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

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TUSCALOOSA -- Things escalated quickly on the Alabama sideline.

Safeties Ronnie Harrison and Eddie Jackson were seen arguing, and senior inside linebacker Reuben Foster, and even head coach Nick Saban, got involved to cool the situation down in Arlington, Texas.

Emotions run high during a football game, and Saban was cognizant of that when he was asked what happened to cause the disagreement during the Crimson Tide’s 52-6 win over No. 20 USC on Saturday. Here’s what he said occurred.

“Ronnie let it emotionally get to him that these other guys were talking,” Saban said Monday in a noon news conference. “So he said something, and Eddie said ‘Hey man, this is not what we do, we don’t talk to the other team.’ And Ronnie got all upset, not necessarily at Eddie, he was just emotionally upset about the trash talking and Eddie saying something to him.

“These two guys have a lot of respect for each other. They’re really good friends. The lesson to be learned is that when you have a teammate who is caring about you and trying to help you, the response should be ‘Thank you,’ not ‘Screw you.’ That’s basically the lesson that should be learned from the guys. Sometimes when players get emotional, that’s very difficult to do.”

Trash talking was at the root of the situation, and USC was doing plenty of it in the early goings of Saturday’s game. Linebacker Shaun Hamilton said the Trojans did most of it in the first quarter. “But trash talk is not gonna win you any games,” Hamilton said. That, however, is what led Harrison to act the way he did, allowing it to get under his skin during the game.

Harrison took to Twitter on Saturday night after the game to provide an explanation for his actions on the sideline, as well as apologize to Jackson, his older teammate. Saban said the incident was uncharacteristic of Harrison.

“Ronnie Harrison is a fine young man,” Saban said. “It’s totally out of character for him. He’s apologized for it and is very sorry for it and I don’t think that'll ever be an issue again.”

Trash talk is something that is not tolerated at Alabama, and Saban reiterated that point Monday.

“We have a rule where our players can’t talk to the other players on the field,” Saban said. “There was a lot of trash talking going on on the other side. That’s OK, that’s their choice, they can do whatever they want. I’m not being critical of that.”

All of the Crimson Tide players are well-aware of that rule, too, but they use it as fuel on the field.

“It definitely motivates you,” cornerback Marlon Humphrey said Monday afternoon. “We’re not supposed to talk to the other team. Saban doesn’t like it, so you make a big play. Speaking with your pads always speaks better.”

Looking back at Harrison and Jackson’s altercation on the sideline of the USC game, it hasn’t affected the team in a negative way. Hamilton viewed it as leadership taking center stage, which needed to happen for this year’s Alabama team.

“It’s nothing but coaching, to me,” Hamilton said. “Eddie’s just taking a leadership role, I mean we don’t want to get any dumb penalties or anything like that. … It’s just a leader stepping up and trying to get a young gun right to prevent something from happening.”

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