Patrick Surtain II, Alabama Secondary Aims to Corral Ole Miss' Prolific Passing Attack
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Familiar foes are squaring off in Oxford, Miss. this weekend between the University of Alabama and Ole Miss.
Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban is pitted against Rebels coach Lane Kiffin, for the first time since he was on Saban's staff from 2014-2016.
Kiffin has brought an offensive renaissance to the Rebels' program in the first two games of the season, accumulating a combined 77 points, 1,072 total yards, 715 of which have come through the air from sophomore quarterback Matt Corral.
Alabama cornerback Patrick Surtain II knows just how tough this matchup is for a Crimson Tide secondary that just allowed 335 yards in the air to Kellen Mond and Texas A&M last weekend.
"We know the challenge that’s ahead of us: offenses aren’t as run heavy as they used to be, they’re more balanced with the pass and the run," Suratain said on Monday via Zoom to the media. "We look forward to it, and as a secondary you get excited for games like these. Ole Miss, they’ve been doing a tremendous job of balancing the offense with the run game and the passing game. They know how to utilize their receivers well and their offense, as you know, is a very potent offense."
One of the talented Rebel receivers Surtain will be matched up with on Saturday will be Elijah Moore, who caught 10 passes for 92 yards and a touchdown in Ole Miss' 42-41 victory over Kentucky.
"He's a very good player," Saban said. "He's very quick, very explosive very sudden has a burst, he's hard to tackle, even though he's sort of not a great big guy. He's very well put together and he's hard to cover, so it's gonna be a matchup that we have to pay a lot of attention to in this game.”
Along with Surtain, freshman defensive back Malachi Moore has stepped up to the plate for the Alabama defense, earning SEC Freshman of the Week honors for his effort against the Aggies that saw one interception and six tackles.
The Crimson Tide will need another stellar outing from Moore this week, to keep the Rebels and that prolific passing attack in check.
"Malachi’s been doing a tremendous job out there," Surtain said. "He’s getting more comfortable as weeks go by; this past weekend, he had a tremendous game for us. The sky’s the limit for him. He’s going to continue improving and getting better."
Surtain and Moore aren't the only ones that have displayed their ability at a high level so far this season. Despite a missed tackle that resulted in a touchdown last week, redshirt-junior Daniel Wright has a pick-six and is third on the team in total tackles with 14 and sophomore safety Jordan Battle has amassed 15 tackles, while cornerback Josh Jobe has 11.
Overall, Surtain, the leader in the defensive backfield, believes the unit still has to overcome some mental mistakes in terms of how they can reach their full potential in 2020.
"The positive are that we’re flying around, we’re making plays and we’re communicating out there," Surtain said. "The negatives is that we need to eliminate the mental errors and the mental confusion that’s going on on the field. That’ll help us become a dynamic secondary."
Saban agrees with Surtain's sentiment, after watching the film against the Aggies.
"We would like to cover a little bit better man-to-man," Saban said. "We probably gave up three or four third-down conversions to the tight end. I think other than the mental errors -- I think mental errors led to several explosive plays where we didn’t have somebody covered. It’s not just the secondary. Sometimes it was the linebackers making mental errors, as well.
"But we need to get better. I think we played better in this game than we did the first game, so hopefully, we’ll continue to make progress. I think it’ll be really important that we play really well against this team this week because this is the most explosive we’ve played against thus far. They’re gonna spread you out. They’ve got a lot of good skill players. They can run. They can throw it. Receivers are not easy to cover. Tight end’s a really good receiver, very athletic. So, this will be a very challenging game for us.”
