LSU struggled to run on the Alabama defense last year, but RB Derrius Guice maintains that the Crimson Tide are scared of the Tigers ground game.

At SEC Media Days, Guice was asked about last year’s comments when he said, “Alabama always stacks 10 people in the box to stop us. They’re scared as well.”

Guice stood by his words on Monday in Hoover, Ala.

“That’s what I said,” Guice said, per Bama OnLine.

“Like I said last year, every time we were about to run, they had, like, the whole box loaded.”

Going by Guice’s description, Alabama’s defense was determined to contain Leonard Fournette and daring LSU to throw the deep ball. It appears to have been a worthwhile strategy for Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt. LSU was 11-of-24 passing against the Crimson Tide, throwing for only 92 yards. Overall, LSU only gained 125 yards of offense (33 yards of rushing) against Alabama.

Alabama-LSU isn’t the type of rivalry that needs bulletin-board material to get players hyped up for the game, but Guice isn’t shying away from giving Alabama defenders something to think about in the leadup to the November showdown. Last season, Guice only had two carries for eight yards against the Crimson Tide. As the Tigers’ top back this season, that number will certainly go up. We’ll see if Guice is able to have a better day than Fournette did last season (17 carries, 35 yards) against the supposedly scared defense.