Alabama's Tight Ends Step Up Against Texas A&M

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Two weeks ago, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart commended Alabama’s tight ends ahead of the team’s showdown in Tuscaloosa during the weekly SEC teleconference. 

Then Alabama lost back-to-back games.

And sustained injury after injury, including star pass catcher and leading receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams, who missed each of the last two contests.

This put fans on edge throughout Saturday’s game versus Texas A&M, with postseason aspirations looking more and more like wishful thinking as the Tide struggled mightily throughout the first three quarters.

The proverbial sky was indeed beginning to fall, but the Tide was close to breaking through.

“We just gotta hone in on the little details,” tight end Kaleb Edwards said. “A lot of times we were just one block away, millimeter away from a catch; just gotta hone in on those details and keep going.”

Tight end Marshall Pritchett then hauled in a five-yard touchdown reception on the first play of the fourth quarter, and the crowd pop sounded like more of a collective exhale as Alabama regained the lead on the way to a 31-20 victory over the Aggies.

“It was great, a lot of fun, love that guy [Pritchett] to death,” Edwards said. “Really happy to see our room, especially just have a good game today.”

Edwards himself went on to put the nail in the coffin on the very next drive, making a stupendous snag in the end zone for his second touchdown of the season, helping secure the 31-20 win.

The position group as a whole was back to its dominant ways Saturday, with Edwards (24 yards), Josh Ford (23 yards) and Pritchett (18 yards) serving as the third, fourth and fifth leading receivers, respectively, supplementing the passing game when it mattered most with Coleman-Williams still sidelined. 

This didn’t go unrecognised by the team’s quarterback, Keelon Russell, who offered praise to the group for their performance both through the air and in the blocking game.

“The tight ends had a phenomenal game, you know, making everything today,” Russell said. “Blocks, catches, running the ball.”

After gutting out the win, Alabama gets a bye week at just the right time, and Edwards hopes his squad will take advantage of the urgently needed week off.

“Just getting our bodies right, getting our minds right, start preparing,” Edwards said. “Just gotta rest up; hopefully we can get some guys back.”

As for expectations for the rest of the season, everyone knows what lies ahead. Alabama will travel to Death Valley on Nov. 7 to take on Lane Kiffen’s LSU Tigers in what has all the makings of a loser-leaves-town match between a pair of two-loss rivals, and Edwards thinks his guys are up for the challenge. 

“We know the team we have, we know what we can accomplish, just gotta go out and do it,” he said. 

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