Alabama football has another moment to shatter an opponent’s confidence.
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Student-athletes for the Florida Gators said its defensive secondary would ‘lock up’ DeVonta Smith; however, he totaled an SEC Championship Game record for receptions (15) and recorded 184 yards with two touchdowns. Ed Orgeron of LSU said his Tigers would beat Alabama in everything after a victory in 2019, unfortunately he took a brutal drubbing this season and lost two of his recruits to Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide. Kyren Williams, a running back, said Notre Dame will be able to run the ball on Alabama, and now his teammate has joined him.
Kyle Hamilton, a safety, is very confident in the Fighting Irish shutting down Najee Harris on defense.
The sophomore leads the team for total tackles (56) and has 3.5 tackles for loss, five pass breakups, two quarterback hurries and one interception. Listed at 6-foot-4 and 219 pounds, Hamilton knows Harris is an elite player.
As a senior from California, Harris leads all running backs in college football for rushing touchdowns (24) and has 27 total scores. He’s accounted for 1,262 rushing yards and 312 yards receiving, while averaging 114.7 yards per carry.
The 6-foot-2, 230-pounder is responsible for five 100-yard rushing performances and nine 100-yard games from scrimmage. He dominated the Gators’ defensive front for 178 yards rushing, 67 yards receiving and five total scores — en route to pushing the Tide to a Southeastern Conference title.
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Harris was named Most Valuable Player for his efforts, and he finished in the top-five as a Heisman finalist.
Despite him garnering the status of consensus All-American, Hamilton feels like Notre Dame ‘will stop’ Harris. During his media availability on Tuesday, he said the Fighting Irish will not have the problems other teams have had when it comes to stopping Harris.
“He’s a freak,” Hamilton said of Harris. “He’s a big guy. Shouldn’t be moving as fast as he does and laterally as quick as he does. But I think we have people on defense that can stop that and will stop that on Friday.”
With an offensive line that wants to prove it deserves the Joe Moore Award, it will be interesting to see how Notre Dame’s defense goes about stifling Alabama’s front group.
The lineup of Alex Leatherwood, Deonte Brown, Chris Owens, Emil Ekiyor and Evan Neal are looking forward to taking on Hamilton’s challenge.
Even in him not playing, Landon Dickerson will be cheering and pointing things out to his teammates.
We will have a trench warfare on Friday and the Tide is ready for it at the Rose Bowl.
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Stephen M. Smith is the managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith
