'Guys Got to Step Up': Alabama's Defensive Line Struggles Without Tim Keenan

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Alabama co-captain and defensive tackle Tim Keenan III reportedly sustained an ankle injury just a couple of days before the season opener, and an upcoming tightrope surgery could force him to miss multiple games.

The Crimson Tide fell to Florida State 31-17 on Saturday evening, and Keenan's absence from the field was apparent. Alabama allowed 230 rushing yards, as the players attempting to fill his role simply did not succeed.

Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said on Wednesday that Jeremiah Beaman, James Smith and Edric Hill have been getting more snaps in practice but it did not work against the Seminoles.

"We obviously missed him a lot," fellow Alabama co-captain and linebacker Deontae Lawson said after the game. "We hope to get him back out here soon. But man, guys got to step up. We knew what we were up against. We knew the challenge we were facing and it's all on us.

"I mean, man, Tim Keenan, he's a force in that middle. It's just about the details. It's game scenarios, if you're in this gap, you can't flip all of sudden to this next gap when you have a mobile quarterback that can bounce off in a different lane."

The mobile quarterback that Lawson is referring to is Tommy Castellanos. The Boston College transfer went viral for talking a lot of smack about Alabama back in June, but unfortunately for the Crimson Tide, he backed it up on Saturday. Castellanos logged 78 rushing yards and a touchdown on 16 attempts.

A lot of these runs resulted in missed tackles by Alabama and it's front six. These missed tackles resulted in much longer gains than they should've been and they led to the Seminoles putting up 30-plus points for the first time since Sept. 28, 2023.

"We've just got to be better," Lawson said. "I can't say it's practice or anything like that, we've just got to put the surface area of our body onto a defender, bring him down and find a way to get him to the ground.

"It was an issue for us no doubt, but we've just got to accept it and get back to the practice field and really hone into the small details. The small details show up in the biggest moments and we kind of let it slip away from us and we've just got to get better from it."

Florida State tallied 49 rushing attempts with just 14 pass attempts. The runs exploited Alabama even on third down as the Seminoles went 5 of 12. Additionally, the Tide's only sack of the entire game was by safety Keon Sabb.

"That's something we focus on every day. The times when we could've got a stop, we just couldn't get off the field."

Alabama's defensive line aims to bounce back is next Saturday at home in Bryant-Denny
Stadium against Louisiana-Monroe at 6:45 p.m. CT on SEC Network.