TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama's defense didn't have to move mountains Saturday night.
Just one mountain.
Arkansas quarterback Cole Kelley, a redshirt freshman, made the first start of his college career during Saturday night's 41-9 loss to the No. 1 Crimson Tide inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. The gargantuan 6-foot-7, 268-pounder from Lafayette, La., went the distance for the Razorbacks due to senior starter Austin Allen's shoulder injury from the week before at South Carolina.
"I was like, 'This dude is huge!'" Alabama senior linebacker Rashaan Evans said. "My second reaction was, 'Shoot, he's got to go down.'"
Kelley did go down, as the 6-3, 234-pound Evans recorded two of Alabama's five sacks, but those sacks took a while.
In an era of bigger Southeastern Conference quarterbacks, Kelley may be the biggest of them all. Ryan Mallett quarterbacked Arkansas to the Sugar Bowl in 2010 at 6-7 and 238 pounds, while Cam Newton guided Auburn to the national championship that same year at 6-6 and 247.
Kentucky's Jared Lorenzen stood 6-4 and was always generously listed at 275 pounds during the early 2000s.
"You can compare him to (NFL quarterbacks) Joe Flacco (6-6, 245) or Ben Roethlisberger (6-5, 240), but he's probably bigger than them," Evans said.
The five sacks of Kelley resulted in a loss of 36 yards, with his six other rushes gaining 26 yards before gang-tackling ensued.
Kelley also threw 42 passes, completing 23 for 200 yards, including a 3-yard touchdown to Jordan Jones with 3:03 remaining that capped the scoring. Kelley and Jones also connected for 46 yards late in the first half.
Alabama coach Nick Saban admitted afterward that containing Kelley was key.
"With him being a young quarterback, we didn't just want to stand there and let him pick out people and try to play coverage all the time," Saban said. "I think our guys did a good job of affecting him. We lost contain a few times, but, overall, I thought we did a good job."
Senior linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton and sophomore defensive lineman Raekwon Davis also had sacks of Kelley, and it wasn't just the Alabama defenders marveling at his size.
"I was telling (receiver) Robert Foster, 'What if I was that big? Who wants to tackle that?'" said Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Hurts, who stands 6-2 and weighs 218 pounds. "He's a nice-sized dude."
Kelley may go on to make dozens of starts for the Razorbacks. Alabama won't forget his first one anytime soon.
"I think I got one shot on him on a quarterback draw," Tide junior safety Ronnie Harrison said. "He's a big guy to take down, but I think we got the job done. We saw him on film and knew what to expect. Nobody was scared or rattled. We knew we could get after him."
Said Evans: "He took some shots. He's a tough dude."
Tide tidbits
Alabama leads the nation in rushing defense (having allowed an average of 66.7 yards per game), ranks second in scoring defense (10.1 points per game) and is fourth in total defense (254.3 yards per game). ... The Crimson Tide lead the Southeastern Conference and rank fifth nationally in turnover margin with a per-game average of plus-1.57. ... Alabama was a unanimous No. 1 in both polls Sunday.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.