Aabama vs. Mississippi State Reactions

Join BamaOnLine staff writer Clint Lamb and team expert Jimmy Stein as they react to Alabama’s impressive 40-17 road victory over the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Saturday night. Some of the topics from today’s conversation include:

Jalen Milroe‘s growth with turnovers, intermediate passing

Why the OL is showing improvement

Amari Niblack sees a sizable target share

What’s making this Alabama defense so effective

And more!

Snap count observations – Preview

Inside Linebacker

Jihaad Campbell – 63 snaps (100%)

Trezmen Marshall – 43 snaps (68.3%)

Kendrick Blackshire – 12 snaps (19.1%)

Observations: This position played out about how we expected.

Deontae Lawson was forced to miss the game due to an ankle injury, which pushed Campbell into an every-down role. Now to be fair, Saban did describe Marshall as Alabama’s defensive signal-caller for this game, but he was only on the field for about two thirds of the snaps. On that other third, I’m assuming that communicative role fell on Campbell and maybe even Malachi Moore.

Campbell didn’t come off the field at all.

He played every defensive snap while racking up a game-high 14 tackles. That’s the most any Alabama player has produced in a game this season. To take that a step further, I think it’s the most from an Alabama player since C.J. Mosley had 14 tackles against Auburn in 2013. Campbell also added an interception, half a sack and a team-high four QB pressures. In other words, he was all over the place on Saturday night.

Marshall earned some postgame praise from Saban, too.

“Trez did a really good job in the game,” Saban told reporters following the Crimson Tide’s win. “I was really pleased with him. He’s been a really good addition for us. He’s got maturity. He’s an older guy. He doesn’t get rattled out there. He’s got a lot of mental toughness. And he’s been a really solid player for us all year.”

Marshall isn’t always the most sound cover linebacker on this roster. With that said, I also wouldn’t label him as a liability in that area. He’s a physical presence against the run, and he more than proved his worth as a blitzer on Saturday. Of Alabama’s four sacks, almost half of them (1.5) came from the Georgia transfer. That’s along with nine tackles and three QB pressures. Marshall doesn’t have the same ceiling as Lawson or Campbell, but he’s a good SEC linebacker.

I love how Saban and Kevin Steele are using these guys. Of Alabama’s 17 sacks this season, four have come from the inside linebackers. That’s good for a 23.5% rate. So far, there’s also been 97 quarterback pressures, and this position is responsible for 21 of them. That’s a 21.7% rate. Last year, the off-ball linebackers only had four sacks and 24 pressures in 13 games, which means this group is already close to matching that number in less than half the time.

The success of this position has all but eliminated the need for a pass-rush-specific grouping such as the Cheetah package. That could be at least part of the reason why we haven’t seen Quandarrius Robinson on defense in the last couple of games. When you’ve got Turner, Braswell and one or two of these off-ball linebackers wreaking havoc in opposing backfields, why put a package on the field that makes you more vulnerable against the run? Just something to think about.

For more defensive snap count observations, click here (On3+ subscription required).

Not a member, Alabama fans? Join BOL today!

Have you subscribed to BamaOnLine.com yet? You can sign up for ONE MONTH of premium access to our Alabama coverage for just $1! Be able to read all of BOL’s premium articles and nuggets covering Alabama sports and recruiting and also join thousands of other Crimson Tide fans around the globe on the BOL Round Table message board! CLICK HERE!

The post Aabama vs. Mississippi State Reactions appeared first on On3.