TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It was two days later, and University of Alabama junior linebacker Reggie Ragland was still getting a charge out of Reuben Foster’s hit at LSU.
“Whooo! I’ve seen Reuben do it so much, it’s like second nature to him,” Ragland said Monday afternoon. “ It’s like Whooo!
“I think Reuben is a harder hitter than I am. Every time you see him hit, he just makes everything explode and fall. Yeah, that hit, baby. Whooo!”
The hit that he was referring to occurred at the end of regulation when the sophomore laid out Leonard Fournette on a kick return.
“It gave us momentum,” Alabama’s leading tackler continued. “He came down and made the hit, and you saw the reaction on the sideline, everyone get energy, everyone get joyful, everyone jumping around, like, ‘Oh, yeah. We’ll get them in overtime.’ And we came out and made some big plays.”
Actually, the Crimson Tide was concerned about getting a celebration penalty, but there was no doubt that it, along with the last-minute scoring drive provided the emotional lift coaches were looking for all night. Alabama rode it in overtime when it scored a touchdown and LSU went four-and-out of the 20-13 final score.
“That hit, great hit, really energized our team even more,” Coach Nick Saban said. “I think we took that positive energy into the overtime period. Probably, one of the reasons we were able to have success in the overtime and win the game.”
Senior tackle Austin Shepherd took it even a step further:
“I told him I think that’s why we won, for real,” he said. “I feel like that really was the reason because it brought energy. We really didn’t have energy all game. I feel like that’s what brought the energy and we kind of finished the game with that.”
Christopher Walsh has covered Alabama football since 2004 and is the author of 19 books. In his free time, he writes about college football.
