On a night when Alabama survived a 52-46 shootout over Florida in the SEC Championship Game, the Tide’s hardest hit came from an offensive player.
Alabama’s high-flying offense hardly stalled early on as it set an SEC Championship Game record with 35 first-half points. The Tide recorded touchdowns on five of its six first-half possessions. The only time Alabama failed to find the end zone before the break came when quarterback Mac Jones was intercepted by Trey Dean III on the Tide's second drive of the game.
Although, Alabama didn’t end up paying for the mistake.
During the interception return, the Florida defensive back was clocked by Alabama receiver John Metchie III, who forced a fumble, allowing DeVonta Smith to recover it for the Tide at the Gators’ 31-yard line. Jones then hit Smith for a 31-yard touchdown the following play to give Alabama a 14-7 lead.
"That was a great play, no doubt,” head coach Nick Saban said of Metchie’s hit. “I mean, not a great play for us, for them to get an interception. But for guys to keep hustling. We do every day for the first five minutes of practice, we do maybe eight or nine different sort of take-care-of-the-ball-type drills. (Metchie’s) always on the other end of that... He knows exactly what the defensive players are trying to do to get the ball out because we do it every day.”
Saban wasn’t the only one who appreciated the leveling blow. Hard-hitting Alabama safety Jordan Battle praised his teammate while joking that Metchie might need to make a positional switch.
"He might have converted to the defensive side of the ball after that hit," Battle said. "That was a great hit, great moment in the game. They caught an interception. Then we turned the momentum right around when Metchie hit him. That was a great turnover by the offense.”
Metchie also made some plays on the offensive side of the ball, recording four receptions for 62 yards.
Najee Harris is a born receiver
Even after tallying five touchdowns and taking home MVP honors Saturday night, Najee Harris shrugged off any of the Heisman talk that came his way. The senior running back is Alabama’s all-time leading rusher and leads the nation with 24 touchdowns, but he's perfectly fine with Jones and Smith sharing the bulk of the national spotlight.
However, when it comes to his receiving skills, Harris is a bit less modest. The former five-star recruit was taken back by a question of whether he returned for his senior season to show he can catch the ball. As far as Harris is concerned, he’s proved that a long time ago.
