Josh Heupel previews defending 'explosive' Jahmyr Gibbs

Going into his second game against Alabama, it’s clear that this weekend’s game between the Crimson Tide and Volunteers is the biggest moment of Josh Heupel’s time at Tennessee. Both teams are unbeaten. it’s a top-six matchup in the AP Poll, and College GameDay is going to be in town. This is the proverbial hump to get Tennessee to the next step.

The challenge that Josh Heupel faces against Alabama is that the Crimson Tide don’t just have one great player. They have depth at every position. So, it’s just a great passing game with Bryce Young. It’s a great running game with Jahmyr Gibbs too.

While speaking to the media, Josh Heupel was asked about the challenges in defending Jahmyr Gibbs, who leads Alabama in both rushing and receiving.

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“He’s explosive, so you know that they’re gonna try to find ways to get the ball in his hands,” Josh Heupel said.

“In the run game, you’re best not to let him get started. If he does, he’s got the ability to take it the distance. He’s got good vision and pace behind the line of scrimmage. When he sees a hole, he’s able to hit it. You know, he does a really good job of making people miss too. So, we got to bottle him up in the run game, and then when they use him in the pass game too, you’ve got to do a great job of taking him away and matching him out.”

Jahmyr Gibbs was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2020. He, originally, went to Georgia Tech where he made a name for himself before transferring to Alabama during the 2022 offseason. With Bryce Young dealing with a shoulder injury, Gibbs is expected to carry a lot of the load for Alabama.

Nick Saban on Jahmyr Gibbs

In Alabama’s win over Texas A&M, Jahmyr Gibbs suffered an injury. He went into the injury tent but was later able to return to the game. Nick Saban said that he’ll be okay and praised him as a player.

“The guy is a really good runner, he does a great job of stretching plays on the perimeter and sticking his foot in the ground, making cuts and setting up blocks for the offensive line. I thought there was a couple of times that they did a good job on defense overloading some things and taking some things away, but I know he had a ton of yards. We ran the ball statistically fairly well in the game, which is what we had to do to win the game. And he certainly was the leader of the pack,” Nick Saban said.

“He’s also a very talented receiver. They called timeout when we were on empty and he was uncovered and we thought we probably would have made a big play, but we just hope that he can continue to improve and we can continue to improve as an offense and get more guys like him to make plays on offense.”