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My thoughts on yesterday-South Carolina
Posted on 9/27/26 at 9:10 am
Posted on 9/27/26 at 9:10 am
1. Keelon Russell-the guy seems to get better and better each week. Had so many beautiful throws and some crazy throws that most couldn't make. He really is the real deal. Last night showed it.
2. Defense looked a little shaky early on but settled down. One thing that a concerned me a bit was we lost edge containment way too much. Still, Sellers is a huge dude and not easy to bring down and he's way faster than you would think.
3. Luke Metz as laying the wood last night. Played a great game.
4. Red Morgan had a really good night and that pick 6 was impressive.
5. Ryan Williams had a really good night. I want to give him massive props for his blocking and overall effort last night. I had been critical of him clearly loafing a bit in an earlier game but he played very hard last night.
6. Crowell is clearly our best RB. He gives a little spark to the offense when he's out there. Hill is really good if we need a tough yard and all you need is hard straight ahead running but Crowell has the vision and athleticism to really make things happen. Needs to learn you can't ALWAY hurdle guys though. LOL.
7. Grubb did a decent job with he play calling. Not great but not terrible either.. I felt like we were a little lethargic in the 3rd quarter. I loved how the ball was spread around to a lot of guys.
8. Dylan Stewart is a thug. Great player but a dirty one. How the hell was he not ejected from the game after throwing a punch with THREE refs standing right there?!?!?!
9. Refs were their as usual incompetent selves.As a former HS referee, I get it, some calls are going to be miseed. We were called for holding on some weak assed calls yet there were times where our DLs were bear hugged or practically tackled and no calls. There was another TD in the 4th (the last TD?) where another punch was thrown at Mal Waldrep and again no call. WTH ?!?!?!
10. Nick Harbor (USC WR #8) is a freak. Huge guy and very, very fast. He abused Dijon Lee like a $2 hooker out there. Not sure what the answer was for Harbor but maybe some safety help?
11. Looking forward to next week. IMO, this will be the first real test in Starkville. If you haven't watched MSU's QB Kamario Taylor, this guy is IMO the best QB Bama will face in the regular season. He is very, very dangerous. Should be a good game.
RTR!
2. Defense looked a little shaky early on but settled down. One thing that a concerned me a bit was we lost edge containment way too much. Still, Sellers is a huge dude and not easy to bring down and he's way faster than you would think.
3. Luke Metz as laying the wood last night. Played a great game.
4. Red Morgan had a really good night and that pick 6 was impressive.
5. Ryan Williams had a really good night. I want to give him massive props for his blocking and overall effort last night. I had been critical of him clearly loafing a bit in an earlier game but he played very hard last night.
6. Crowell is clearly our best RB. He gives a little spark to the offense when he's out there. Hill is really good if we need a tough yard and all you need is hard straight ahead running but Crowell has the vision and athleticism to really make things happen. Needs to learn you can't ALWAY hurdle guys though. LOL.
7. Grubb did a decent job with he play calling. Not great but not terrible either.. I felt like we were a little lethargic in the 3rd quarter. I loved how the ball was spread around to a lot of guys.
8. Dylan Stewart is a thug. Great player but a dirty one. How the hell was he not ejected from the game after throwing a punch with THREE refs standing right there?!?!?!
9. Refs were their as usual incompetent selves.As a former HS referee, I get it, some calls are going to be miseed. We were called for holding on some weak assed calls yet there were times where our DLs were bear hugged or practically tackled and no calls. There was another TD in the 4th (the last TD?) where another punch was thrown at Mal Waldrep and again no call. WTH ?!?!?!
10. Nick Harbor (USC WR #8) is a freak. Huge guy and very, very fast. He abused Dijon Lee like a $2 hooker out there. Not sure what the answer was for Harbor but maybe some safety help?
11. Looking forward to next week. IMO, this will be the first real test in Starkville. If you haven't watched MSU's QB Kamario Taylor, this guy is IMO the best QB Bama will face in the regular season. He is very, very dangerous. Should be a good game.
RTR!
Posted on 9/27/26 at 9:19 am to Amarillo Tide
Solid take. I thought Brown should have been covering Harbor. It's like Lee has forgot how to play defense.
More props to the WR room and the TE room. All of the receivers at playing at a high level. Scott has a tendency to hold on downfield blocks. Needs to spend some time with the OL staff on technique.
Agree on Crowell, he's still only about 90% (I know someone that's friends with him). He's going to be special. Him and Dear in a 1/2 punch with Hill as the battering ram will take this offense to another level.
Defense had moments last night but they are still missing way too many tackles by not wrapping up. That's fixable but still frustrating.
What had grown into a solid OL now has a hole with Jarvin out. Hopefully that won't last long.
Everything you said about Keelon is spot on. I wouldn't trade him for anybody in the country.
More props to the WR room and the TE room. All of the receivers at playing at a high level. Scott has a tendency to hold on downfield blocks. Needs to spend some time with the OL staff on technique.
Agree on Crowell, he's still only about 90% (I know someone that's friends with him). He's going to be special. Him and Dear in a 1/2 punch with Hill as the battering ram will take this offense to another level.
Defense had moments last night but they are still missing way too many tackles by not wrapping up. That's fixable but still frustrating.
What had grown into a solid OL now has a hole with Jarvin out. Hopefully that won't last long.
Everything you said about Keelon is spot on. I wouldn't trade him for anybody in the country.
Posted on 9/27/26 at 9:37 am to Amarillo Tide
quote:
Not sure what the answer was for Harbor but maybe some safety help?
I dont have the game film to confirm it, but I think the defense was playing more cover 3 and 4 to prevent Harbor and any quick bomb scores. That's why USC was able to grind out some rushing yards. I have no problem with that strategy. It worked.
Red Morgan is looking a lot like Brian Branch out there. He is a guy offenses are going to have to start noticing.
I love that we went to 4TE sets a few times. Those guys have earned that. Having those bullies brings up the confidence of the whole offense; the OL gets help, the backs get an escort; the QB gets more bodyguards. It slows down the opposing pass rush too. Those ends gotta keep their head on a swivel or Josh Ford/Danny Lewis might knock their arse into the dirt.
Posted on 9/27/26 at 9:41 am to bamarep
quote:
Solid take. I thought Brown should have been covering Harbor. It's like Lee has forgot how to play defense.
We keep lining him up against big, fast hybrid WR/TE guys in hopes his size will make a difference against them instead of putting Brown on them.
Hopefully we don't make that mistake again moving forward.
Posted on 9/27/26 at 9:46 am to Amarillo Tide
Good recap. Very much enjoying Russell and RCW hitting their stride. Hard to explain how much more comfortable and fluid RCW looks out there.
I’m about the running game. OL gets a great push, we have better backs, and we’re not trying to get cute.
Defense is hit or miss. I think the secondary is very suspect.
I’m about the running game. OL gets a great push, we have better backs, and we’re not trying to get cute.
Defense is hit or miss. I think the secondary is very suspect.
Posted on 9/27/26 at 9:47 am to bamarep
quote:
Everything you said about Keelon is spot on. I wouldn't trade him for anybody in the country.
The only comparable players are Taylor and Chambliss. Wouldn't be at all surprised for them + Jeremiah Smith to be the NYC invitees.
This post was edited on 9/27/26 at 9:48 am
Posted on 9/27/26 at 9:58 am to Robot Santa
quote:
The only comparable players are Taylor and Chambliss. Wouldn't be at all surprised for them + Jeremiah Smith to be the NYC invitees.
Keelon has looked very good in all phases.... Do think there needs to be some brake pumping though. We haven't really seen him in a hostile environment against an elite team yet. The game is about to get really fast over the course of the next 5 weeks. For the record though, he looks really good!
This post was edited on 9/27/26 at 10:01 am
Posted on 9/27/26 at 10:06 am to GoodTalkRuss
quote:
Keelon has looked very good in all phases.... Do think there needs to be some brake pumping though. We haven't really seen him in a hostile environment against an elite team yet. The game is about to get really fast over the course of the next 5 weeks. For the record though, he looks really good!
The horrible starts against Kentucky and FSU may work to his advantage in simply having had to face some higher pressure situations early.
How impressive he's been makes me think Mack must be pretty good if there really was a close competition for the starting job.
Posted on 9/27/26 at 10:29 am to Amarillo Tide
My two main takeaways from yesterday are:
1) Keelon is a stud and just keeps getting better. This weekend will be tough but his response when getting down early at UK makes me feel better.
2) Crowell needs more touches. He is a big play waiting to happen every time he gets the ball. Dude is averaging almost 7 yards a carry and IMO only getting 6 touches in a game is a travesty. I definitely think Brown and Hill deserve touches also. With AK getting back healthy the coaches are going to have to make some tough decisions with splitting up reps.
1) Keelon is a stud and just keeps getting better. This weekend will be tough but his response when getting down early at UK makes me feel better.
2) Crowell needs more touches. He is a big play waiting to happen every time he gets the ball. Dude is averaging almost 7 yards a carry and IMO only getting 6 touches in a game is a travesty. I definitely think Brown and Hill deserve touches also. With AK getting back healthy the coaches are going to have to make some tough decisions with splitting up reps.
Posted on 9/27/26 at 10:31 am to Bamaguy32
quote:
I definitely think Brown and Hill deserve touches also. With AK getting back healthy the coaches are going to have to make some tough decisions with splitting up reps.
Kevin Riley was in the game alot last night, too.
Posted on 9/27/26 at 10:36 am to TideSaint
You’re right, meant to include him in my post but forgot. It’s nice to have depth but 5 guys shouldn’t get touches. I like Riley’s versatility but he just doesn’t have that extra gear that Crowell and Brown have with breaking tackles and getting yac.
Posted on 9/27/26 at 10:54 am to Bamaguy32
quote:
With AK getting back healthy the coaches are going to have to make some tough decisions with splitting up reps.
Nah, this staff plays a lot of guys. Keep all our guys fresh. There is not a huge drop off from any of the 5.
Posted on 9/27/26 at 11:01 am to SECSolomonGrundy
I know we play a lot of guys and I get that for certain positions but rb is such a rhythm position where getting more touches settles you in.
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