One of the most interesting storylines heading into Alabama’s SEC opener at Oxford against Ole Miss is how will true freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts handle the pressure of a hostile SEC away crowd.
Hurts has seemed unflappable for the most part thus far, and that is one of his most appealing traits. For all of his talent, Blake Barnett has shown visible signs of nervousness.
However, heading into this game, Alabama’s biggest concern is its own offensive line. The unit has tallied a number of penalties and done a poor job opening holes for the running backs and protecting the quarterbacks.
The biggest concern heading into the season for Ole Miss was its own offensive line, and it showed in the team’s loss against Florida State. Quarterback Chad Kelly had significant issues in the lack of time to get rid of the ball, much less find an open receiver, especially in the second half.
Now the greatest concern for Ole Miss heading into this game is the secondary, not the offensive line, and Alabama with all its weapons will look to take advantage.
Starting cornerback Kendarius Webster, easily the team’s best cover man in the secondary, is out for the season following an injury sustained against Florida State. The team already lost standouts Trae Elston and Mike Hilton, last year’s starters at safety.
In fact, Ole Miss faltered in such dramatic fashion that FSU quarterback Deondre Francois was able to carve up the Ole Miss secondary like a well-marinated boneless turkey. Francois finished the game with 419 yards passing and 2 touchdowns. FSU had two receivers with more than 100 yards receiving. In Week 2, the Ole Miss secondary wasn’t tested against run-dominant Wofford.
“I looked out there the other night and we had four freshman DBs on the field,” Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze said during the SEC teleconference last week. “So mistakes were made, and you’ve got to learn from those. They did some good things, too, and I think they’re going to be really good players. But there is a transition period.”
The Ole Miss secondary may be undergoing a transition, but they don’t have much time to transition with Alabama on the slate.
While the Alabama offense has had its share of problems early, the team has still had five passing touchdowns while averaging 287 yards passing through two games.
“Jalen obviously played the most in the game,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said at his press conference on Monday. “There’s things that he could do better. There’s some things that he did very well. The emphasis, no matter who is playing, is let’s get the better things more consistent.”
Saban still doesn’t want to name a specific starter, saying he wants to get all of the quarterbacks reps. Still, it seems clear Hurts has earned the starting job for now. Granted, Barnett and Bateman may get the opportunity to play and even earn the job moving forward, but for now, Hurts is the starter.
The confidence and the appearance that he doesn’t get rattled easily bodes well for Hurts heading into Ole Miss. As many saw last season, Bateman struggled when thrown into a pressure-packed situation. While Barnett has had his moments, he was clearly nervous starting on a big stage against USC. How would either of them handle a hostile crowd at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium?
“I don’t think there’s any question about it that it’s a challenge,” Saban said. “It’s always a challenge to play on the road. We do everything we can to help these guys with noise and all the things that make it more difficult to communicate on offense. I think it’s going to be about the entire offensive team sort of being able to do this around the quarterback. So it definitely is something that we will practice this week and we have to get ready for.”
With the offensive line struggles, Saban made it clear he’s expecting the entire offense as a unit to improve. The offensive line has struggled in every area, penalties being one of Saban’s pet peeves. Aside from Damien Harris’ performance against USC, the running backs haven’t stood out. The receivers have dropped a lot of catchable balls, and both Hurts and Barnett have had timing issues with passes.
“I think that’s something that is important to the entire offensive team is that if we all do what we’re supposed to do better, that’s going to take a lot of pressure off of whoever is playing quarterback,” Saban said. “I think that’s the more significant issue for us right now in terms of how we improve on offense.”
If Alabama is to beat Ole Miss this year, the team will likely exploit the young, mistake-prone secondary that Ole Miss fielded against Florida State. But in order to do so, Alabama’s entire offense has its own things to work out.
