LSU coach Ed Orgeron sees Jonathan Allen in his visions.
He sees Allen’s 6-foot-3, 291-pound frame tossing offensive lineman Colin Prater, leaping over Texas A&M running back Trayveon Williams and flying toward Aggies quarterback Travis Knight, wrapping him and sacking him.
“I see him jumping over that tailback that tried to cut him and hitting the quarterback underneath the jaw,” Orgeron said. “Great effort. Tremendous athlete. Good hip flexibility. Great hands. Very well-coached. Plays with a motor.”
Those plays have made a household name out of Allen, who certainly has Orgeron’s attention. So much so, Orgeron mentioned pass protection 12 times at his weekly press conference Monday.
Junior fullback J.D. Moore saw Allen’s style of play when Texas A&M committed a cardinal sin: intruding the offensive line’s gap between the center and the guard, more commonly known as the “A” gap.
“Obviously, that was a cardinal sin of pass [protection] when he cut in the A gap,” Moore said. “You just don’t do that. That’s just kind of what happened as a result of that. I think he realized he was a mismatch. I guess he didn’t account for Jonathan Allen jumping over him.”
Alabama’s defensive line has been relentless with pressure on getting after the quarterback this season. The Crimson Tide leads the Southeastern Conference in sacks with 32.
“They’re all great pass rushers,” sophomore offensive lineman Will Clapp said. “When they bring their third down package every guy is an elite rusher and every guy has a lot of moves he can go to.”
Orgeron considers the Tide’s defense maybe the best in college football history and certainly the biggest test for his offensive line this season.
Keeping junior quarterback Danny Etling upright is imperative, Orgeron said.
“It’s about protection first,” Orgeron said. “It’s really about protection first — make sure that nobody’s free, make sure that the guy is blocking the guy he’s supposed to, can block him, and he has proper technique. That’s where it all starts to me.”
Protecting Etling hasn’t been an issue for the Tigers this season.
LSU’s offensive line has surrendered 11 sacks in seven games this season, but Orgeron still expects Etling to be sacked once or twice.
Etling also knows he’ll be hit a few times against Alabama, but he’s gotten used to it. His time at Purdue and year off because of transfer rules gave him more confidence to stand tall in the “eye of the hurricane” and take big hits.
“As I’ve kind of been playing this year, I felt more confident and felt more relaxed as far as when you get hit,” Etling said. “Just shake it off and be like ‘All right, that’s just going to happen every once in a while.’”