Alabama arrives in North Texas for College Football Playoff

Such was the case Sunday when senior defensive end Shilique Calhoun poked fun at Henry for calling them Michigan instead of Michigan State during an ESPN interview December 6.

“If Alabama was called Wisconsin, SEC fans would mock them”, Cowherd said.

“You never know what he’s going to say or what he’s going to do”.

In their first Cotton Bowl appearance, the Spartans were 3-point underdogs to Baylor. Michigan State needs him to prove mortal just once. It’s not every day you get to play a Heisman Trophy victor. “And then I think he could have kept going”.

“As a natural competitor, you always want to play the best”, Calhoun said.

Henry set Southeastern Conference records this season with 1,986 yards rushing, 521 of those coming in the fourth quarter. “So we just sort of made a statement and continued on”. It kind of shows us as a defensive line on and off the field.

“Hopefully, we give the ball to Derrick more than they did (to Elliott)”, said Kiffin, who took time to explain that his comment was meant as a joke, not a shot at the Buckeyes.

“Henry is, indeed, a big man. At 6’3”, 242 pounds, he outweighs the top five tacklers on the Spartans defense.

Alabma running back Derrick Henry answers questions during a news conference for the NCAA Cotton Bowl college football game against Michigan State, Sunday, Dec. 27, 2015, in Dallas.

DALLAS (AP) — There has been little mystery with Alabama’s offense this season. In some ways, the names of Henry and McDowell are nearly interchangeable.

“What do you have to do to wear out anyone who’s [6-3]?” said Heath. He turns it on when he wants to turn it.

Said linebacker Riley Bullough, a smidge shorter and 12 pounders lighter than the Crimson Tide’s lead horse: “He’s a big guy that can move”.

“The one last night, we came out of practice and it was storming pretty good, and everybody started texting me like, ‘Are you alright?'”

Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban has been criticized for having Henry carry the ball 32-46 times in four of Alabama’s last seven games. But at the same time, it’s still a game and we got to approach it like that, just do your job.

“I go back to attention to detail”, he said. “It’s different. We haven’t played against that yet”. It won’t be one person having to make a tackle. “We started the year with hopes to achieve this”.

Is the Big Ten Truly on Par with the SEC Elite? But we need to go hard.

Both teams practiced earlier Saturday.

And when Henry gets into space, those long arms help keep defenders at bay.

“You can talk about pursuit angles and things like that, but it’s really having multiple people able to leverage him. But he’s consistent. If you’re not consistent with him, he’s going to make a big run, make a big play”. “Don’t go into it and get your feelings hurt by saying, ‘I’m the DB coach, why is he here with me?’ If you don’t take that mentality, it can be great”.

“He runs high, he follows his blockers”, Reschke said. Guys need to swarm-tackle him. “But we look forward to the challenge”.

“He probably has the strongest hands I’ve seen in person”, Michigan State defensive back Demetrious Cox said.

“It’s a test of wills”, said Barnett. “Hopefully, our guys’ mindset will be to continue to attack, attack, attack no matter what”. “Let it affect you, then it’s going to affect you”.

“It’s a test of wills, and his will has won out a lot of times this season”. It’s something we harped on, and I think we’ll be ready.