T.G. Paschal/BamaCentral
Notebook: Crimson Tide Safety Jared Mayden Hopes to Knock the Snot out of his Brother
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Brotherly love? Not this week.
University of Alabama senior safety Jared Mayden is looking forward to seeing his younger brother after the Crimson Tide plays Mississippi State (11 a.m. CT Saturday, ESPN), but he really hopes for a chance to say hello during the game.
Jalen Mayden is a redshirt freshman quarterback for the Bulldogs.
“I always told him, if I get a chance to play against you… all the time you told on me, wore my clothes – he’s bigger than me, so I think around middle school he started wearing my clothes, wearing my shoes – so I told him, if ever get a chance to hit you, and I can do it without getting in trouble, I’m gonna take every opportunity I can take,” said Mayden, who was recruited out of Sachse High School in Texas.
Apparently, this has been building up for some time.
“Ever since he thought he was getting a little bit bigger,” Jared Mayden said. “When he got to college, he’s been saying he’s gonna run me over if he sees me on the sideline. He’s not gonna step out of bounds. I told him, you can try. I’m still holding you. You still got little-boy strength. I’m grown. I’m just waiting on it.”
Mississippi State has primarily used two quarterbacks this season with Garrett Shrader and Tommy Stevens. Jalen Mayden has appeared in three games, but hasn’t attempted a pass.
Jared Mayden has played in eight games for the Crimson Tide. He’s fifth in team tackles with 40 and intercepted two passes.
“I ain’t even gonna say nothing to him this week,” he said. “I’m not gonna text him. I’m not gonna call him. I don’t want see it. I might block mom on social media. I don’t wanna see it. The only thing I want to think about if I see him, he gonna feel all 18 years of us living together.”
Other connections
There are 12 Mississippi State players who hail from the state of Alabama, and five Crimson Tide players from Mississippi: Defensive back Brandon Turnage (who is on target to redshirt), offensive linemen Scott Lashley and Matt Womack, and defensive linemen Byron Young and Raekwon Davis.
“Just playing great and just getting better as a whole unit,” Davis said were his aims this week.
There are some more notable connections in the upper ranks.
Mississippi State special teams coordinator is former Alabama player Joey Jones.
Current Alabama associate head coach/defensive line coach Brian Baker served as the defensive line coach at Mississippi State from 2016-18 before accepting a job with the Crimson Tide last spring. Current Alabama associate head coach/running backs coach Charles Huff served as the assistant head coach/run game coordinator/running backs coach at MSU in 2018. He also worked with head coach Joe Moorhead for two seasons at Penn State.
“Both guys are good coaches,” Nick Saban said. “They’re very enthusiastic. I think they have good relationships with the players. They’ve brought some good energy, new ideas. Both are very bright. And I think they do a good job technique-wise of coaching their players on the field. So, we’re excited to have them on the staff, and they’ve been very pleasing to me, the job that they’ve done.”
Crimson Tide athletic director Greg Byrne had the same role at Mississippi State from 2008-10, during which he earned his master’s degree. He oversaw the hiring of then-baseball coach John Cohen, who is now the Bulldogs’ athletic director.
The Nick Saban Radio Show
During his weekly radio show on Thursday night, Saban said that a player was suspended this week for not attending class, but he didn't name him.
The coach mentioned that he was nervous about his team before the LSU game because players weren’t acting like they normally do
His message this week: Do you want to be part of the dynasty or the end of the dynasty?
They Said It ...
• Jalen Mayden: “Watching the film from the last game, you get to see when you mess up in the secondary, it’s something that really is – it’s something that people really see. You don’t always get to see the D-line or linebackers, you don’t see when they jump out of their gaps. But when somebody in the secondary misses a tackle, usually you’re the last person in the line of defense. So your mistakes really get highlighted when people watch the games. From the game, all you can take away for real is the importance of your angles when you come in and tackle. You can’t be overrunning or running. And just because the first guy makes contact, the second guy can’t slow up. You need to be able to knock him back, get more guys around the ball. Try to hit the runner.”
• Saban: “We’ve had to play a lot of young players who they don’t even know what the Bama Factor is. They’re just learning how to do that.”
• Junior running back Najee Harris: “I think all running backs really need to get in a rhythm. That’s why I said that (about) the more experience you get or the more touches you get. Because every game’s different, certain teams play certain runs different. So you really don’t know what to expect yet. That’s why more in the game you understand how they’re blocking it. Every running back needs a certain amount. Not even a lot, maybe three carries or so. Just to see how they’re playing it, how the secondary is playing it, how the D-line is slanting. Are they pressing or just holding their blocks, or just moving off. It’s really just learning [that] more into the game you learn how certain plays are being blocked, it’s gathering of information.”
• Davis: “We’ve got to find ourselves. We’ve got to come together and just work on the things — we got to just work every day. Every second of the day, we’ve just got to get better and just work at the little things like communication and the focusing part. We’ve just got to get better every day. Every day we come out to practice and even after practice, we still got to — it’s just the little things we got to get good at.”
