Dallas Turner previews facing Hendon Hooker, Tennessee offense
No. 3 Alabama travels to face No. 6 Tennessee on Saturday for what has become one of the most critical matchups remaining for the Tide in the regular season. During the week, Crimson Tide edge rusher Dallas Turner discussed what he’s expecting from Vols quarterback Hendon Hooker and the nation’s No. 2 scoring offense.
“They do have a very good offense, a very high-powered offense and a fast-paced offense but I feel like with a good week of preparation and stuff like that throughout practice that we’ll be prepared for it on Saturday,” Turner said.
Hendon Hooker is one of the country’s top contenders for the Heisman Trophy this season through Week 6. The multi-talented signal-caller and his offensive line have shown some vulnerability, however. Hooker’s taken eight sacks this year, six of which have come against top-25 opponents.
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So far this season, Turner has 20 tackles and two sacks. Both sacks came last week versus the Aggies.
Focusing on the Vols QB, Turner complimented his ability to lead the offense and his decision-making.
“How comfortably (Hooker) runs the offense,” Turner said about what’s impressed him on film. “He is a very good quarterback and stuff like that but you can tell he knows where he’s going with his passes and how the scheme runs over there at Tennessee. And it works, efficiently.”
Saban addresses turnovers ahead of Tennessee game
Alabama may have won all of their games so far this season, but they’re losing drastically in the turnover margin department. The Crimson Tide have lost the turnover battle in all of their games except two this season. Nick Saban commented on the team’s struggles in that department on Monday.
“Well we’ve been emphasizing it like crazy and this is the first time in a long time we’ve had a negative turnover ratio at this point in the season,” Saban said. “We don’t get enough turnovers on defense and we’ve given the ball up more than we have historically and both of those things need to improve because it is very, very challenging.”
The Crimson Tide are coming off of their worst performance of the season in the turnover department, giving the ball away to Texas A&M four times and only taking it away from them once.
“I’ve said many times before, one of the most compelling stats relative to winning and losing is turnover margin,” Saban added. “Every week we show the players, ‘okay if you’re plus-one, plus-two, plus-three all over the country what was the record, if you’re minus-one, minus-two, minus-three all over the country what was the record,’ and it’s pretty compelling.”
Alabama currently sits at a minus-six turnover margin, one of the worst in the nation, yet they bring an unspoiled record into Saturday’s game versus the Vols.
On3’s Kaiden Smith contributed to this report.