Practice Report: Alabama Football Continues Preparations for Texas A&M
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama football conducted its first full-pad of the week on Tuesday afternoon as the Crimson Tide continued its preparations for its Saturday home opener against Texas A&M.
While Alabama is coming off of a 38-19 win over Missouri in Columbia, Texas A&M is entering Saturday's matchup after a 17-12 nail-biter win over Vanderbilt in College Station.
That being said, the Crimson Tide defense should have its hands full with Aggies quarterback Kellen Mond, who entered the season as one of the best quarterbacks in the SEC.
While Mond and the entire Texas A&M offense struggled to gain cohesiveness against the Commodores, getting a team motivated and excited for Alabama should be no difficult task for Jimbo Fisher and the rest of the Aggies coaching staff.
While Alabama sophomore defensive back Jordan Battle brought up Mond's strengths on Tuesday, he also said that he expects his defense to perform well against him.
"Of course he's a great quarterback," Battle said. "He scrambles outside of the pocket [and] he he keeps his eyes downfield when he's scrambling, so that makes him even more tough. We know we play pretty good in the scrambling quarterback game, so we should play very well against this guy."
Crimson Tide quarterback Mac Jones had a solid game against Missouri, throwing 18-for-24 for 249 yards and two touchdowns in the win. While solid in the air, Jones is not quite a dual-threat quarterback up to the same caliber as Mond, rushing for only four yards in the contest.
That being said, Battle believes that Jones is a great dual-threat quarterback to practice against in preparation for Mond.
“Of course Mac Jones, he can run as well," Battle said. "He throws the ball very well, so he’s much of a dual-threat. And we have Bryce (Young), who is very much of a dual-threat as well. Practicing against those guys is gonna be a great preparation for this guy Kellen Mond.”
This story will be updated with footage from today's practice.
