One thing I wanted to do following last night's game was see how well we can do some spot review via video. The play I wanted to focus on was my play of the night, not that it was the most important (although it definitely made the top 10 list of important plays), but because of who was the main driver of it all: Josh McMillon.
McMillon is a sixth-year senior, his career to this point derailed mostly by injuries at the most inopportune times. He's had a couple of major surgeries already. He now appears to be a fixture on the offensive depth chart (at TE/FB) rather than on defense. And boy, did he make a block for the ages Saturday night. Here we go:
What we have above is the pre-snap look. Alabama has three TEs on the field (Randolph, Latu, Forristall) and McMillon at FB with Najee Harris behind. There are no receivers. As such, there are 11 defenders in the box. Forristall goes from left to right behind the formation and takes safety #20 Keidron Smith with him. This is called foreshadowing.
Here is the snap. Smith is now on the wrong side of the formation, but what starts this is G Deonte Brown pulling from left guard on a short pull to take the crashing linebacker, in this case #36 Ashanti Cistrunk coming from a stand-up stance on the LOS; Cistrunk is an ILB by trade and weighs about 215-220. The other thing notable here is McMillon is already in a dead run for the hole. He's going to hit somebody hard, or he's going to hit air.
This is where the fun starts. First thing to note is TE Randolph has crashed down on DE #22 Tariqious Tisdale, shoving him into DT #94 Quentin Bivens, knocking them both inside. That's no small feat; Randolph is about 290 and those two guys together weigh about 550 combined. Look at McMillons' gait here -- he's striding longer than even Najee Harris is. Safety #38 Jaylon Jones, probably the best DB Ole Miss had last Saturday, has now read the play but he's on the other side of the formation, and something else is about to happen to him anyway (more foreshadowing). Deonte Brown is now locked up with Cistrunk and that's going to be the end of that. RT Evan Neal and RG Emil Ekiyor are already into the second level.
First, look at RT Evan Neal. He's got a defensive tackle (probably #89 Ryder Anderson, the number is obscured) going to the ground and he gets a single hand on Jones' left shoulder pad, giving him a shove. Dickerson has lost contact with LB #13 Sam Williams but TE Cameron Latu has gotten back to him just enough to clear the backfield. Meanwhile, McMillon and LB #0 Lakia Henry have locked eyes, and their respective stances ought to tell you who is about to be the aggressor.
Kendall Randolph (with Dickerson and Alex Leatherwood somewhere in the middle of the scrum) is in the process of basically blocking the entire Ole Miss defensive line into each other. Smith finally locates the ball -- Harris is still 3 yards in the backfield -- but he doesn't peel back enough, figuring Harris isn't going to get the hole so quickly. Latu finishes the backside clear, while McMillon initiates the contact with Henry and stops Henry dead.
The DL we believe to be Ryder Anderson is now going to the ground. Brown has Cistrunk still occupied, but look at McMillon and Henry: Henry folds up at the midsection and goes straight to the turf. MLB #46 MoMo Sanogo had rushed the line expecting Henry to take McMillon but now the opposite has happened and they're both right in his lap. He has nowhere to go but down, too. This is the camera shot of the night, for me.
Not much to add here other than Smith realizes he's too late and tries to adjust back.
McMillon has now so completely disposed of Henry that he is able to hit Sanogo while Henry lies under them. Jaylon Jones is off-balance from the Neal shove and can't get up to speed fast enough to engage Harris around the 35. Smith has no chance at this point.
Caption in the picture says it all.
McMillon has put down two guys, but never went down himself. Brown knocks Cistrunk off-balance with a shove, and with Smith already hopeless with Harris able to run unimpeded by a cornerback to the weakside sideline, it's all a matter of whether he can outrun Jaylon Jones, and he does.
A bonus picture #11 for good measure. This lines up with shot #9 above.
That's called 11 guys all doing their jobs to perfection.
McMillon is a sixth-year senior, his career to this point derailed mostly by injuries at the most inopportune times. He's had a couple of major surgeries already. He now appears to be a fixture on the offensive depth chart (at TE/FB) rather than on defense. And boy, did he make a block for the ages Saturday night. Here we go:
What we have above is the pre-snap look. Alabama has three TEs on the field (Randolph, Latu, Forristall) and McMillon at FB with Najee Harris behind. There are no receivers. As such, there are 11 defenders in the box. Forristall goes from left to right behind the formation and takes safety #20 Keidron Smith with him. This is called foreshadowing.
Here is the snap. Smith is now on the wrong side of the formation, but what starts this is G Deonte Brown pulling from left guard on a short pull to take the crashing linebacker, in this case #36 Ashanti Cistrunk coming from a stand-up stance on the LOS; Cistrunk is an ILB by trade and weighs about 215-220. The other thing notable here is McMillon is already in a dead run for the hole. He's going to hit somebody hard, or he's going to hit air.
This is where the fun starts. First thing to note is TE Randolph has crashed down on DE #22 Tariqious Tisdale, shoving him into DT #94 Quentin Bivens, knocking them both inside. That's no small feat; Randolph is about 290 and those two guys together weigh about 550 combined. Look at McMillons' gait here -- he's striding longer than even Najee Harris is. Safety #38 Jaylon Jones, probably the best DB Ole Miss had last Saturday, has now read the play but he's on the other side of the formation, and something else is about to happen to him anyway (more foreshadowing). Deonte Brown is now locked up with Cistrunk and that's going to be the end of that. RT Evan Neal and RG Emil Ekiyor are already into the second level.
First, look at RT Evan Neal. He's got a defensive tackle (probably #89 Ryder Anderson, the number is obscured) going to the ground and he gets a single hand on Jones' left shoulder pad, giving him a shove. Dickerson has lost contact with LB #13 Sam Williams but TE Cameron Latu has gotten back to him just enough to clear the backfield. Meanwhile, McMillon and LB #0 Lakia Henry have locked eyes, and their respective stances ought to tell you who is about to be the aggressor.
Kendall Randolph (with Dickerson and Alex Leatherwood somewhere in the middle of the scrum) is in the process of basically blocking the entire Ole Miss defensive line into each other. Smith finally locates the ball -- Harris is still 3 yards in the backfield -- but he doesn't peel back enough, figuring Harris isn't going to get the hole so quickly. Latu finishes the backside clear, while McMillon initiates the contact with Henry and stops Henry dead.
The DL we believe to be Ryder Anderson is now going to the ground. Brown has Cistrunk still occupied, but look at McMillon and Henry: Henry folds up at the midsection and goes straight to the turf. MLB #46 MoMo Sanogo had rushed the line expecting Henry to take McMillon but now the opposite has happened and they're both right in his lap. He has nowhere to go but down, too. This is the camera shot of the night, for me.
Not much to add here other than Smith realizes he's too late and tries to adjust back.
McMillon has now so completely disposed of Henry that he is able to hit Sanogo while Henry lies under them. Jaylon Jones is off-balance from the Neal shove and can't get up to speed fast enough to engage Harris around the 35. Smith has no chance at this point.
Caption in the picture says it all.
McMillon has put down two guys, but never went down himself. Brown knocks Cistrunk off-balance with a shove, and with Smith already hopeless with Harris able to run unimpeded by a cornerback to the weakside sideline, it's all a matter of whether he can outrun Jaylon Jones, and he does.
A bonus picture #11 for good measure. This lines up with shot #9 above.
That's called 11 guys all doing their jobs to perfection.
