Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell “put it all on himself” after the 26-10 road loss at Tennessee. The first-year starter had three turnovers in the game (two interceptions, one fumble) while finishing 19 of 29 for 147 yards with a 19-yard rushing touchdown.
Here’s everything Russell said to the media Saturday night:
MORE: Everything Kalen DeBoer said after Alabama’s 26-10 loss at Tennessee
QUICK REACTION: Three takeaways from Alabama’s 26-10 road loss at Tennessee
On what Tennessee’s defense did to make it a tough game for Alabama’s offense: “They were aggressive. You know, they got off to a good start. Kudos to them. They had, you know, great defense, but I just have to play better as an offensive player. I just feel like I wasn’t making the right reads and making the right plays and moving the ball down the field.”
On the emotions in the locker room, his message to the team: “It’s a loss. There’s not a lot of happy faces. I mean, it’s a learning moment. You know, you win some, you lose some. You have to get back up. Nobody’s going to put their head down. You know, we hate to lose, especially in this big rivalry game. We hate to lose this, but it is what it is. We just have to keep moving forward. There’s a lot of games left in the season, and I 100% believe that this team will go all the way, so we keep our heads high and keep going.”
On the razor-thin margin of error for Alabama: “I mean, we just put it on ourselves. I mean, we can’t do what we did today. You know, we turned the ball over three, four times, and me, I had a horrible game. I just put it all on myself. I couldn’t even get my guys down the field past the 50 (yard line). I had some careless turnovers and the last one was just like ‘what is Keelon doing?’ so we just can’t do what we did in the future. »
In Alabama, Texas and Georgia, they lost this week; what he says about the SEC: “We’re focused on us. All the external factors, you know, the SEC is a day in and day out competition. You never understand, but as long as we’re concerned about our factors and how we can come into a game and attack the game, we’re in it head on. We’ve got to leave this one in the past and move forward.”
On preparing for Texas A&M at home next week: “I mean, our preparation is, you know, week to week. We have to criticize everything that we’re flawed in. This week, especially you know, before, I don’t even know who we’ll play next, but before this week, we just have to be better on all cylinders. Capitalize on all the mistakes that we made, and like I said, we just have to have a smoother, more fundamental game. You know, starting with me. (I) just can’t turn it around. ball three times, and just We can’t make the mistakes we made.”
On the Tennessee crowd, atmosphere at Neyland Stadium: “I mean, it’s a tough environment, you know. I mean, I wouldn’t say it was the environment that shook me. I wouldn’t even say it was something that shook me. It was just the lack, you know, the lack of play that I had. I mean, there were things in front of me that I easily could have taken, and I was forcing the ball somewhere else. And like I said, I just wasn’t playing my game today, and I’m not going to cry about it I’m not going to hang my head, but I just gotta know that you know going forward we can’t make those mistakes anymore And you know, (Ryan) Grubb was out there calling the best plays you know for us, and I just couldn’t know that our plays matter.
On communication with the Mal Waldrep backup center: “It’s amazing to play with this guy. You know, it’s fun to play with him. I mean, communication hasn’t been a problem, neither for the line, nor for the receivers. Like I said, we just have to do better.”
On not having receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams: “Of course I miss Ryan, but you know, we play with the guys that we play, and we have tons of good guys. You know, so Ryan understands that you know the next man up. So you know, not playing with him, you know, is that we play with the same guys in practice. You know, when Ryan is not in a game, you know, all the other guys are there. So you know, we were just playing ball. I mean, this It’s not like you know we miss Jesus and everything like that.
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