JC Latham explains how Bryce Young allows him to showcase his pass protection abilities

It’s no secret that Alabama quarterback Bryce Young is the engine of their offense, as his arm and legs have driven the Alabama offense for almost two seasons now. Young’s ability to scramble and extend plays is rare, and gives defenses fits week in and week out. But a scrambling quarterback can also give his offensive lineman problems in protection, but not for offensive tackle JC Latham, who explained what he likes about the play style of his quarterback.

“Bryce obviously he loves to extend the plays and scrambling is one way that he does it. At first, when you come here you might see oh scrambling, might scare you a little bit,” Lathan said. “But when you really look at it, how I see it, it gives me a great opportunity to showcase my pass protection ability, because if he scrambling around that means he’s gonna hold the ball a little bit longer than most quarterbacks.”

A scrambling quarterback may present issues for an offensive lineman, but if they are able to overcome them like Latham is referring to, it is definitely a unique opportunity for a lineman to show that they can protect in ways that others cannot.

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Latham also spoke on how Young’s ability and style of play as a whole help elevate the Crimson Tide as a whole, not just for him personally.

“So if I can hold up in protection longer then that shows why at our position why we do what we do and how good we are. And then it just helps overall as a play, he’s able to extend plays, that helps our offense just keep going and moving the ball,” Latham said.

Latham was a 5-star recruit and rated the No. 1 offensive tackle in the nation in his 2021 recruiting class according to On3 Consensus. He was a reserve offensive tackle last year in his freshman season, but has come into his own as a starter on the Crimson Tide offensive line this year. He without a doubt has the physical tools for the next level, and is he can continue to showcase them while protecting Young, he could have a bright future beyond college football.

Brian Branch has hilarious reaction when asked about Emil Ekiyor’s pancake block

Alabama‘s 30-24 win over Ole Miss was filled with highlight plays, which typically feature skill players. But offensive lineman Emil Ekiyor took the spotlight this weekend following a viral pancake block he made on a Rebel’s defensive back when he was pulling on a run play. Crimson Tide defensive back Brian Branch gave some commentary on Ekiyor’s big block, and was asked if he’s ever pancaked him in practice before.

“Emil has tried to do that to me in practice, but it doesn’t go like that,” Branch smiled and said.

Ekiyor’s block came as no surprise to Branch, as he spoke more on his teammate’s ability to execute on plays where he pulls not only against defensive backs, but on any defender.

“Seeing that, I’ve seen it happen before and Emil is a strong offensive lineman and that would be scary for any defensive player to see an offensive lineman pull, especially a DB,” Branch said. “You can’t avoid it, you got to go meet him.”

An offensive guard blocking a defensive back is a clear physical mismatch that sometimes occurs on certain designed run schemes, but Branch gave some advice from his own experience as a defensive back on how to make the most of the difficult situation when it does occur.

“Like I said, you’ve just gotta go get him before he gets you and that’s the best way to put it. It’s football so stuff like that’s going to happen and you work out for a reason,” Branch said.

Branch was lastly asked if he had any commissaries for the Ole Miss defender that was the victim on the receiving end of Ekiyor’s vicious block, which he kept short and sweet.

“Hey, thats Emil for you,” Branch said.