Ja'Corey Brooks opens up on Alabama's discipline issues

Alabama lost in heartbreaking, upset fashion to Tennessee this weekend, losing 52-49 capped off by a game-winning field goal from Volunteers kicker Chase McGrath as time expired. One could point to a lot of reasons why the Crimson Tide lost on Saturday, but one of the most glaring was their mistakes in the penalty department, which wide receiver Ja’Corey Brooks spoke about following the game.

“That’s just the mistakes that we made as an offense, we’ve just gotta develop and get better as that and capitalize on our mental mistakes,” Brooks said. “I feel like we hurt ourselves.”

Brooks did match a career-high in receptions in their loss Saturday, ending the game with six catches for 79 yards and a touchdown, elevating himself to the Crimson Tide’s top receiver statistically so far this season.

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But his record day was overshadowed by a record day for Alabama, as they set a school record for penalties in Saturday’s game ending the day with 17 penalties for 130 yards, beating their previous mark of 16 that happened in both the 1995 and 2002 seasons. This may be the worst time, but the first time this season the Crimson Tide have struggled with penalties this season, with Saturday being their third double-digit penalty outing of the year, drawing 10 against Arkansas and 14 against Texas.

In recent history, the Crimson Tide losing football games has been a rare occasion within itself, but them beating themselves is even rarer, especially under head coach Nick Saban. Surely limiting penalties and sharpening their disciple will be a point of emphasis moving forward for Alabama, as they’re now approaching must-win territory as they navigate through the rest of their conference schedule.

Nick Saban turns question about Bryce Young protecting himself into statement on his star QB’s guts

Alabama took their first loss of the season Saturday, falling in a shootout against Tennessee 52-49. The Crimson Tide’s quarterback Bryce Young returned to action Saturday against the Volunteers after missing last week’s game to an injury suffered to his throwing shoulder.

Young was still nursing his injury throughout the contest, and head coach Nick Saban was asked about the challenge of Young protecting himself in Saturday’s game versus attempting to extend and make plays and potentially risking further injury.

“Look Bryce is a competitor, and he’s a great competitor, and he’s a good leader on the team. And we need to do a better job of protecting him and we certainly don’t want him to get hit. Can we do that 100%?” Saban asked. “You know sometimes he scrambles and runs and gets hit, but he’s a competitor, and he’s one of the guys that is a real warrior on our team when it comes to doing whatever he needs to do to try to help the team to win.”

Young still had a great individual performance in their loss, completing 67% of his passes for 455 yards and two touchdowns. Young ended the game throwing 52 pass attempts on his recently injured throwing shoulder, and had trainers working on it throughout the game. Additionally, Young was sacked once on a questionable no-call for a roughing the passer or targeting penalty and was hurried nine times, taking hard hits throughout the night inside and outside of the pocket.

“Whether it’s scramble, sit in the pocket for the last minute and try to deliver a ball and maybe take a hit because of it. We don’t want that to happen and we need to do a better job so it doesn’t happen,” Saban said.

Saban and the Crimson Tide obviously want their former Heisman trophy winner to take as few hits as possible, but he also understands that Young’s play style is a fabric of his competitive nature as a player.

“But can we eliminate it happening and will he ever be a guy that doesn’t do everything he can to help the team have a chance to be successful and help that play have a chance to be successful? I don’t think so.” Saban said. “I think that’s why he is what he is, that’s why he is a great player, because of that, so I don’t know how to change that.”

Young surely had a gutsy performance against Tennessee despite losing, and they may need another one out of him next week, as Alabama goes from playing the SEC’s top passing offense in Tennessee to the second-best in No. 24 Mississippi State this Saturday at home.