Alabama Football: Grading All 22 Starters from the Ole Miss Game

In a weekend where several teams in the Top 10 won ugly without playing their best football, top-ranked Alabama survived a sloppy performance against a pesky Ole Miss squad to earn a 33-14 victory. 

Nick Saban’s club gained a boost from its special teams unit, with a 99-yard kickoff return  for a touchdown from Christion Jones erasing the team’s only deficit this season and jumpstarting a decisive second quarter outburst. 

The defense forced three interceptions after Jones’s heroics that helped the Tide build a 27-7 halftime lead before most of the team’s issues came to light in the second half. 

Kicker Jeremy Shelley booted four field goals  to help bail out an offense that got stuck in neutral inside the red zone. 

How did the Tide’s starters fare from an individual standpoint in the win over the Rebels?

Find out in this breakdown grading all 22 starters from the Ole Miss game.   

Quarterback

A.J. McCarron: B

McCarron—who went 22-of-30 for 180 yards and two touchdown passes—was solid considering the Tide’s normally bruising running  attack was held in check by the Rebels. 

However, his accuracy was noticeably off in the second half and he was lucky to avoid throwing his first interception of the season on a handful of tosses that were forced into tight coverage . 

In a game where things did not flow smoothly and the units around him struggled, McCarron was still able to engineer six drives that ended with points and avoid turning the ball over.  

Running Back

Eddie Lacy: C+

Lacy ran hard despite finding little running room against a Rebels defense that stacked the box with seven- and eight-man fronts. 

The junior was able to grind out 82 hard-fought yards on 19 carries, but neither he nor freshman T.J. Yeldon were able to break free and find the endzone. 

Lacy also snared three receptions out of the backfield, but only netted 15 yards as a receiver. 

The results may not have been pretty, but it was another workmanlike effort for Lacy.  

Tight End

Michael Williams: D

Brian Vogler: D+ 

Alabama came out with two tight ends in the starting lineup, according to the participation chart listed on rolltide.com. 

Vogler recorded the only reception of the day between he and Williams, and it only went for five yards. 

As blockers, neither was able to set the edge on running plays and neither was able to step up and become an effective target in the red zone—which is an element missing from last season’s offense.

Wide Receiver

DeAndrew White: Incomplete

Kenny Bell: C

With the extra tight end in the lineup, Alabama went with veterans DeAndrew White and Kenny Bell as the starting wide receivers against the Rebels.

Considering White left the game early in the first quarter with a knee injury, it’s not fair to assess a grade for him with a limited sample size.

Meanwhile, Bell logged just two receptions for 15 yards, but both he and White were picked up by the strong play of freshman Amari Cooper. 

The emerging young star hauled in eight catches for 84 yards and a pair of acrobatic touchdown receptions in the second quarter that helped Alabama take a 20-point lead into halftime.  

Offensive Line

LT – Cyrus Kouandijo: D

LG – Chance Warmack: D

C – Barrett Jones: D

RG – Anthony Steen: D

RT – D.J. Fluker: D

The offensive line had a night it would rather forget against a feisty and aggressive Ole Miss defense. 

The running game failed to get untracked and the offense managed season-low totals in yards (305), points and yards per play (4.77). 

While the Rebels defense loaded up the box to stop the run, the line did better in pass protection  only allowing one sack and routinely giving McCarron time to dissect the Rebels secondary in passing situations on third down. 

It is worth noting that, even though the Tide’s offense struggled, they were still able to control the clock and maintain a double-digit cushion for most of the game. 

After its worst performance of the season, expect this veteran unit to sort out its issues during the bye week and step up its level play beginning with a trip to Missouri in two weeks.  

Defensive Line

DE – Ed Stinson: B

DT – Jesse Williams: B

DE – Damion Square: B

The defense as a whole had spurts of dominance mixed with sporadic moments where they let their guard down and allowed the Rebels to move the ball, and the defensive line mirrored the unit’s inconsistencies. 

The front three limited the Rebels only 80 yards rushing and helped control the line of scrimmage enough for the defense to ring up five sacks on the night. 

The Tide also uncharacteristically allowed two rushing touchdowns, and the line has to accept its share of the blame for allowing the Rebels to punch in two scores in its only trips into the red zone.  

Linebacker

OLB – Adrian Hubbard: C+

MLB – Trey Depriest: C

MLB – C.J. Mosley: C

Ole Miss was able to get its receivers and backs in space and Alabama’s linebackers missed several tackles on the Rebels two scoring drives. 

Hubbard (1.5 sacks) was a terror rushing the passer off the edge and Mosley (team-high 8.5 tackles) and Depriest (five tackles) were solid, if not unspectacular. 

The Tide’s second level prides itself on tackling, but this was certainly not one of its better efforts.  

Secondary

S – Vinnie Sunser: B

CB – Dee Milliner: A

CB – Deion Belue: B

S – Robert Lester: B

S – Ha’Ha Clinton-Dix: B

The secondary picked up the slack for the defense by forcing three interceptions in the second quarter. 

Aside from one deep ball that Donte Moncrief hauled in early in the second quarter, the defensive backs did an excellent job of keeping everything in front of them and forcing Ole Miss into pressing for the big play.

Corner Dee Milliner continued his stellar play thus far by recording four pass breakups and an interception.

The biggest concern for this unit could be the health of Belue—who did not play in the second half due to a shoulder injury according to Andrew Gribble of al.com.

Considering the three turnovers they were able to generate and the fact that both Ole Miss touchdowns were on the ground, the secondary had the strongest showing of any unit on the defense.   

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