Aaron Suttles
TideSports.com Senior Writer
There may be no more valuable player than Landon Collins.
Not only is the junior safety an experienced player at a position that is suddenly getting worse for the wear, but the 6-foot, 222-pounder is one of the top two or three players on the entire team.
Collins assumed a versatile position Saturday evening, playing the majority of his snaps at the Money position in the Crimson Tide's dime defense. A sort of hybrid linebacker/safety role, Money allowed Collins to play close to the line of scrimmage to provide run support while also blitzing from time to time and also taking away the pass to the flats with his speed and sure-handed tackling.
"Any place I can help the team as much as I can I'll play," Collins said. "That's what I did today with the Money position and playing at the line of scrimmage and helping with the run with Trey (DePriest)."
Alabama played almost exclusively with extra defensive backs on the field, either in nickel and more often than not in dime.
With Jarrick Williams out with a foot fracture, Geno Smith moved to the Star defensive back position with Landon Collins and Nick Perry at safety and Eddie Jackson at left cornerback and Cyrus Jones at right cornerback.
When they went dime, Jabriel Washington was at safety and Collins came up to play Money.
The dime defense was effective at combating the passes to the flats, but the defense still allowed an alarming number of what UA coach Nick Saban terms explosive plays.
Southern Miss connected on seven pass plays of 15 yards or more to six different wide receivers, including gains of 15, 18, 24, 36, 16, 27 and 25, respectively, throughout the game.
"(We have to be) able to play the ball to the wide receiver's hands," Landon Collins said. "You've got to know when the ball is up in the air, read his eyes and hands and knock it out."
Most of the long pass plays came in run-after-the-catch situations.
Jones said the secondary took some time to adjust before settling down.
"I think our second half was definitely better than our first half," Jones said. "We came out and just tried to finish the game, get the young guys in there and just finish out the game on a strong note."
The defense was further stressed in the second half after Nick Perry was called for targeting and ejected from the game in the third quarter and Jackson exited the game with a strained quadricep on the same drive.
Maurice Smith came into the game at Star and Geno Smith shifted to free safety when Perry was ejected and Tony Brown subbed in for Jackson following his injury.
It must be noted, however, that despite its success with the big pass play, Southern Miss never found the end zone. The UA defense hasn't allowed a touchdown in 10 quarters, since the second quarter of the West Virginia game.
https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1681110#sthash.AZjrUKkU.dpuf
TideSports.com Senior Writer
There may be no more valuable player than Landon Collins.
Not only is the junior safety an experienced player at a position that is suddenly getting worse for the wear, but the 6-foot, 222-pounder is one of the top two or three players on the entire team.
Collins assumed a versatile position Saturday evening, playing the majority of his snaps at the Money position in the Crimson Tide's dime defense. A sort of hybrid linebacker/safety role, Money allowed Collins to play close to the line of scrimmage to provide run support while also blitzing from time to time and also taking away the pass to the flats with his speed and sure-handed tackling.
"Any place I can help the team as much as I can I'll play," Collins said. "That's what I did today with the Money position and playing at the line of scrimmage and helping with the run with Trey (DePriest)."
Alabama played almost exclusively with extra defensive backs on the field, either in nickel and more often than not in dime.
With Jarrick Williams out with a foot fracture, Geno Smith moved to the Star defensive back position with Landon Collins and Nick Perry at safety and Eddie Jackson at left cornerback and Cyrus Jones at right cornerback.
When they went dime, Jabriel Washington was at safety and Collins came up to play Money.
The dime defense was effective at combating the passes to the flats, but the defense still allowed an alarming number of what UA coach Nick Saban terms explosive plays.
Southern Miss connected on seven pass plays of 15 yards or more to six different wide receivers, including gains of 15, 18, 24, 36, 16, 27 and 25, respectively, throughout the game.
"(We have to be) able to play the ball to the wide receiver's hands," Landon Collins said. "You've got to know when the ball is up in the air, read his eyes and hands and knock it out."
Most of the long pass plays came in run-after-the-catch situations.
Jones said the secondary took some time to adjust before settling down.
"I think our second half was definitely better than our first half," Jones said. "We came out and just tried to finish the game, get the young guys in there and just finish out the game on a strong note."
The defense was further stressed in the second half after Nick Perry was called for targeting and ejected from the game in the third quarter and Jackson exited the game with a strained quadricep on the same drive.
Maurice Smith came into the game at Star and Geno Smith shifted to free safety when Perry was ejected and Tony Brown subbed in for Jackson following his injury.
It must be noted, however, that despite its success with the big pass play, Southern Miss never found the end zone. The UA defense hasn't allowed a touchdown in 10 quarters, since the second quarter of the West Virginia game.
https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1681110#sthash.AZjrUKkU.dpuf
