Alabama Football Focused on Limiting Jayden Daniels in Running Game

Daniels rushed 18 times for 95 yards in LSU's 32-31 overtime victory over the Crimson Tide last season.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — "He killed us last year."

That's what Alabama head coach Nick Saban said about LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels on Monday, who will get another shot at the Crimson Tide on Saturday night.

Daniels struggled at the beginning of last season. The Tigers started the season 4-2, including a 27-point home loss to Tennessee. Then, Daniels seemed to figure everything out in LSU's 32-31 upset victory over Alabama in November.

Since then, Daniels has continued to improve — and is now one of the top quarterbacks in all of college football. This season, the Tigers lead the country in total offense, averaging nearly 553 yards per game. Daniels has 28 total touchdowns.

In last year's game, Daniels' running ability was the nail in the coffin for the Crimson Tide. He led LSU with 95 yards on 18 carries while also throwing for 182 more.

Saban knows that it cannot let that happen again this season if his team wants to remain alive in the race for the SEC and College Football Playoff.

"The guy was a really, really good player last year — he's a really, really good player now," Saban said. "I think, overall, they execute their offense to perfection and it starts with him because he makes the right reads relative to runs and passes and zone option plays and pass down plays. He's very good at reading coverages, makes really quick decisions. All those things were evident last year by the way he played and I think he's probably even better now because he has even more experience and knowledge in the offense and they've got really good players around him."

Daniels made play after play with his legs last year, whether it was designed or not.

"He made a couple plays on quarterback draws but some of them weren't designed quarterback runs — two of his long runs in the game in critical situations came on busts up front in terms of gap control and he just saw it and took off running," Saban said. "They do have design quarterback draws — it was a zone option play that he scored on us in overtime, 25-yard run. Another mistake that we made in run support, didn't adjust to the motion — so those are the kinds of things that you cannot afford to make those kinds of mistakes. When you're playing against a quarterback like this, who basically is a great passer but also have triple option type plays in the running game to get him on the perimeter, so athletic so you got to have the right guys trying to get him on the ground."

Deontae Lawson will play a big role in the middle of Alabama's defense. He believes Daniels' running ability is the premier piece of the Tigers' prolific offense.

"That’s going to be a big challenge for us," Lawson said. "That’s something we need to prep during the week and make sure everyone has their gaps and know who has the quarterback in all situations. It’s a big part of their offense, so we got to stop that."

"When a quarterback runs the ball, it can hurt the defense. You know, anytime you have a mobile quarterback, it can be a challenge for the defense to stay in there and get a stop. But I feel like that’s what they do best. They run the ball nice, they have some receivers outside. Just got to be sound and disciplined."

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