Alabama Coaching Staff Names Eight Players of the Week for Performances in the Texas A&M Win

The Alabama coaching staff selected eight players of the week following the Crimson Tide’s convincing 45-23 win over Texas A&M last Saturday in the SEC home opener at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Damien Harris, Irv Smith Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa on offense; Isaiah Buggs, Anfernee Jennings and Dylan Moses on defense; and Joseph Bulovas and Henry Ruggs III on special teams all earned recognition from the Alabama staff for their performances against the Aggies.

Harris contributed 100 total yards of offense on Saturday afternoon. The senior tailback rushed seven times for a team-high 52 yards while adding two receptions for 48 yards. Through the air, Smith Jr. tied for second on the team with a career-high tying four receptions totaling 74 yards, a new career-best mark. The tight end has now recorded at least two receptions in every game of his junior campaign and ranks third on the team in total catches with 13 for 196 yards and two scores. Tagovailoa, a sophomore, accounted for 397 yards of total offense and five touchdowns against A&M. He completed 73.3 percent of his passes on 22-of-28 passing for a career-high 387 yards, good for fifth-best in a single game in UA annals. The left-hander threw for four touchdowns while adding one on the ground to match the single-game touchdown responsibility mark for Alabama, as well.

The trio of Buggs, Jennings and Moses combined for 19 total tackles, including six of the Tide’s season-high seven total sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss. Buggs closed out his afternoon with a career-high 3.5 sacks (-12 yards) and four tackles for loss (-12 yards) as part of the senior’s seven stops in the game, good for second on UA. He added a pair of quarterback pressures which helped make up Alabama’s season-high 12 pressures. Jennings, a redshirt junior, spent the night in the Aggie backfield, finishing with three total tackles made up of 1.5 sacks (-6 yards) and 2.5 tackles for loss (-7 yards). Moses paced the Alabama defense with nine tackles, including one for a loss (-2 yards) as the sophomore standout helped the Tide come away with its first top-25 victory of the young campaign.

Bulovas, a redshirt freshman, contributed nine points on the afternoon thanks to a career-long 47-yard field goal a perfect 6-of-6 performance on PATs. He added seven kickoffs for 367 yards for an average of 52.4 yards per boot with two touchbacks. Henry Ruggs III provided assistance on both special teams units to earn his first career special teams player of the week recognition from the Tide coaches now in his sophomore campaign.