New Tide noseguard ‘a beast’

TUSCALOOSA — Alabama center Antoine Caldwell knew the interior line of the Clemson offense was in for a long night.

For a fleeting moment before Saturday’s season opener in the Georgia Dome, he almost felt sorry for them.

They didn’t know about Terrence Cody.

“Definitely. I wish I could have given them a head’s up,” Caldwell said Monday.

Then he remembered the pounding throughout training camp his unit absorbed from Cody. The Tigers were on their own.

“I’m telling you, he’s a beast. And he works hard,” Caldwell said.

“He played his tail off this weekend. The whole defense did. I feel good about them.”

The 6-foot-5, 365-pound nose tackle transfer from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College made his first career start for Alabama against Clemson a memorable one.

Cody, a junior, made four tackles (two solos), one of which was behind the line of scrimmage.

Teammates said his impact far exceeded his statistics in the Crimson Tide’s 34-10 victory.

“He was in the backfield all night,” outside linebacker Cory Reamer said. “He’s going to do that — he’s 365 pounds and I’m sure everybody’s going to be watching film on him, figuring out ways to stop him. But he did a great job of keeping their offensive line on different levels, creating holes for us to fill in and make plays.”

Cody established his dominance quickly Saturday night.

“Early in the game he got a tackle for loss and that caused them to focus on him a lot more,” safety Rashad Johnson said. “That left a lot of other guys with one-on-one blocks. And they did a good job of winning.”

Defensive end Lorenzo Washington was one of the beneficiaries of Mount Cody.

“It definitely felt real different playing out in all that space,” said Washington, who had two tackles and a quarterback hurry. “I kind of felt for TC a little bit on the double-teams and triple-teams.”

Washington said Cody can push the pile.

“Re-establishing the line of scrimmage. Taking two or three blockers at a time,” Washington said when asked what he saw from Cody Saturday night. “If the front can’t make the play, he definitely freed up (linebackers) Rolando (McClain) and (Dont’a) Hightower a bunch of times to make plays. He’s definitely established himself as a force on the line.”

Sophomore inside linebacker McClain sounded almost thankful to see Cody in action.

“It’s a blessing to have TC in front of you,” McClain said. “That guy is huge and he takes up a lot of space and he does a great job. ...

“TC is going to have some double- and triple-teams, so that will open lanes for me and Dont’a.”

Others have noticed, too. Cody’s performance earned him SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week honors.

Clemson managed just 48 total snaps and was 1-for-9 on third down. The Tigers managed zero rushing yards and a total of 188 on offense.

To Alabama coach Nick Saban, those numbers are skewed slightly, but knew his team controlled the line of scrimmage.

“They didn’t really have zero rushing yards in the game,” Saban said. “That is the one thing about college football that is a little bit messed up. They had 30 yards rushing in the game. That is the running plays when they ran the ball.

“The sacks should come off the passing yardage like it does in the NFL. So they had 30 yards rushing in my mind. They lost 30 yards passing because of sacks.”

OK, 30 yards, then, for a team that featured Thunder and Lightning running backs James Davis and C.J. Spiller. Saban will take it.

“I think two things contributed to that. I think everyone up front did a good job and Terrence Cody certainly did his job well and was a factor in the game in the middle,” Saban said. “... The second thing was the way the game went and we got ahead a little bit they aborted the run some.”

Saban said taking away the running attack was crucial, especially since Alabama did not have to blitz.

“It was not our plan to pressure this team a lot because of all the screens they threw,” Saban said. “The best way to give up a big play is when you pressure and they throw a wide receiver screen.”

Cody’s play kept Alabama from having to blitz. The entire defense looks a lot different with strength up the middle — a massive nose tackle in Cody, an experienced and athletic middle linebacker in McClain and an all-SEC free safety in Johnson.

“That’s a big difference,” McClain said. “... We have a different swagger about ourselves. We trust each other. That is a big thing. We trust each other on defense. ... That is a big difference from last year.”