Freshman Linebacker Continues To Impress For Crimson Tide

With Alabama leading 66-0 against Louisiana-Monroe with under three minutes to play, the Warhawks appeared content with running the clock out and getting themselves off the field and out of Tuscaloosa. Freshman linebacker QB Reese had other plans. Reese made an exceptional play on the ball on second down, knocking it out of the hands of running back D'Shaun Ford and giving it back to the Crimson Tide with 2:25 to play. Alabama would go on to score a tenth touchdown on the day, giving the Crimson Tide its highest single-game point total in over 50 years thanks to Reese's play.

“I think one of the big emphases in the offseason is creating force fumbles and punching out the ball, and QB did a really nice job of that," defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said. "That last takeaway that we got, he did a nice job of coming in there and punching the ball out. Those are things that we chart and practice every day."

Wommack has been high on Reese since the early stages of the offseason. The redshirt freshman has been turning heads with his work ethic for months. Reese appeared in five games last season, playing entirely on special teams and recording no stats.

Saturday marked Reese's first time playing defense in the crimson and white, and the Birmingham native made the most of the opportunity. In addition to the forced fumble, Reese recovered a fumble earlier in the quarter, returning it 21-yards to set Alabama up inside the red zone.

“Yeah, QB was in on two takeaways defensively, which was great," Wommack said. "We've made an emphasis of not just creating takeaways, but trying to score. We had an opportunity to do that, but fell a little bit short there. So I think a tight end chased him down, so we kind of gave him a hard time on that one."

Reese signed as a part of Alabama's 2024 recruiting class out of Ramsay High School in Birmingham. He was a three-star recruit, ranked as Rivals' No. 29 linebacker in the country. In addition to drawing praise from the coaching staff, Reese has also impressed his teammates with his leadership and poise.

"I don't even see him as a young guy right now," senior linebacker LT Overton said. "He's so active when it comes to speaking to his teammates, on the field, communicating, and leading by example. That's what you want to see from a young guy coming in."

There is a very high probability that Reese is out on the field consistently for the Crimson Tide down the stretch this season. Reese and Cayden Jones are the backups at middle linebacker to Justin Jefferson, giving him a clear path to play anytime Jefferson needs to take a play off. But regardless of how much he is out there down the stretch this year, it is apparent that Reese is a key part of the future of Alabama's defense and will have an inside track at winning a starting job next season.

“He's a guy that continues to do those things in practice, and then it showed up on game day," Wommack said. "So you always want to be able to reinforce your messages, right? So when you can show guys, ‘Hey, he did this in practice,’ and then all of a sudden he showed up and he got production on game day. That's a good message.”