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Nick Saban implores team to handle Texas A&M star better in 2021

Wade-Peeryby:Wade Peery•10/07/21
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Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images

Even though Alabama throttled Texas A&M 52-24 in 2020, Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban was not happy with the way his defense covered Texas A&M’s stud tight end Jalen Wydermyer. He hauled in eight catches for 82 yards in last year’s loss for the Aggies.

Saban is hoping his team can do a better job covering him on Saturday. “Well, he is a very good player [Wydermyer]. You know, he’s a big body. Very athletic. Can drop his weight and get out of a break. So it makes him difficult to cover because of his size and athleticism. And we certainly had a difficult time with him last year,” the Alabama head coach said.

“I mean, he was responsible for several third down conversions where we just couldn’t get him covered. So hopefully, we’ll do a little better job this year. And I think they do a really good job of utilizing him in his offense. So, we need to know where he is at all times. There’s no doubt about that.”

Jalen Wydermyer makes history for Texas A&M

Wyderymyer continues to make history for the Aggies in the 2021 season.

In the Mississippi State game, he scored his first touchdown of the 2021 campaign, a beautiful 11-yard dime in the corner of the end zone from Zach Calzada.

Check out the video below.

The touchdown catch was the 13th receiving touchdown of Wydermyer’s storied Aggie career. Not only that, he now ranks 10th in Texas A&M history in touchdown catches.

Check out the graphic below.

Wydermyer has been plagued by drops early in his junior season. So far he’s hauled in 15 catches for 176 receiving yards and one touchdown catch. Texas A&M fans are hoping he can correct the issues and put up the big-time numbers expected out of him.

Alabama defense 2021

While the 2021 Alabama defense hasn’t been quite as good as Kirk Herbstreit and others predicted it to be this season, it’s still been very good by most standards. They’ve been a bit inconsistent, but when they’ve shown up they’ve looked like the Alabama defenses of old under Nick Saban. Just ask Ole Miss. The Crimson Tide defense stifled the nation’s leading offensive attack and held Ole Miss to just 291 total yards, more than 250 yards below their season average. The game wasn’t remotely close and they dominated Matt Corral and the Rebels 42-21.

Will Anderson, Jr. showed why he’s one of the best linebackers in college football against Ole Miss, racking up nine tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and one sack. The uber-talented sophomore also tallied two quarterback hurries and earned SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors.

Alabama and Texas A&M face off on Saturday at 8:00 PM EST. Kickoff is from Kyle Field in College Station, Texas.