Alabama defense making the most of turnover opportunities this season

TUSCALOOSA — Jared Mayden saw his opportunity and wasn’t going to let it slip through his fingers.

As Tennessee receiver Jauan Jennings juggled the quick slant pass from quarterback Brian Maurer, the Alabama senior safety knew there was a play to be made.

And when fellow Crimson Tide safety Xavier McKinney lowered the boom with a textbook, wrap-up tackle, Mayden was right there to coral the loose ball and fall to the ground for the interception. It was the second interception in the last three games for the first-year starter after four years of waiting his turn in Tuscaloosa.

“It felt good once I grabbed it and brought it in,” Mayden said Monday, “but I mean (Xavier McKinney) made a good hit on the receiver. He was already kind of juggling it and (I just) took it from him.”

Mayden is now tied with fellow senior cornerback Trevon Diggs for the team lead with two picks on the season, with all seven interceptions coming courtesy of the Alabama secondary. The Tide also have seven fumble recoveries, two courtesy of Diggs, on eight forced fumbles this season to go along with two blocked punts on special teams.

“I feel like now really the point of emphasis is getting the ball and making turnovers,” Mayden said. “I don’t want to say at the beginning of the season we weren’t thinking that. But usually when Coach makes something a point of emphasis, like, ‘Let’s get a turnover. We need to get balls out and get the ball back in the hands of our playmakers on offense,’ those are the types of things you start focusing on.

“Then, when we go through the film, you’re noticing how people are carrying the ball and things like that or when receivers catch it they try to make it look pretty. When you start seeing those little things, that can totally help you to getting balls out and making plays on the ball.”

And with an offense that will be without its Heisman Trophy-caliber quarterback for at least one game, making the most of turnover opportunities will be of the utmost importance moving forward, especially Saturday facing an Arkansas team against which it produced a season-high plus-three turnover margin last season.

Through seven games this season, No. 1 Alabama (7-0, 4-0 SEC) leads the SEC and is ninth nationally with a plus-nine turnover margin, much of which built up through the first four games of the season when the Tide racked up 10 turnovers gained to two lost during that span. In all, Alabama has gained 14 turnovers to five lost, including one in each of the last four games.

The difference is Alabama’s defenders are now turning those turnovers into points after three straight games with a nonoffensive touchdown.

That included Diggs’ timely 100-yard fumble return for a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter when Tennessee quarterback Jarrett Guarantano attempted to leap over the goal-line pile on fourth-down only to have the ball pop out and roll into the end zone, where the opportunistic Diggs picked it up and ran it back end zone to end zone to put Alabama up 35-13 with 7:21 left in the game.

“I feel like more guys are getting to the ball, more guys are playing fast, getting comfortable, and starting to feel things out, be able to play fast and know what to do,” Diggs said Tuesday. “If you know what to do you can run around. If you don’t know what to do you’re hesitant. So, I feel more guys are starting to get more comfortable, (and) the more comfortable you are in the defense the more you can fly around.”

Alabama head coach Nick Saban agreed much of the team’s turnover success has come because players are gaining experience and confidence with each game.

“I think it’s just player awareness of being able to take shots when they get shots,” Saban said Wednesday. “When you look at it, you have certain players that attack the ball and are confident of being able to do it and know when to do it and you’ve got other guys that are a little more cautious about it, and we’ve just got to keep on working on it so they get more comfortable with it.”

The Tide’s special teams has also gotten into the turnover mix after back-to-back games with blocked punts returned for touchdowns against Ole Miss and Texas A&M.

Sophomore linebacker and special teams phenom Ale Kaho provided the block on both plays, the first of which he also managed to land on in the end zone for his first career touchdown. A week later, it was sophomore receiver Tyrell Shavers on the scoring end of Kaho’s blocked punt.

“(The) craziest thing is some of his blocks don’t even (come on) bonsais or when we’re trying to blitz,” Mayden said of Kaho. “It’s just, he just kind of goes and blows up the shield and it works for him. That’s just crazy to me. The shield will be like a 275-pound O-line or D-lineman (and) Kaho’s like 215. That goes back to what I was saying: he’s giving 110% effort. We’re playing headless out there.”

Like most of Alabama’s turnover-causing plays, it’s about making the extra effort to get to the ball on every play. And that starts at practice and in the film room with a greater emphasis on both being cognizant of how an offensive player holds the ball and taking advantage when the opportunity arises.

“I know we’ve been making a lot of good plays on the ball lately,” Mayden said. “It’s been a point of emphasis to be more violent when we’re trying to punch the ball out. Really trying to be more observant of the receivers or the running back when they catch the ball, (knowing) what hand they tuck it in so that’s the hand you want to swat at. … We work on that in practice. We just made it more of a point of emphasis that we need to get more turnovers.”

Contact Montgomery Advertiser sports reporter Alex Byington at abyington@montgome.gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @_AlexByington.