Spotlight #1: Alabama S Mark Barron
Spotlight #2: Alabama WR Marquis Maze
1st quarter
14:27: Richardson with such strong hands to catch an inaccurate ball out of the backfield.
13:44: Maze in on the wildcat as a quarterback, takes the direct and and is stuffed in the backfield.
13:00: Maze targeted, but not open. McCarron forces it and senior middle linebacker Austin Johnson picks it off. The 6-2 240 pound linebacker has 40 tackles in 6 games coming in.
11:42: Dont’a Hightower with a pass deflection at the line on 4th and 4.
10:48: Maze targeted, catches it, but can’t keep it in bounds. Tough catch, good job just catching it. Dragging a toe would have been near impossible.
9:34: Josh Chapman gets a tackle for a loss as the nose tackle. Tennessee has a talented fringe draftable running back prospect in Tauren Poole, but he hasn’t gotten anything on the ground today.
8:27: Barron can’t quite get an arm tackle on a 15 yards run by Poole.
6:04: Barron sticks his nose in on a tackle against a fullback dive for a short gain.
4:57: Barron in on a tackle after the back bounces out of one pile. Good instincts and quickness.
4:23: Barron with an awesome play to make a play on the ball, but he needs to catch this one. He should have had a red zone pick and not just an awesome deflection.
4:17: Barron gets pressure on a blitz, forces a quick decision on 3rd and 9. Did not convert.
3:54: Maze muffs a kickoff, recovers it, but doesn’t go very far.
3:41: Maze catches a deep ball in stride, finally tackled by the last man to beat after a gain of 69 yards. Maze just blew past single coverage.
2nd quarter
13:00: Richardson catches a pass short of the sticks, drags the pile at least 3 yards for the first. Nice, strong hands on the catch as well as it wasn’t the most accurate pass.
10:42: Hightower in on a big pressure on the quarterback. Huge hit too.
10:36: Barron on a tackle 13 yards away from the line.
9:01: Barron in on a tackle after the opposite cornerback allows a big gain.
6:05: Hightower is standing out today. Huge hit to force a drop.
5:40: Maze catches the ball in stride on a slant, good run after the catch for a sizeable gain. Brought back by a penalty before the throw.
3:38: Maze over the middle for a 4 yard catch on first down.
1:31: Barron in on a tackle for little to no gain.
0:19: Malik Jackson, a transfer from USC, with a sack. He’s athletic and he’s had a couple good games in a row.
3rd quarter
14:08: Kirkpatrick with a nice, quick tackle.
13:28: Barron with pressure on a blitz.
12:01: Maze isn’t the tallest guy, but he makes an excellent catch to pluck it out of the air against crowded coverage.
10:52: Courtney Upshaw on a strip sack, recovered by Tennessee.
9:27: Hightower is having a huge game. Another quarterback pressure here.
7:57: Hightower in on a sack, Upshaw also giving chase.
4:18: Malik Jackson has had a few good pressures, a sack, and now draws a hold on Alabama’s William Vlachos, one of the better centers in college football.
3:51: Maze catches a short pass for a few.
3:19: Richardson somehow scores a touchdown, looked like he was going to be stopped on several occasions, but great patience, vision, toughness, and power to get it in.
2:32: Barron in on a short tackle.
4th quarter
11:03: Hightower with a pick off a deflection by another Alabama defender. Hightower looked like a running back on the return. He didn’t look like a 260 pounder there.
0:00: Mark Barron wasn’t as good as he was against Vanderbilt, but he still had a solid game. He had a pass deflection and should have had a pick and he was around the ball quite a bit. This was a pretty neutral game for him and it should keep his stock around late 1st or early 2nd round. He remains the top safety in a very weak safety class.
Ironically, I was spotlighting Hightower against Vanderbilt when Barron had his awesome game. Hightower was fairly neutral in that game, but tonight he made all sort of plays. He had several pressures, a couple big hits, a quarterback hit, a sack, and a pick and I wasn’t even watching him on every play. He’s finally healthy and he has first round talent, but injuries are the issue for him. I think he’s a 2nd rounder because of his history of knee problems.
As for Maze, he had one of his better games of the season, catching 5 balls for 106 yards. On the season, he has 39 catches for 482 yards and a touchdown in 8 games. He looks like a decent player. He’s not particularly big or fast, but he understands how to get open and he has good hands and at worst, I think he can stick as a 4th receiver and a return man at the next level. He could be a solid slot receiver at the next level. He looks like a mid to late rounder.
As for other Alabama players, Richardson had another great game of tape. He’s so big and powerful and has great hands and always makes at least 2 or 3 highlight reel plays in every game. He only had 77 yards on 17 carries with 2 scores, but as far as bad games go, this was a pretty impressive one. Courtney Upshaw had another strip sack. Dre Kirkpatrick wasn’t thrown on a lot, which is a good thing. That helps his stock as he’s struggled when thrown on in past games. He’ll have a tougher matchup in LSU’s Reuben Randle in his next game.
Tauren Poole had a decent game for Tennessee, rushing for 67 yards on 19 carries against an Alabama defense that doesn’t give up a lot of rushing yards. This game will help him get drafted, but he’s been just too inconsistent this season to be anything more than a 6th or 7th rounder. He had 7 yards against Georgia and 18 against Florida. Inexcusable.
Another Tennessee guy, Malik Jackson, had a good game. At 6-5 270, he’s playing defensive tackle for Tennessee. He helped Tennessee hold Richardson to 77 yards. Tennessee’s defensive line as a whole played well against Alabama’s defensive line, which is part of why Richardson had his 2nd lowest rushing total of the year. Jackson is extremely athletic and belongs at defensive end at the next level, but he’s put together 2 good games in a row and if he keeps this up, with his athletic ability, he’ll be intrigue someone in the mid rounds.
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