but Kelly still has an arsenal of weapons, including senior tight end Evan Engram, at his disposal.

It will be up to the Tide to continue its strong defensive play through two games, as well as playing with discipline in order to shut down the airways in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, forcing the Rebels to either run the ball or make mistakes.

“The one thing I can say is that you have to have your eyes in the right spot,” senior safety Eddie Jackson said Monday. “They’re the type of team that their offense likes to come out fast. They’ll spread the field. They have receivers who can stretch the field vertically. You just have to do a good job of keeping those guys cut off and making plays.”

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