No. 13 Alabama took on East Carolina today in a game that effectively served as a warm-up for their season. But during the actual warmups, one Alabama staff member got rocked harder than the East Carolina defense.
Video from warmup shows one Alabama player during pad drills with a staffer. When he went forward to deliver the hit, the staffer got blasted backwards and fell on his back.
To his credit, the Alabama player immediately went over and checked to make sure the man was okay. But the staffer got back to his feet right away and resumed the drills.
Even so, it made for a truly wild video:
“It just means more”
Fans who saw the video were torn between laughing at the scene, ridiculing the player for going too hard and ridiculing the staffer for not going out there with more safety equipment:
“At least give him a helmet. Talk about CTE,” one user wrote on X.
“Football guy, for the love of the game in the sec where it just means more,” wrote another.
“Difference between a D1 athlete and the average fit male,” a third pointed out.
“Needs cleats and a weighted vest. When I first got to the Eagles, Stoutland had myself and others holding bags like this and yelling “full metal jacket” when the OL was going too easy on us.”
“‘How did you get CTE, you didn’t play football?’ ‘I held the blocking pad at Bama’”
Getty
Let this be a reminder that the strength of a football player – even a college player – is usually much greater than the average person, let alone a non-athlete.
As for the game, East Carolina was basically as effective against Alabama as that one staffer was against the player who hit him. The Crimson Tide took a 38-7 lead into halftime thanks to touchdowns from EJ Crowell, Daniel Hill, Yhonzae Pierre and Keelon Russell.
