Roman Harper doesn't hold back on the Alabama defense: 'You know I was fired up'

Roman Harper couldn’t contain his excitement after Alabama’s defense blanked Tennessee in the 2nd half of last weekend’s 34-20 victory.

During a recent appearance on McElroy And Cubelic In The Morning, the ESPN analyst and former Crimson Tide safety marveled at the bounce back after Tennessee took a 20-7 lead into halftime.

“You know I was fired up. Shutting a team out like Tennessee,” Harper said. “Not saying Tennessee is like world beaters but the way that they changed gears and were able to say okay we were like this on 1 part of the game and then we go to halftime and switch gears and take it up to another 3 or 4 notches.”

Harper commended the Crimson Tide for their resilience in the rivalry matchup. Deontae Lawson (12) and Jihaad Campbell (10) each recorded double digit tackles.

“The eye discipline, the physicality they played with. The speed in which they played with in that 2nd half really overwhelmed Tennessee,” Harper said. “Gave Tennessee nothing.”

Harper believes the performance will put the rest of the SEC on notice as Alabama uses the bye week to prepare for the key divisional clash against LSU.

“It made me really excited because No. 1 that’s my team and No. 2 they were able to put more good film on tape,” Harper said. “Now you continue to let other teams know we’ve got other gears. We can still pick it up more and more and get better.”