Recently, ESPN CFB analyst, Trevor Matich shared his informed insights on Alabama football in the upcoming season.
Most football fans are familiar with Trevor Matich from his 12-season NFL career. For the Alabama football fans who do not fully know his credentials, there are extensive. He was an offensive lineman on the BYU, 1984 national championship team.
After 12 NFL seasons, he went into broadcasting, starting with media work for the Washington Redskins, then Fox and CBS. He is still involved with the Redskins and is a huge fan of former Alabama football player, Jonathan Allen. Matich has spent 15 years as a CFB analyst for ESPN.
Matich did not have it easy growing up. His father was not involved with his children. Money was difficult for his mom and his siblings. As Matich recounts, “I got cut from every school team that had cuts.” He made his high school team because they did not have cuts, but never started a game until he was a senior.
From that inauspicious start, Matich crafted a career in football. He admits he got some luck but he also believes it happened because he was determined to outwork everyone else. He still has that work ethic today. No CFB analyst spends more time, studying tape and traveling to team visits in the offseason, than Trevor Matich.
Matich spoke about the Tide a few weeks ago
Earlier in the summer, he was in Mobile for a Senior Bowl event and had an in-depth conversation with al.com. Alabama football fans will enjoy reading the entire story. We will touch on a few of the highlights.
He spoke highly of Jalen and Tua and the “tightrope” Saban must walk to keep “both players and the locker room happy.” He also said Nick was adept at the task. On the upcoming QB starter competition, Matich said,
"The thing is I’m not quite as certain as some other people that Tua is going to be the guy. I’m pretty sure he’ll be the guy. What I am certain of is whoever plays at that position, Alabama will have something they haven’t had in a while, and that is a credible, exciting deep passing game, because with Dan Enos as the quarterback coach, he legitimately is the quarterback whisperer. If anybody can draw that aspect of the game out of Jalen Hurts, he can do it. But if Jalen Hurts doesn’t improve enough at that, then Tua will be the guy. One way or the other, either a vastly improved Jalen Hurts is throwing downfield or Tua Tagovailoa."
That lengthy quote summarizes the expected future for Alabama football. Alabama fans, even those staunchly in the camp of just one of the QBs, should be reassured. Trevor Matich knows football. When he says Enos is a ‘quarterback whisperer’ we can trust Trevor is correct.
Matich saw the championship game from the sidelines
Matich was on the sideline during the national championship game. Paraphrasing his report, Matich said the Georgia defense did an about-face in the second half. They were prepared for Tua and knew they could no longer load the box. He described the mood on the Georgia sideline in the second half.
"In the second half, when the ball left Tua’s hand, everybody on that Georgia sideline held their breath because they knew there was a great likelihood that it would drop in for a big play."
Matich is convinced that extra dimension will be in the Alabama football offense throughout the 2018 season. He is not completely sure if one or both of the QB’s will provide it. He is sure, an effective, big-play passing game will be a consistent weapon for Alabama football.
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The most colorful comments by Matich applied to what will happen to opposing defenses. He said, they will get “ground to a pulp” in the trenches or “torched” at the back end of the defense. That is music to the ears of Crimson Tide fans.