Presumably, Maurice Linguist was on the awards stand along with Nick Sheridan and JaMarcus Shephard when Alabama football assistant coaches gathered Sunday. Sheridan is offensive coordinator and coaches quarterback Jalen Milroe. Shephard handles the wide receivers, including Ryan Williams.
Milroe and Williams were the offensive stars of Saturday night’s 41-34 win over previously No. 1 Georgia, which elevated the Crimson Tide to the top spot with a 5-0 record.
But it night not have been possible without the likes of Demoni Jackson, who picked off the first of three interceptions thrown by Georgia ace quarterback Carson Beck leading to a touchdown, and Jabien Brown, who intercepted Beck’s final pass, leading to a couple of kneeldowns that finished off the job in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Linguist is co-defensive coordinator and handles coaching Bama’s secondary. Brown, like Williams, is a true freshman
Beck had been targeting Brown, but on the critical pass Brown played it perfectly and pulled it down in the end zone with 43 seconds to play.
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Linguist said, “A lot of different things had to occur. He had to go up there with his eyes open, two hands to the sky, and go up there and pick it off. It says a lot about his internal resolve, who he is, how he’s made. We expected him to play well and do a lot of good things.
“He works his butt off all though the week and the dividends come in the game.
“We knew going into the game that Zabien is a true freshmen, and we’ve got a lot of guys who have played a lot of plays, and Zabien’s a younger guy, so we expected a lot of targets his way. They have a dynamic passing attack, and we knew a lot of action was going to come his way.
“When you’re in these type of battle games, going back and forth, you have to stay focused on playing the next play. He won on the first vertical (pass downfield) of the game and I told him he was going to have to win on four or five more.
“He stayed even keel, in the moment and made it one play at a time.
“His work throughout the week earned him the right to go into a game with confidence, and the confidence really is gained with game-day execution. We fully expected him to play well because he prepares throughout the week this shows him that.”
Linguist said the game showed “the maturity of our team,” adding it’s “doing all the right things throughout the week That comes internally from the players.”
Next up for the Tide is Vanderbilt in Nashville, 3:15 p.m. CDT on SEC Network.
But also externally? His message regarding moving on to Vanderbilt after the emotional Georgia game was, “Vanderbilt is the next team on the schedule. We have to know twhat they are about, what they do, the DNA of that team, but just as last week for the Georgia game it truly is about us – our execution, who we are, our standards and meeting those standards and the expectations for ourselves and go out there and play better every week.”
A mantra of athletics is “iron sharpens iron,” and the Alabama win over Georgia showed the skill of pass receivers and pass defenders, which would seem to make for competitive practices.
“Competitive excellence,” Linguist said. “We have playmakers on the offensive side of the ball. I see what Milroe does on game day, and we see it every day in practice, and it just makes us better.
“The receivers on the outside. Coach Shep does a fabulous job with those wideouts, Ryan Williams and Germie Bernard and Kendrick Law. The one-on-ones are created in practice every day. We tell the guys to make the practice harder than the games. So when Zabien or Demoni is taking reps against Ryan, it’s only going to make you better.”
And perhaps gives an appreciation that all of those players are on the same side on Saturdays.
