Photos and Video from Alabama Football's Second Practice of Southern Miss Week
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — With sunny skies and temperatures hovering in the low 80s, Alabama football conducted its second practice of Southern Miss Week at the Thomas-Drew Practice Fields on Tuesday afternoon.
The Crimson Tide practiced in full pads for two hours.
While Alabama was able to defeat No. 11 Florida last Saturday 31-29 in the team's first true road game of the season, it wasn't the prettiest of victories. After a solid first quarter, the Crimson Tide spent the rest of the game holding the Gators at bay, fighting them off in the final minutes.
One of the biggest strengths for Florida on Saturday was the effectiveness of its running game. In total, the Gators were able to rush for 245 yards against a gassed Alabama defense.
One of those gassed Crimson Tide defenders was sophomore linebacker Will Anderson Jr., who remarked on his defense's mentality when having to play more time than expected in the second half.
“We control only what the defense controls," Anderson said on Monday. "We can’t really worry about what the offense does. We just worry about what we do when we go on the field and if that’s their thing that they have going on, when we get on the field we just try to make it better. We just try to do everything as a team and just move on and just play football.”
One of the things that Alabama head coach Nick Saban noted during his time with the media on Monday was that his team needs to maintain intensity throughout the entirety of the game. So far this season, the Crimson Tide has jumped out to early leads in all three of its games, but has tapered off significantly — particularly in the second half.
Anderson — who was named SEC Defensive Player of the Week earlier on Monday — echoed Saban's sentiment but also added that the mental errors committed by his defense are learning moments.
“We kept our composure," Anderson said. "There were some things, a few mental errors by me, that comes with the game of football. We need to lessen those mental errors. And I think the biggest thing is just for all of us to be on the same page again and executing what our coaches tell us to do.”
Gallery: Alabama Football Hosts Second Practice of Southern Miss Week
Photos courtesy of Alabama Athletics
