TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — You're never going to catch Ja'Corey Brooks not smiling.

While his happy-go-lucky demeanor is a mainstay for the sophomore, his performance on Saturday will have his smile shining brighter than the lights at Bryant-Denny Stadium. In Alabama's 55-3 win against the Commodores, Brooks hauled in six receptions for 117 yards and two touchdowns, crossing the 100 yards receiving plateau for the first time in his collegiate career while adding another highlight to an already impressive reel.

"I didn't come into tonight thinking that I was going to do this and do that," Brooks said. "I was just coming into tonight playing hard, playing fast and executing the plays. When my name is called I have to answer."

Brooks' name was called early and often, especially in the first quarter.

After Alabama was forced to punt on its first possession, Brooks hauled in his first catch of the game on a seven-yard curl route. As he secured the catch, Brooks made a beeline up the field to took advantage of Vanderbilt's secondary who was playing back. He rushed past the first-down marker before being shoved out of bounds for a 16-yard gain.

The Crimson Tide maintained its tempo as Young found Brooks again on the same route — a 7-yard curl — after the Commodores defense sagged back the prevent a big play over the top. Brooks would make it a big play regardless, stiff-arming Jeffrey Ugochukwu, before speeding into Vanderbilt territory and getting knocked out of bounds at the Commodore 27-yard line.

Alabama went back for a third try with the same route, but Vanderbilt snuffed it out and limited Brooks to a six-yard reception just outside the red zone.

With the offense sniffing the end zone, it went back to the hot hand. Just like on his prior three catches, Brooks sprinted seven yards up the field, but instead of slamming on the breaks, he dragged his left foot behind him, threw a shoulder fake to the inside and then turned on the jets to the end zone.

The fake caused Vanderbilt's freshman corner Ugochukwu to fall down, leaving Brooks wide open for his first touchdown of the night.

"He was getting open and made my job easy," Young said. "We were taking what the defense gave us. He was doing a great job of getting open and my read kept taking me there. It was one-on-one matchups he was taking advantage of so for me it was about finding him in open space and trying to get the ball in his hands."

Alabama's second drive of the night was like a worthy sequel to an excellent movie as Brooks and Young are no strangers to going into the hurry-up and connecting on a consistent basis.

In last year's Iron Bowl, Brooks put his own rendition on "the catch" snagging a 28-yard pass for a touchdown as he was falling out of bounds. The grab, with 29 seconds left, jump-started Alabama's offense as it would go on to defeat Auburn in double overtime.

"He's a really smart player, really instinctual and consistent," Young said. "I know where he's going to be and he runs really good routes. I think all of that combined with tempo and just taking what the defense gives, plays out to what happened today."

Fast forward 301 days later and Brooks was the spark needed to fix a sputtering offense. Coming into its Week 4 matchup with Vanderbilt, Alabama tallied just eight plays for 20 yards or more through the air.

Thanks to Brooks hauling in three of his own on that drive, Alabama finished one shy of its season total, recording seven plays of 20 yards or more through the air.

"We have high expectations of our guys and Ja'Corey certainly didn't disappoint tonight," Nick Saban said. "He had a great start to the game, finished the game and did a really good job, making some really great catches ... Ja'Corey had a lot of opportunities tonight and I think he took advantage of them. We were very pleased with the way he played."