🏈 Ragland rebounds for Tide

[Bamabww]

Tommy Deas

NEW ORLEANS | Reggie Ragland's 2014 football season got off to a fast start.

A little too fast for the 6-foot-2, 254-pound junior linebacker from Madison, in fact.

Ragland started the University of Alabama's season opener against West Virginia in place of suspended teammate Trey DePriest. Ragland took over not only DePriest's position, but also - along with sophomore Reuben Foster - defensive play-calling responsibilities.

The result was a bit of a mess. Alabama allowed 365 passing yards and seemed a full step behind West Virginia's no-huddle pace for the entire game.

"It was my first game really getting to play and seeing how it feels out there," Ragland said. "West Virginia put a good pace on us, it was very fast at first.

"Looking up, trying to see where you had to cut and seeing the receivers moving fast and me not moving fast, I was kind of slow and sluggish. I was doing so much thinking, it was hurting me."

If Ragland was lost in that game, he soon found his way.

"Reggie has matured a lot," UA defensive coordinator Kirby Smart said. "He's not the same guy he was in that game, now.

"He's played well, he's more confident in himself and he's more confident in the system. So it's nice to have a guy who is kind of in that role, and if Trey was to go down he's that guy. He knows that and kind of expects it now."

Ragland is second on the team in tackles with 88 and second in tackles for loss with 8.5. He absorbed the lessons of the West Virginia game and was starting to make plays by the time the Crimson Tide faced Florida three weeks later.

"As the season went on, it started to slow down on me, and I started to see a lot of things that I didn't see in that (West Virginia) game," he said. "It helped me a lot, that first game, to break me in and get some good experience.

"I started seeing everything faster, and everything started to slow down for me. It's just like playing baseball, at first the ball is coming in, but when you learn how to really zero in on the ball, you see the little circle on it then you can just hit it and do what you want to do with it."

Yes, Ragland played baseball in high school. And he was pretty good.

"I played center field," he said. "A lot of people don't believe I played center field because of how big I am, but I can run for my size. I could cover ground real good and if I needed to dive for it, I could go get it."

Now Ragland is going after something else. As the Crimson Tide prepares to face Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl semifinal of the inaugural College Football Playoff, he has high ambitions. He indicated to NFL.com on Tuesday that he is considering early entry into the NFL draft, but he also believes there is a lot to learn if he stays for his senior season.

"My mindset, I want to become one of the best to ever play the game," he said. "Why not? I've come this far, might as well take my time and learn the things I need to learn from Coach Smart, Coach (Nick) Saban and Coach (Kevin) Steele, because they have coached at the highest level that you can coach, so why not learn from those type coaches and become legendary."

https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1720609

 

[bama alum]

Now Ragland is going after something else. As the Crimson Tide prepares to face Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl semifinal of the inaugural College Football Playoff, he has high ambitions. He indicated to NFL.com on Tuesday that he is considering early entry into the NFL draft, but he also believes there is a lot to learn if he stays for his senior season.

He needs to stay for his senior season.

 

[rick4bama]

All need to stay! I know, I know! :argh:

 

[psychojoe]

Reggie was also quite a good high school basketball player. Even at only six feet two inches he was a rebounding machine in high school.

 

[UAgrad93]

@psychojoe, rebounding is ALOT about desire and want to. All we have to do is look at the "round mound of rebound" out of Leeds High. Reggie is a good example of what a coach is looking for when recruiting. The first thing that they always ask, "what else does he play?" Coaches want an athlete that they can move around to get him on the field and not just a football player locked into one set position.

 

[psychojoe]

@psychojoe, rebounding is ALOT about desire and want to. All we have to do is look at the "round mound of rebound" out of Leeds High. Reggie is a good example of what a coach is looking for when recruiting. The first thing that they always ask, "what else does he play?" Coaches want an athlete that they can move around to get him on the field and not just a football player locked into one set position.

Spot on there. A little before your time, but Wimp Sanderson, when he was looking at near seven footer Derrick McKey in high school, decided to offer the rail thin hoopster when he saw him playing shortstop on his high school baseball team.

 

[UAgrad93]

Derrick left the year before I got there. I had a 6'5" 210lb pitcher that had a 94mph fastball playing for me my first yr as the head baseball coach. He wanted a shot at baseball, so I called all over the place. I got Skip Bertman at LSU on the phone and after tripping over my lips, I told him what I had. His response was, "what else does he play?" The kid was a heckuva basketball player too and was recruited by several mid major schools. BSC was his best basketball offer as far as best school overall. Bertman told me to tell him to sign with BSC and that he would call Brian Shoop and make sure that my kid got a shot. He played both during his career at BSC.