Which Player is Getting Alabama's Defense Prepared for Tommy Castellanos

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Alabama football faces a unique challenge this Saturday in the season opener as the team heads to Tallahassee to take on the Florida State Seminoles. The Crimson Tide finds themselves taking on a team with a new offensive and defensive coordinator and over a dozen transfers expected to start on both sides of the ball.

One of those new starters is dual threat quarterback Tommy Castellanos. Castellanos has 3,614 passing yards and 1,307 rushing yards and 32 total touchdowns over the last two seasons at Boston College, despite being benched in the middle of the 2024 season.

"Everybody's just got to be dialed in and do their job and get to the ball," Deontae Lawson said. "In the passing game, we've got to plaster the receivers downfield, knowing the quarterback's going to scramble around, so you've got to stay with the receivers. It's all about the pass rush, too. You've got to contain him well. Don't rush past the depth of him so he can just find an easy escape route and get out. We've got to have great rush lanes and just plaster downfield and we should be fine."

Unique challenges call for unique solutions, therefore, Alabama turns to one of its most athletic players to simulate Castellanos' skillsets. Crimson Tide wide receiver Jaylen Mbakwe has spent some time as the team's scout team quarterback ahead of the matchup agains the Seminoles.

"Obviously, we try to use someone that's shifty for scout team quarterback so we can get a feel for it, but it's going to be different on Saturday," Lawson said. "We've just got to make sure we're all tuned in doing the things that we need to do to be successful in this game and just try to apply that and see how it turns out."

Mbakwe is even trying to simulate Castellanos' perceived confidence by stirring up the defense with some practice trash talk on the field.

"He just comes over here and brings some energy, telling us we can't tackle him, things like that, trying to get us going," Lawson said. "We love the looks we've been getting, and we're looking forward to it throughout the week."

Alabama safety Bray Hubbard complimented the look Mbakwe provided the defense, but said containing a running quarterback is all about maintaining proper rush lanes to eliminate places to escape from.

"When you've got a running quarterback like that, you've got to make sure your rush lanes are on point, because if you get one rush lane off, it's a seam," Hubbard said. "That's the last thing you want, so you've really got to lock in and the rush has to be on point."

Mbakwe is no stranger to running an offense, as the former 5-star recruit played high school quarterback and defensive back for Clay-Chalkville. He was so talented in high school he defeated Crimson Tide wide receiver Ryan Williams and Saraland in the 2023 6A state title game and won the game's MVP award after amassing 282 total yards and four touchdowns.

Williams admitted Mbakwe's play this week has given him deja vu, but complimented his teammate's commitment to doing what's best to help the team prepare for such a unique player.

"I looked over there and he was pulling, he hit somebody with a fake pump and took off, so you know he's got it in him," Williams said. "I'm just super proud of our guys, everybody understanding that it takes all of us in this season in order for us to do what we want to do and him just going over there and attacking the scout field, that's just a testament of our guys so far."