Alabama Selects Players Of Week

Alabama’s coaching staff selects players each week to recognize for outstanding performance in the previous week’s game. For last week’s 22-3 win over Ole Miss in Oxford the Bama coaches singled out eight players.

Although Alabama’s defense got most of the recognition for the Crimson Tide’s 22-9 win over 20th ranked Ole Miss in Oxford Saturday, Bama coaches named only two defenders in the list of weekly honorees. The Alabama staff named three on offense and three on special teams.

Alabama remained undefeated at 6-0 and is ranked second in the nation. This week Alabama hosts South Carolina for homecoming with kickoff at 6:45 p.m. CDT and television coverage by ESPN. South Carolina is 5-1 and ranked 22nd in the nation.

“We had some outstanding performances in the game,” Alabama Coach Nick Saban said. “On offense, Mark Ingram did a fantastic job. William Vlachos, who was recognized in the SEC as lineman (of the week, and Barrett Jones, did a good job. Rolando McClain and Kareem Jackson both had really good games on defense. On special teams, Cory Reamer, Leigh Tiffin and Nico Johnson all did a really good job for us.”

Alabama junior center William Vlachos was named the Southeastern Conference Offensive Lineman of the Week and senior kicker Leigh Tiffin was named the Lou Groza Award “Star of Stars” for their efforts in the Crimson Tide’s win at Mississippi.

Vlachos played all 76 offensive snaps . The Mountain Brook native helped clear the way for sophomore running back Mark Ingram’s career-high 172 rushing yards in the win over the Rebels.

Ingram added a 36-yard burst in the second quarter for the Tide’s only touchdown. Vlachos anchored an offensive front that paved the way for 4.9 yards per carry on Saturday. He also did not allow sack or get called for any penalties.

Vlachos earned Alabama’s fifth SEC Player of the Week honor this season, joining Ingram (vs. Virginia Tech), Trent Richardson (vs. Florida International and Arkansas) and Rolando McClain (vs. Kentucky).

Tiffin earned his second “Star of Stars” award of the 2009 season after making all five field goals attempts against the Rebels on Saturday. Tiffin made field goals of 21, 21, 22, 25 and 31 yards to move into second place on the Alabama charts with 67 field goals, trailing Philip Doyle’s school-record mark by 11 field goals. Tiffin’s 14 made field goals this season tie him for the nation’s lead. He leads the SEC and ranks third nationally with 2.33 field goals per game. Tiffin also earned “Star of Stars” recognition following the Tide’s season-opening win over Virginia Tech.

Vlachos and Jones blocked for Ingram to rush for his seventh rushing touchdown and 10 total touchdown of the season. Ingram busted loose for a 36-yard touchdown run late the second quarter on fourth and one for the Tide's only touchdown.

McClain registered seven tackles, one tackle for loss, his second interception of the season and a quarterback hurry. Jackson notched his first pick of the season in the second half and returned it 79 yards. He also made four solo tackles as the Tide defense limited the Rebels to just 197 total yards and 57 rushing yards. Tiffin paced the special teams, going 5 for 5 on field goals, which was a career high and one shy of the Alabama single-game record. He scored 16 total points to move into third place on the UA career scoring list.

Reamer and Johnson were everywhere on the Tide's cover teams. Reamer recorded a tackle, blocked a punt which led to a field goal and forced a fumble and then recovered it to setup another Tiffin field goal.