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Alabama football: Crimson Tide preparing for two Auburn QB's

By The Sports Xchange
Alabama football head coach Nick Saban. File photo David Tulis/UPI
1 of 2 | Alabama football head coach Nick Saban. File photo David Tulis/UPI | License Photo

With Auburn using two quarterbacks throughout the season, Alabama Crimson Tide linebacker Reggie Ragland wants all the time he can get to prepare for the Tigers.

"It's easier for me to watch film on one guy one day and the next day watch film on the other guy," Ragland said. "So it's easier to do that when you don't got class and other stuff to worry about, so it should be helpful."

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Ragland and Alabama travel to Auburn on Saturday for the Iron Bowl. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS.

Auburn quarterback Jeremy Johnson won the job in the preseason, and started the team's first three games.

But reports stated that the 6-foot-5, 240-pound junior lost his confidence after the Tigers got off to a rough start. He was replaced by freshman Sean White in Week Four. White started the next five games, but a knee injury sidelined him against Texas A&M. Johnson has been back under center for the past three games.

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On Sunday, Auburn offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee said the team wasn't ready to name a starter.

"He's getting better. (I) like where he's at," Lashlee said of Johnson. "I think Sean's getting healthier. We know we're going to probably need both of those guys, and that's something Coach (Malzahn) will probably address more on Tuesday. At this point, we're just in the early stages of putting a game plan together, so I don't know what we're going to do yet."

This season, Johnson has played in 10 games. He's thrown for 873 yards and eight touchdowns. He's completing 63 percent of his passes and seven interceptions. Johnson has also rushed for 198 yards and five scores.

White has passed for 1,064 yards and a touchdown to just two interceptions.

"I've just got to do my job and watch film on both of them because both of them are good guys," Ragland said. "Jeremy can run and throw. Sean can run and throw. So I've got to do my job of watching them to see what they do good and bad, so we can do good in getting to them and just getting them on their bad stuff."

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Tide coach Nick Saban said Alabama's defense must be prepared for both because they've each "played well at times."

"Jeremy Johnson's a really good athlete who has made a lot of big plays, extending plays as well as with his feet," Saban said. "He is a threat to run the ball, and he's made some big plays passing. I don't know who's going to play in this game. We've got to be ready for either guy. ? They both do a good job with their offense and they're very capable of making plays and I think they have a very good understanding of what they want to try to do."

NOTES, QUOTES

PLAYERS TO WATCH

--LB Reggie Ragland. Ragland leads Alabama with 85 tackles on the year. He should have another big day roaming the middle of the Tide's defense.

--RB Derrick Henry. Henry has one more big stage this regular season to make his mark for the Heisman Trophy. He's rushed for 1,526 yards and 21 touchdowns.

--K Adam Griffith. If for some reason Alabama's offense struggles to find the end zone, Griffith could be huge in providing points.

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