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TUSCALOOSA _ Except for bending his knee the wrong way on a third-down play, causing him to limp to the sideline, Saturday’s game probably couldn’t have gone much better for University of Alabama senior linebacker Trey DePriest.
Making his initial appearance of the season after being suspended by the NCAA for last week’s opener, DePriest had four tackles but made a big impact with his presence in the interior.
“I thought Trey DePriest played well in the game,” Coach Nick Saban said. “His leadership certainly helped our stability and making adjustments. We didn’t have nearly the metal errors.”
After giving up 393 total yards to West Virginia last week, Alabama yielded 76 in the first half and 145 total while shutting out the Owls, 41-0
Florida Atlantic converted only 2 of 10 third-down opportunities and never reached the red zone.
“I wish I could have played in the first one,” DePriest said. “It is what it is, but it’s always great to come back and play against another opponent.”
DePriest said that he could tell that Alabama’s interior linebackers were having trouble last week, especially in the first half, as both sophomore Reuben Foster and junior Reggie Ragland were making their first career starts. Coming in, with C.J. Mosley having departed and DePriest the only third-year starter he was the natural choice to be sort of the defense’s quarterback.
“It’s the most important position on the field because you get everyone lined up, you get everyone the call,” he said. “If you don’t get them the call, they can’t line up and then they move the ball as they want.”
Although Saban had previously called DePriest’s violation “minor,” the linebacker declined to specify what it was concerning.
“I’m not going to talk about that,” he said. “I’m going to leave that where it’s at. I’ve already apologized to my team, our defense, about that, and they forgave me.”
DePriest did confirm, though, that his knee injury sustained during the second day of training camp was a sprained MCL from when a teammate fell on him. Saturday was the first time he’s talked to reporters since the injury.
As for his conditioning, DePriest appeared to hold up fine in steamy Bryant-Denny Stadium before lightning caused the game to be suspended with 7:53 remaining. He began trying to get back into game shape following the Crimson Tide’s final camp scrimmage held on Aug. 16.
“I’m good with conditioning,” Saban said. “I’m under the weight that they want me to be. My knee’s fine, so I’m comfortable.”
Christopher Walsh has covered Alabama football since 2004 and is the author of 19 books. In his free time, he writes about college football.
