Terrion Arnold explains how kickoff return vs. USF showed he could play Travis Hunter-type role at Alabama

As Travis Hunter dazzled in the early part of the year as a two-way sensation for Colorado, the question became who else could do something similar. The conversation apparently happened at Iowa with Cooper DeJean, and if Terrion Arnold has his way, they’ll talk about it at Alabama.

Arnold’s inspiration came from the Crimson Tide’s victory against USF. Kendrick Law, the primary kickoff returner, was out for the game. That meant Arnold would step into the role, and he was plenty confident in his abilities.

In fact, he shared that confidence with Nick Saban and the players — which made what happened on his first attempt even funnier.

“I told him, I said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna maximize my opportunity. If they kick this ball to me, I’m bringing the ball out,'” Arnold told Andy Staples on Andy Staples On3. “I had told everybody that. So when I lined up back there, everybody stood up [and] they’re like, ‘Oh, he’s gonna bring it out.’ … When I saw them running down, looked at Ja’Corey [Brooks]. I was like, ‘Oh, man, I ain’t bringing it out.'”

Why Terrion Arnold told Nick Saban he’s ‘the most dynamic player on the team with the ball in my hands’

The next attempt, Arnold — attempting to shake off the nerves — made the same prediction. He was going to take the ball and make a big play. He got some extra motivation from defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson, and took the ball back 22 yards.

It required a little bit of improvising, though.

“So then, I told them, I said, ‘If they kick this ball to me — no matter what — I’m bringing this out, for real. I’m bringing this out for real. … I’m gonna make a big play in the game,'” Arnold said. “T-Rob looked at me right before. He said, ‘Go crib it.’ I was like, ‘I’m getting ready to.’ So then, we break it down, we break it down on ‘pack,’ because we’re a pack together on special teams.

“I said, we ain’t breaking it down on that. We’re breaking it down on ‘score.’ I said, ‘Score on three. One, two, three, score.’ We run out there, we actually called return right. … We ran return right, I seen an opening, I ran return left.”

The moral of the story, according to Arnold, is he can make things happen if he gets the ball. He has the playmaking ability probably play both sides of the ball like Hunter at some point if it worked out.

But with Saban’s defensive mentality, Arnold understands why that might be a long shot.

“I tell Coach Saban, I was like, ‘Man, Coach. I feel like I’m the most dynamic player on the team with the ball in my hands, if we’re being honest,'” Arnold said. “But you’ve got to think about it how he sees it. He’s a defensive specialist. As they would say, you’ve got a lot of guys that are 6-foot-1, 6-foot-2, 190 pounds who can play receiver. You don’t have many guys who can line up and stop those kinds of guys.”