Hightower cut down by hard, but legal, block, teammates say

By Ken Rogers

Published: September 29, 2009

It wasn’t a cheap shot, just a hard one.

It was a cut block, not a chop block. Not dirty, just costly.

And painful. Not just for Dont’a Hightower.

“When it happened on the field, I didn’t want to believe it,” teammate Rolando McClain said Monday. “When he went down, I kind of went down.”

“He’s an incredible player,” defensive end Lorenzo Washington said. “You don’t want to say irreplaceable, but, I mean, just being out there, he’s a dominating player.”

Washington said he saw the hit, which happened late in the first quarter of Alabama’s 35-7 victory over Arkansas.

“Honestly, it didn’t even look ... I didn’t see the knee or anything go like that,” Washington said. “I mean, I seen him, me, we’ve all been getting cut like that these past couple games. Guess it was worse than it looked.”

Nick Saban confirmed Hightower is out for the season.

Washington said the play underscored how dangerous cut blocks can be.

“I understand a pass, where you’re right at the line of scrimmage, or even a run when you’re at the line of scrimmage,” the defensive lineman said. “But he was not on the line of scrimmage, he was pursuing to the ball. Those are dangerous plays.”

Washington said the technique is more prevalent with passing teams. You don’t have to move a defender out of the way, as a run blocker does. It’s easier to cut the legs out from under an aggressive defender. He said he’s seeing more of it this season.

“In ’07 I was getting cut all the time because I was inside,” Washington said. “Then a couple teams we played last year that’s just the type of protection they did. They were three-step drop passes so they were cut blocking. But every team we’ve played this year has cut us to this point.”

He doesn’t expect that to change, either.

“Cut blocking’s been around since football’s been around. They’ve tweaked it here and there, but it’s pretty much here to stay. It’s part of ball.”

And injuries that result from a cut block are a part of the game, too.

“It’s legal. You can’t say that it was a dirty play on the guy,” McClain said. “But for me, just being a linebacker, I would rather a guy come and just try to block me man to man. Just try to block me.

“I hate that guys cut, but it is part of the game, something that we practice. Just something unfortunate that happened.”