TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The time is now for the Crimson Tide’s Tuscaloosa native. After serving in a supplementary role behind a series of star running backs the past four years, Brian Robinson Jr. returned to Alabama this season looking to finally get his shot as the starter. Moving forward, the fifth-year senior might have much more than that.
Returning from a rib injury that caused him to sit out last weekend’s game against Southern Miss, Robinson recorded a career-best performance against Ole Miss on Saturday, ripping off 171 yards and four touchdowns on 36 carries during the Tide’s 42-21 victory.
After sophomore running back Jase McClellan left the game with a knee injury early in the third quarter, Alabama leaned almost exclusively on Robinson. The starter didn’t disappoint, becoming just the ninth Tide player to record four or more rushing touchdowns in a single game.
"I've always been one of those guys when the runner is running hot, keep running him," Alabama head coach Nick Saban said following the game. "He was running hot today, so we ran him and he delivered. For the most part, he did a really, really good job. Not only did the offensive line do a really good job up front, but he pressed it and made the right cuts, and then he was difficult to tackle. He got a lot of extra yards after the first contact."
Robinson’s 171 rushing yards saw him eclipse the century mark for the first time in his career. His 36 touches more than doubled his previous high of 15, set during the game against Florida. Entering Saturday’s game he had a combined 37 carries over his other three appearances this season.
“It actually did feel like just old-school ‘Bama football today,” Robinson said. “I’ve never had over 30 carries in all the time I ever played football and tonight was the night that I actually got over 30 carries and it started to feel like the classic Alabama pound-the-football type of team.”
Through four starts, Robinson has 379 yards and six touchdowns on 73 carries, an average of 5.19 yards per attempt. Those totals could continue to rise at a high rate moving forward as Saban revealed that McClellan is “probably gonna be out for a while.”
Alabama has also been without freshman running back Camar Wheaton, who has yet to feature this season due to an undisclosed injury. Outside of Robinson, the Tide has redshirt sophomore Trey Sanders and sophomore Roydell Williams currently available in the backfield.
Kiffin doesn’t regret fourth-down gambles
Lane Kiffin wasn’t going to leave any bullets in the barrel as he looked to become the first former Saban assistant to get the best of his old boss. Unfortunately for the Ole Miss head coach, his team ended up firing too many blanks.The Rebels marched down the field on their opening possession, converting two fourth-down attempts before facing a fourth-and-1 from the Alabama 6-yard. From there, Ole Miss struck out on its next three fourth-down tries, ultimately setting up three Tide touchdowns in the process.
Running back Jerrion Ealy was stuffed on the fourth-and-1 from the 6-yard line. The following Ole Miss possession, quarterback Matt Corral was forced into an incompletion on fourth-and-2 from the Rebels 47. The third straight turnover on downs came as Ealy lost 4 yards on a fourth-and-1 from the Ole Miss 31.
Following the game, Kiffin didn’t express any regret for his early-game gambles.
“One hundred percent you go for it,” he said. “That’s the other way. A lot of people don’t do it because it’s scared money. When you’re at the blackjack table and you have $5, it’s easy. Put a couple thousand out there and now you get scared. I said we weren’t going to do that. … You can punt and then they’ll score. They scored on every possession but one in the first half. I know it looks bad when it doesn’t work but when you punt it away, it just takes longer for them to score.”
Ole Miss converted on 12 of 14 (85.7 percent) fourth-down attempts over its first three games this season but was just 2 of 5 against Alabama.
Kiffin believes Alabama has a pair of future No. 1 overall picks
Alabama hasn’t had a player selected No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft since Washington nabbed Harry Gilmer with the first pick in 1948. According to Kiffin, that could change soon in the coming years.The Ole Miss coach began his post-game press conference by praising sophomore outside linebacker Will Anderson Jr., stating, “Thirty-one has another year, but he should go be the first pick of the draft.”
Anderson, who isn’t eligible for the draft until 2023, recorded nine tackles, including 2.5 stops for a loss and a sack on Saturday. The former five-star recruit also recorded two quarterback hurries against the Rebels.
Later in his press conference, Kiffin highlighted Alabama left tackle Evan Neal, pointing out that Robinson did the majority of his damage running behind the 6-foot-7, 350-pounder.
“I guess the left tackle might be the first pick of the draft since 31 can’t come out,” Kiffin said. “He’s huge and they ran behind him a lot. The guy’s a dominant player.”
Neal helped Alabama pile up 451 total yards, including 210 yards on the ground. The junior is eligible for next year’s NFL Draft and has already been projected as one of the first players off the board by several analysts.
Drew Sanders continues to shine
Anderson wasn’t the only outside linebacker to stand out for Alabama on the afternoon. Fellow sophomore Drew Sanders also continued his solid start to the season, recording five tackles and two quarterback hurries, including a crucial pressure on Corral that forced the incompletion on Ole Miss’ second failed fourth-down attempt.Sanders took over as Alabama’s starting Sam linebacker following Christopher Allen’s season-ending foot injury in Week 1. Over five games, the sophomore has recorded 20 tackles, including one for a loss, with four quarterback hurries and two pass breakups.
“He’s really doing a good job,” Saban said. “He plays the run really well, he’s a great pass-rusher. The pass-drop stuff is something we’re continuing to work on him with, and he’s getting better and better at that. To play him and Will at outside ’backer allows us to do a lot of things.”
Tide bits
— Saban is now 24-0 against former assistants, including a 2-0 record against Kiffin since he left Alabama. Saban holds a 3-0 all-time record over Kiffin, beating the current Ole Miss coach during his stint at Tennessee in 2009.— Saban has 93 career wins against teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. Seventy of those have come during his time at Alabama.
— Alabama has scored 30 or more points in 31 straight games.
The Tide is now tied with UCF for the record as the Knights accomplished the feat from 2017-19.
— Alabama held Ole Miss scoreless at the half, marking the first time it has kept a ranked team off the board at the break since shutting out then-No. 16 Mississippi State on Nov. 10, 2018.
