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Reggie Ragland Talks To Paul Finebaum
Reggie Ragland
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
Reggie Ragland, the middle linebacker for the Alabama Crimson Tide, appeared on the Paul Finebaum Show on the SEC Network this afternoon. They first talked a bit about Ragland visiting veterans, and how that made him feel. Then the talk turned to football.
Paul asked him, after beating LSU last week, "Where is your head, and the heads of your team mates as you get ready for Mississippi State Saturday?" Ragland replied, "Our heads are on Mississippi State right now. LSU is in the past...it's all about getting better this week, because we know we got a great opponent in Mississippi State. There's a lot of stuff they do on the offensive and defensive side, so we got a lot of preparation to do, so my head's on Mississippi State and trying to get better this week."
Marcus Spears then asked about State's quarterback, and how that would affect Ragland and the defensive play. "It hard to tell at times," Ragland said. "Because at times he can come out of the pocket and he can run the ball on you, and he can also throw the ball. So it's my job to make sure the guys up front get lined up and the DBs in the back are doing their job. If the guys up front don't have the right pass-rushing lanes he'll run through the lanes and get 10 or 20 yards on you by him rushing. You let him sit in the pocket too long and he'll throw the ball on you and his guys will go up and get it for him. So it's going to be up to us up front to get pressure on him to give our guys in the back the time to cover."
Marcus then talked to Ragland about the Ole Miss loss, and said it appeared to him that Alabama had a "bit more of an edge now than you did in the previous game against Ole Miss." He wanted to know the mentality of the team after that loss. Ragland said the guys knew that even with the early loss the guys came out and did the things they knew they needed to do and we'd "put ourselves right back into the position where we need to be, and which we are.
"We've still got to keep getting better," Ragland continued. "We're not worried about the rankings or none of that stuff. We've just got to keep getting better as a whole, and we keep doing that we'll be where we want to be at the end of the year."
Finebaum then asked Reggies about the mentality of Ragland and his team mates in stopping (Leonard) Fournette on Saturday night. "The guys wanted to get to him," Ragland said. "For the whole two weeks, during our bye week and the week leading up to the game, that's all we heard about, was Leonard Fournette. The guys up front didn't like that." So he said they decided they'd apply the pressure to him...and did. He spoke of how the guys established the line of scrimmage and took away the lanes that Fournette was used to having available.
Marcus then asked what has made the Tide defense, and particularly the guys up front, better able to get to the quarterbacks this year for sacks and hurry-ups. "What has changed in that front seven to create those type opportunities for ya'll?"
Ragland responded about being "heavy up front" last year, and the guys this year are lighter and better able to get back there. He also said they were treating this "like a competition" to get to the quarterback. He said it feeds on itself, as in seeing guys getting to the quarterback makes other guys want to get to the quarterback. He said they want to keep the quarterback "in the pocket so guys can collapse on them. Guys are just making it fun out there this year, too. Guys wanting to play, and guys wanting to do this stuff. So anytime you get sacks like that it makes it easier on your DBs when they don't have to cover all that."
Finebaum asked the team's reaction to the new College Playoff football ranking that has Alabama No. 2 in the country. Ragland said, "The guys were like...that's good for us that we're number two but we still got a lot of work to get done. Which we do. We still got a lot of football left. We still got a good team, Mississippi State, and we still got Auburn left at the end of the year...it's always a tough game, no matter what type of record we have. We still gotta come and just keep being Alabama. We gotta keep playing ball and keep getting better."
Concerning the concentration on any given week's opponent and Ragland's leadership, Reggie answered Marcus telling him that they encourage each other every day for that particular game. He said he goes around talking to the guys "to see where their head's at." He said the guys want to keep getting better and that is one of their big things to focus on, in order to "play at the next level hopefully." He said they encourage each other both on and off the field, and don't just wait on the coaches to correct something when it goes wrong in practice, they correct it. "Guys want to keep getting better on the field, and...don't 'worry about the outside stuff', we just worry about us. That's our main focus: just getting better this year."
Ragland then told Finebaum they're not worried about the people talking about a letdown against Mississippi State. They couldn't worry about what the "people on the outside" were saying. He said they just have to get better. "Last week was last week," Ragland said. This week they had to concentrate on State. He said they haven't even talked about LSU since this week started. "We're focused on Mississippi State. We had a great practice...on Tuesday." He said you can tell that the guys just want to keep getting better on the field. "Because guys are hustling and running to the ball. Special teams are starting to look good." He says the "guys are ready and we're primed."
Marcus then asked about the team's thoughts on quarterback Jake Coker and on him being able to get Alabama where they want to go. "Jake has been playing great," Ragland said. He said the quarterback hasn't been doing "any talking", but has been showing it by the "way he's been playing." He complimented Coker on the way he gets the guys lined up, and said he's "been doing a heck of a job throwing the ball". He said when Jake needs to he can use his feet. He talked about Coker's toughness, and running guys over. "We love watching him play on offense."
Alabama takes on the Mississippi State Bulldogs this Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT.
