Rolando McClain shows his worth for Alabama

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Maybe it took Dont’a Hightower’s absence for people to see just how dominant a middle linebacker Rolando McClain is.

For all of Hightower’s ability to make plays at his Will linebacker spot, Alabama defensive coaches always had the luxury of No. 25 being in the vicinity ... just in case.

Saturday, Batman had no Robin. So he turned into Superman.

McClain made 12 tackles — eight solo.

He stripped running back Derrick Locke, who led Kentucky with 204 all-purpose yards, of the football in the final seconds of the first half. Courtney Upshaw caught the fumble, returned it 45 yards for a touchdown and the Tide never turned against Alabama after a very difficult first half.

At the start of the third quarter, McClain intercepted a pass and returned it 21 yards to set up a touchdown.

Later in the period, another pass from Mike Hartline was deflected off receiver Kyrus Lanxter. The ball caromed near McClain, who batted the ball in the air. Eryk Anders made the interception for Alabama.

He was also credited with one pass breakup and one quarterback hurry.

But McClain’s impact is far greater than numbers — although those are impressive enough on their own.

He sets the tone for the Alabama defense.

“We didn’t come out flat. We just played against a real good team,” McClain said. “They gave us their best punch and we took it — and we countered it.
“I mean, the second half, we pride ourselves on being a second-half team, and it showed up in the second half.”

McClain also proved he’s a pretty reliable safety net.

“He played a huge game for us,” defensive end Brandon Deaderick said. “He picked up some of the slack from us. We really pride ourselves on playing blocks, getting off blocks, keeping the linebackers free.

“In the first half we weren’t really doing that up to our full potential, but he made up for us.”

The game is slower for McClain than most college players — even good ones.

On Locke’s fumble, McClain said he saw the running back was susceptible to the turnover.

“I saw which hand he took the ball in,” McClain recalled. “My initial instinct was secure the tackle and make a play on the ball. That’s what happened.”

Even on the pass he tipped to Anders, McClain had bigger ideas. He wanted the interception.

“I tried to show I could jump a little bit,” he said, laughing when asked if he was showing some basketball skills.

“I knew I could tip the ball to myself. Once I tipped the ball, Cory Reamer hit me. ... Luckily Eryk Anders was there and made a good play.”

Alabama coach Nick Saban twice called McClain’s play on Saturday “outstanding.”

One of the few knocks on Alabama’s defense had been its failure to create turnovers. They forced a turnover four times on Saturday — matching their season total in the first four games.

“It’s something we work on every day,” McClain said. “We know up until this game we weren’t getting a lot of turnovers. Coach has been harping on it a lot. ... We know from last year every time we got a turnover we’d score points. We just tried to change momentum of the game, and I think those turnovers did.”