Alabama junior linebacker Reuben Foster had a career-high 11 tackles in Saturday’s 19-14 win over Tennessee.
Afterward, he included everybody in the accomplishment.
“This feels great. This feels amazing,” Foster said Saturday night. “It was like everything came together as one and that it was everybody’s best game. We played well as a whole.”
The Crimson Tide held Tennessee’s offense, which had racked up 519 yards against Georgia and 419 against Florida, to a modest 303 yards. The Volunteers ran 21 plays for 125 yards on their first two possessions but were limited to 178 yards on 40 plays the rest of the way.
Foster had two tackles for loss, a sack and a pass breakup to go along with his 11 stops.
“Any time they run away from me, they’ve got to run into him,” Alabama senior linebacker Reggie Ragland said. “When they run from him, they’ve got to run into me. You’ve got our guys up front, too, but he is doing his job and doing what he’s supposed to do.
“He’s doing what the coaches have been telling him, and he’s putting everything into play.”
Saturday was the fifth start of the season for Foster, a former five-star recruit who had been overshadowed by his recruiting saga until recently.
The 6-foot-1, 240-pounder from Auburn was the nation’s top-rated inside linebacker prospect in the 2013 signing class, and he was the defensive MVP of the Under Armour All-America Game. He first committed to Alabama before switching to Auburn, displaying his love for the Tigers by getting an Auburn tattoo.
Right before signing day, however, Foster switched back to the Crimson Tide and totaled 12 tackles in 10 games as a freshman. Last season, he had 22 tackles in 11 games and started the opener against West Virginia in Atlanta, when Trey DePriest was serving a one-game suspension.
Foster has 39 tackles so far this season, including five lost-yardage stops.
“I’ve matured a lot since I’ve been here, and I’m a lot more focused,” Foster said. “There is less anxiety and more focus now. It’s slowed down for me. When you get older, you feel wiser and you’re more focused, and you play better when there is no anxiety.”
Foster credits Ragland as a successful mentor. A 6-2, 252-pounder from Madison, Ragland has a team-high 71 tackles this season after finishing second to former safety Landon Collins a year ago with 95.
Ragland led Alabama with 12 tackles against Tennessee, but he was much happier to discuss Foster’s play.
“I’ve seen him grow a lot,” Ragland said. “I’ve seen him go through the faults of tackling with his head down. He grew in that area, and he became a man tonight.
“He’s my roommate, and all the stuff we talk about, he put it in place tonight. He put it all into place, and I’m very happy for him.”
Tide tidbits
Alabama is practicing three times this week – today, Wednesday and Thursday. CBS officially announced Monday that the Crimson Tide and LSU will play next week in prime time, marking the fifth consecutive year the network has selected that rivalry for its lone evening telecast. Junior safety Eddie Jackson is among the 16 semifinalists for the Jim Thorpe Award, which is given annually to college football’s top defensive back.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.