Alabama entered last year’s Iron Bowl with Quinnen Williams, college football’s most dominant presence on the defensive interior who wound up winning the Outland Trophy and becoming the third overall pick of the 2019 NFL draft.
Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban knows he won’t have that same luxury in this Saturday’s showdown in Jordan-Hare Stadium, with Derrick Brown now traveling a very similar path for the Auburn Tigers.
“He’s had a huge impact on just about every game,” Saban said this week in a news conference. “We’ve always thought a lot of him as a player and had a tremendous amount of respect for him. He’s got great initial quickness, and he plays with a lot of power. He uses his hands well. He can disengage from blockers very quickly.
“He’s a pretty complete player and as good a player as we’ve played against for a while around here as an inside player.”
Brown, a 6-foot-5, 318-pound senior from the Atlanta suburb of Sugar Hill, will be competing for the final time in Jordan-Hare before encountering a very busy December on the awards circuit. He is a finalist for a whopping six individual awards, including the Outland Trophy, awarded to the best interior offensive or defensive lineman, the Bednarik Award and the Nagurski Trophy, with each given annually to the top defensive player, and the Wuerffel Award, which “combines exemplary community service with athletic and academic achievement.”