Iron Bowl week is in full swing. Especially after two Alabama seniors spoke up on Monday afternoon during the weekly press conference about a few of the players on Auburn. Center Ryan Kelly and cornerback Cyrus Jones responded to a couple of questions in ways that we don’t typically see from players under coach Nick Saban.
However, these guys wanted to have a little fun in the week of their final Iron Bowl. There are a lot of opinions on what they said and if they should have said it but let’s make sure we have the facts first. Let’s start with Jones.
Alabama CB Cyrus Jones on Auburn’s WRs: “I don’t think they’re anything special honestly but we still have to prepare for them.”
— Alex Byington (@abyingtonTD) November 23, 2015
Now, to be fair, Jones also called the Auburn wide receivers “athletic, fast” and “pretty good players.” The Tide’s top cornerback continued on to say that the team had to prepare like they were playing the best players in the SEC. So you can take this in a few different ways. Maybe Jones was taking a shot at the Auburn receiving core that has not had too much production this season. Maybe he was just answering the question and truly thinks the Auburn wide receivers do not compare to the receivers at Texas A&M or Ole Miss that the Tide have already faced. It is very likely that Jones meant nothing by his comments and we are digging too far into but one Auburn receiver heard about it and responded on Twitter.
Say less. — Ricardo Louis (@GuttaManRick) November 23, 2015
That is Auburn’s senior receiver Ricardo Louis who took the passive aggressive road. Let’s move on now to what Kelly had to say about the Tigers’ star defensive end Carl Lawson.
Alabama center Ryan Kelly on the challenge of facing Carl Lawson: “I honestly don’t know who that is.” — Aaron Suttles (@AaronSuttles) November 23, 2015
Wow. I don’t know if Ryan Kelly was taking a shot or was just playing dumb. He went on to say that he played offense not defense. The rest of the media laughed about it so Kelly did too, probably thinking the reporter messed up.
Carl Lawson was the number one defensive end recruit in 2012 and played against Alabama in 2013. He did not do anything noteworthy in the game but Ryan Kelly should at least know the name. He was named to preseason All-SEC teams before being injured for the 2014 season.
Jones, Kelly, Louis and many other players are clearly ready for this rivalry game to get underway. Even with one team having a down year, it does not seem to have any less tension between fans, players and even journalists.
This is exactly what I want between Auburn/Alabama players. Hate each other. It’s sports. I hope Carl asks how Kelly’s mom has been doing.
— WarBlogle.com (@WarBlogle) November 23, 2015
This kind of stuff should be expected in a rivalry and it should be fun to see how Gus Malzahn and the Auburn players respond in their press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
Caleb Turrentine is a contributor at Touchdown Alabama Magazine. Follow him on Twitter, @CalebTurrentine.
