Alabama football’s wide receiver coach and co-offensive coordinator, JaMarcus Shephard wants Tide players to play with a chip on their shoulder.
The Crimson Tide wide receiver group is gaining much-needed experience in the early part of the 2024 football season with a lot of young talent in their room. Alabama’s offense as a whole is still working to improve with each game, but Shephard hopes they are continuing to play with an edge, especially when running with the football.
One of Shephard’s pet peeves about players carrying the football is running out of bounds.
“Don’t go out of bounds, that’s going to hell,” Shephard said. “When you go out of bounds, that’s like going to hell. Run through somebody’s face. That’s what I want. Now, the timing of the game, if we’re in two minute, you gotta be cognizant of where we’re at in the game, but I’m not an advocate for guys running out of bounds. That’s for somebody else.”
Shephard also wants to make sure Alabama players are not getting tackled for free.
“Sometimes people allow someone to come down and tackle them, that’s free,” said Shephard. “You gave them a free opportunity. Make them have to pay the piper to be able to tackle you.”
Playing with this mindset could pay dividends for Alabama against Wisconsin.
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