What's going wrong for Alabama in this first half?

Bro, this is so frustrating, man.

And look, when you're on the road, you have, again, first-time starter at center.

Your offensive line is going to be feeling the pressure because that crowd is into it.

Establish the damn run.

We went two or three series without a running back getting a handoff.

I love Keelan.

As

Mm-hmm.

And then slip out, you might have a, you know, couple of slip plays for him.

I think the, the, um, running back screen game is gonna be there because of their aggressiveness.

You gotta play against them.

Uh, this is where you have to see the progression for Keilan.

If you know they're blitzing, especially on third down, they're gonna blitz.

That's what Georgia did.

Are you confident that Alabama's defense gonna be ready to, you know, stop the run to Sean Bishop, second leading rusher in the SEC? What are you feeling about Alabama's defense with that challenge?

Sure.

And when we dominate them, it just gives me a satisfaction because they'll come up with every excuse in the book to not necessarily troll us during the season.

Just wait, man.

If that game is close at halftime, Johnny, wait to see the level of trolling that will come in from that fan base, and the delusion that will set in.

Uh, even the Auburn fans and when they make comments, I just laugh 'cause it's like, "Hey, man.

Little brother is hating.

You know, he's trying to make himself relevant." No one's talking about you.

Car- Carnell Jones.

But I still have to say, kind of what, what, what would your message be to this team in terms of being ready to go on the road this weekend against this rocky top Tennessee team?

You know what's crazy? The message would probably even be the same.

You remember back in 2024, they beat South Carolina one point.

It was one of those crazy games, crazy finishes, and then we went out to Tennessee and laid an egg We would get, we, we should have been, we should have ran away with that game.

We had, it was just a bad game.

Milroe just was force-feeding, uh, Hollywood.

It was just an off game, and yet we were still in the game to win it, and then Jalen threw the pick.

... you're gone.

But just to your point of Dijon Lee, picking up a guy when he's down, as a former player at the highest level, it's got to warm your heart to see the guys in that defensive room, especially in the secondary rally around their guy who's severely down this week after the performance on Saturday.

Yeah, look, accountability is uncomfortable.

That's in all facets of life, especially in sports.

We train in all areas, mentally, physically, emotionally.

You're doing all these things on the field of play just to show up and get measured on one day a week.

It's probably one of the craziest times because you have the fans, you have the media measuring your success based off what you put out on the field.

Dijon obviously has been failing in many aspects, but he's not far off.

So feel free to disagree with me if you think I'm off base, but I just didn't see enough pressure dialed up by Alabama's defensive coordinator Saturday night.

I just want to get your reaction to that bonehead play by Lee.

Bro, this is the one piece that's pissing me off, and I'm going to go crazy a little bit.

The amount of luck that went into a muff punt being recovered, a forced fumble, two forced fumbles being recovered.

I literally was losing my mind saying, this is just not for the football guys to take this away, and then you start pissing me off with these refs.

I have to go back to the refs because when you have a situation where all the chips are on the table and the refs impact the game in a negative way, you're going to piss off all the fans.

So all the Georgia dogs that are in here barking and just acting crazy, I want you to keep that feeling because what we're going to do moving forward, putting our foot in asses, moving forward based off of this instance, because you saw the fire from Kalen DeBoer, him getting pissed off, him not just sitting idly by, i try to keep it cool calm and measured man but i am literally so irritated and frustrated because this team played their asses off we we had opportunities yes we didn't capitalize that on everything but when i say that a ref is stealing a game and you cannot tell me one person even in the stands by bar none just being bama fans that could objectively see that and not get irritated and say you know what if you're georgia Be a man.

Call a spade a spade.

Your final takeaway tonight from Alabama's defeat at home to the hands of Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs.

And it's paying dividends tonight because I feel like interior defensive line play is night and day different since the last time these teams met in Atlanta.

I completely agree.

Yeah, no, completely agree with that analysis.

This is where I want to see where if you're if you're Womack, you've got to get out of cover, too.

I know he was doing it because he has like in his mind, he's like, I need help in the box to make sure their run game doesn't beat us.

But at this point in time, Bray Hubbard, I love him.

He is kind of a liability because he oftentimes he'll guess with his eyes and he can easily be beat.

In this second half, who needs to tote the rock the most from a rushing perspective for Alabama?

What do you think about that, Brandon?

That was a great analysis, and, uh, they're all sound.

And even this is a fact that no one's even talking about, 'cause in the game, championship game, SEC championship game, special teams, what gives me a little bit of the shakes, I need Ryan Williams catching all punts.

I don't care if he's fair catching it.

You tell him, "Don't return it." It's a muff punt.

It's a block punt.

It's something that you just don't expect.

Brian?

I just don't know if a Luke Metz or a Caleb Woodson are fast enough or big enough to run with that guy for the majority of this football game? Or do you even see Williams being a factor in this game when they have such depth in the tight end room at Georgia?

So this is where you have versatility and people that have that athleticism that can match.

X Griffin is someone that has that ability to do it.

He's still getting used to being off off the ball linebacker.

And this is where I think he could be, you know, one plus up because you can get him in the blitz game.

But I would love to see him in coverage.

Let's see if that speed can maintain some coverage with those bigger tight ends, because although he may give up some in his overall size, I think his aggressiveness and overall power for someone of his frame is one of the top on the team.

If he can do that to a Kirby smart led defense, what do you expect from number 12 in Crimson this Saturday at home?

Good point

... he's not getting hit by those said people, and that's gonna be a little different.

So I know the Pastor was saying something yesterday I did agree with.

When that first hit comes from that Cole kid coming around the edge, or all of a sudden he's just trying to track him down, it's gonna set the tone.

But I do feel that Keelon has a very similar temperament to Bryce Young.

Nothing seems to rattle him.

He's always cool, calm, and collected.

Mm

Um, I'm interested your, your, uh, perspective on those comments from the coaching staff yesterday saying that physicality is the identity of this 2026 Alabama football team.

So one thing that's not necessarily really respected by Kalen DeBoer is he's always reflective.

He's always trying to find ways to get better, and him making those moves in offseason of bringing in Clem, bringing in Owens, getting bigger up front on the de- defensive front, having different types of voices come in that are a little bit more energetic and more about business.

This is what you're seeing.

Those tight ends are setting the tone.

Every week I'm just waiting to see exactly who they're gonna just pulverize on a, on a looper, on a pull around.

They're just trying to find a body that they could just kill and put in the dirt, and our offensive line has a very similar mentality.

I'm really not.

I thought the first half specifically, they were terrific.

And look, Mike Carroll had an off game, but you also have to note that in his mind, he may have felt like he had to give more protection for Terrell Miller, who also had a decent game.

So you're a left guard or a right guard, and your running mate is out.

All of a sudden, that confidence that you typically have saying that guy's got it, it kind of goes out by the wayside.

And you're just trying to manage what it's in front of you and ensuring that they're not getting blasted or they feel uncomfortable.

So I think he was giving a little bit more attention to that right side and he was late getting in there on some of the past protections, but that's okay.

They're going to be better next week.

I saw one attempt and it was incomplete.

But just from a confidence standpoint, from a swagger standpoint, to go in there and get a win and come back home 5-0 to get ready for Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs, man, it feels like this week's really important to set the tone for what the SEC perceives Alabama to be the rest of the way.

It really is.

And one of the challenges in the SEC is going on the road in those environments.

It doesn't matter how bad the team is.

When an Alabama team is coming in, they're gonna get the best effort.

The fans are gonna be into it, at least in the first quarter, depending on how things go.

This year, Mississippi State has a fantastic team.

Yep.

I read your tweets, but for those who haven't, I'm interested if you can articulate your thoughts and your concerns as it pertains to Dijon Lee.

On a scale of one and ten, I'm at like a three just because I know his talent level.

He played well last year.

People call it a sophomore slump.

It's really not that.

He's getting more responsibilities.

He's a starter.

I still am trusting in four back there, and I'm not taking Daniel Hill off the field unless if you're down a few scores and you need to score in a hurry.

However, he seems to be worth every penny tonight as not just a blocker, but as we saw in the first half when he did the Air Jordan logo, reached all the way back and grabbed that son of a bitch.

He's a smooth athlete and strong and sturdy.

And he's gonna get more comfortable catching balls.

He didn't catch a lot even when he was at Oklahoma State.

Get him the more involved in the passing game because I think that opens things up, just like Edwards getting in there.

And I would just run double tight ends.

I think Danny Lewis is someone that is underutilized.

Do you think that they're comfortable enough with their personnel where we're going to start seeing secondaries really be stretched in this SEC contest coming up?

And if you don't go out there and be special, we got no shot in hell Saturday against Alabama.

Agreed.

And look, Florida State did a great job and they had a game plan and they worked that game plan for nearly two weeks.

And some would probably even say they were even doing that the week before SMU because they knew that this was their big shot.

First ACC game they had against SMU.

So if you lose that, you still have an opportunity to be able to get in the mix because the ACC has been so piss poor.

They'll have an opportunity still.

What is it about South Carolina and maybe Shane Beamer specifically that's given Alabama fits these last two seasons?

I'm interested, as a former player, when you hear your fans getting on, whether it be you, whether it be your offensive coordinator, do you take that personal, or do you look at that as a challenge from the people that support you the most to say, man, they expect a higher level of production?

Well, so I took it personally because I know how hard I worked and our team knew how hard we worked.

It's not like we're trying to mess up.

It's not like we're trying to not execute.

Things happen, right? You're playing an opponent that's not going to be agreeable with anything you're doing.

So they're going to be pushing back against all the things you planned and you got to adjust.

So when the fans boo, it's really, again, I know where it's coming from.

for

I don't think he was very good through the first three, and it's kind of hard to get on him when Deuce Robinson is going to be a top 20 pick in the next year's NFL draft.

So this is my personal opinion.

I say tough game.

I didn't say Dijon had a terrible game.

He had a tough game.

They were there.

The dude was just making plays.

to know hey we still have a shot at this thing as opposed to i know they picked it up but if they didn't then it's a nine point game and all the air comes out of the balloon and now the game's over because there's six minutes or whatever and you're down two scores and you're kicking the ball back to bam

Punt it away and let those big dogs on defense go to work.

So the one thing I need to see from Keelan, and this is something a lot of young players have to get in their minds, you don't have to have it all.

Take the check down.

When you take the check down, the defense now has to respect your mind because they know that you're reading what they're giving you.

So you have some dynamic running backs.

I have to give Daniel Hill a lot of credit.

I didn't see that coming anywhere.

And hopefully, when that game is hopefully out of hand in the third and fourth quarter, Cedarian Morgan can prove to the fans inside Bryant-Denny Stadium just what a talent he truly is.

Yeah.

If he had came back to school and he had been left guard, I think our offensive line would've just even been even better.

But again, I digress.

Jaxson Lloyd is a dog.

I would say that Miles had a decent game, but I think Will Sanders has established himself as a starting left guard.

And I think that if you see exactly what everyone else watched, in my opinion, Keelon Russell was a little bit overwhelmed.

And so as a young quarterback, when you have that, the one thing you can do to help them is just run the ball.

Yeah.

I'm interested if you believe that you're ready to anoint this defense to top five, top three status in the country.

So very quickly, Michael Carroll, please, sir, with all of our might, please come back and put Will's, look, I love Miles, but I saw some limitations and I hadn't seen it on film.

I started seeing it.

Will should be the starting left guard.

And now I'm gonna stick to that.

But for the defense, Again, why you run the ball when you have a defense like this is the critical piece.

I'm Ryan Grubb.

Having multiple years of the same coaching staff on that side of the football, Brandon, as someone who played the game, how much more confidence does it give you as a player when you know that the guys who are giving you your assignments and are coaching you on a day-to-day basis are in lockstep and there's a chemistry there?

Brandon, as a former Division I receiver, make sense of that.

So look, I want it so bad for Ryan.

And so when he drops the ball, I'm not, I'm never getting down on a guy, but I'm seriously a fan of our, our WC.

Like, it's like, I want you to do so well, RCW.

I don't want you to have any mistakes because I know the speakers are going to be loud of people criticizing him.

The dude finished over 100 yards receiving and he had two drops.

That tells you how phenomenal he is.

What did you make of that blown coverage?

Is this strange as a Clemson guy now to have the entire nation kind of rooting for you to go on the road and whip some tail down there in Death Valley?

I'm rooting for them.

And again, I'm not a Lane Kiffin fan.

The guy, how he operates, how he moves in life, there's no way that you have sustained success.

So again, young gentlemen, anyone that's considering going to LSU, to the parents of those gentlemen, Run, run.

I don't care how much money they give you.

There's not enough money in the world to compromise your values as a human being just to get ahead.

As a former player, how much does that suck?

Yeah.

So you have to be able to know that if we've got this type of depth and we have these t- this type of length, we've gotta take advantage of it, and we have to make sure that we can diversify our scheme, and that means putting hands on people.

So having DeJohn Lee have hands on people, I think he spoke about it during one of his press conferences where he was just kinda like, "Hey, you know, coach is m- allowing us to be able to get hands, get, allowing us to be able to get bodies on people.

Like, this is something that we've been building up to, and we're looking forward to it." And so him as a sophomore, he's been tr- uh, tested, and he has the ability to be able to get in there.

You're gonna see DeJohn Lee take it up another level as a boundary corner, and I think that you're gonna see Zabian also, his skill set is very unique.

They're gonna have that ability to go, you know, press man, cover zero.

They're gonna maybe have some blitz schemes baked in there, uh, but the coaches will feel more comfortable that they're no, they're not gonna get beat one-on-one.

Yeah.

When do you think it was clear to the guys in that locker room that 12 is our guy moving forward.

So as a receiver, you know when you're running routes on air.

When that ball comes out a little bit differently and you feel the energy from it, you're just like, oh, that was easy.

And I went through something I'm not going to call attention to, and I went through something very similar where Kyle Parker and Taj Boyd, Taj was, you know, dynamic.

He had a strong arm, but Kyle was just full, calm, and collected.

When Keelan was there, you just see the ball hop out his hands.

That's one thing.

So put yourself in that headspace.