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Ryan Anderson and Reuben Bain aren't the same player clearly. Bain the better college player. But some of the narrative and dimensions overlap.
They are about the same height, shortish, about the same size hands, small, about the same size arm length -- Ryan's is about half an inch longer.
Neither is considered a great athlete. Bain didn't do the combine exercises. Bain clearly with the much better bend.
The narrative though similar -- who cares about the combine and measurables. Ryan Anderson is a dude. Tone settter. Baller. Good college player. Leader. Who gives a crap about measurables.
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Anderson can’t stand it when he catches teammates smiling during practice. The happy-go-lucky Fitzpatrick will get “that look” from Anderson, he said, and his grin will disappear.
Fitzpatrick called him the “tone-setter.”
“He has his days where he might not be in the best mood,” he said.
And when that happens?
“Definitely steer clear from him.”
Safety Ronnie Harrison, who plays with something of an edge himself, said that he once caught Anderson coming off the field during a game saying that he “wanted to kill somebody out there.”
“I was like, ‘Whoa, Ryan. We’re good, brother. We’re all right,’” he said.
“He’s serious and means everything he says.”
While Anderson may go a bit too far sometimes, Harrison said it’s good to have him around to keep everyone focused, to keep that “hate switch” turned on.
“I feel like if you’re a great player, the defense is going to feed off you,” Anderson said. “If you’re the best player on your defense and you’re out there and you’re knocking the hell out of people and helping them up, your team and your whole defense is going to be nice like that. You go to help a guy up, you might take it easy on him the next play. I feel like you can’t be like that when you play this game. It’s a war when you step on that field, and you have to expect that.”
He didn’t mind when things got chippy late in the game against Washington.
It was his pick-six that all but ended the game, after all.
“They had a long season,” Anderson said. “They had high hopes and they lost this game and they didn’t know how to react to it. They’d never been there before. So you can’t blame them. They didn’t train like us.”
Whether Clemson did remains to be seen.
The Tigers lost a shootout to the Tide in last season’s title game, and Alabama’s defense is hoping to keep Deshaun Waston & Co. from having as much success this time around.
Anderson’s play, as much as his personality, will go a long way in determining the outcome of the game.
On a defense stacked with stars like Jonathan Allen, Tim Williams and Reuben Foster, Anderson has been vastly underrated.
Over the 2015 and 2016 seasons, he’s amassed 14 sacks, 19 quarterback hurries, 28.5 tackles for loss and five forced fumbles,
They are about the same height, shortish, about the same size hands, small, about the same size arm length -- Ryan's is about half an inch longer.
Neither is considered a great athlete. Bain didn't do the combine exercises. Bain clearly with the much better bend.
The narrative though similar -- who cares about the combine and measurables. Ryan Anderson is a dude. Tone settter. Baller. Good college player. Leader. Who gives a crap about measurables.
Meet the most 'hateful' Alabama defender: Ryan Anderson
On a Crimson Tide defense stacked with stars, one player stands out for setting an unmistakably mean, unrelenting and winning tone.
Anderson can’t stand it when he catches teammates smiling during practice. The happy-go-lucky Fitzpatrick will get “that look” from Anderson, he said, and his grin will disappear.
Fitzpatrick called him the “tone-setter.”
“He has his days where he might not be in the best mood,” he said.
And when that happens?
“Definitely steer clear from him.”
Safety Ronnie Harrison, who plays with something of an edge himself, said that he once caught Anderson coming off the field during a game saying that he “wanted to kill somebody out there.”
“I was like, ‘Whoa, Ryan. We’re good, brother. We’re all right,’” he said.
“He’s serious and means everything he says.”
While Anderson may go a bit too far sometimes, Harrison said it’s good to have him around to keep everyone focused, to keep that “hate switch” turned on.
“I feel like if you’re a great player, the defense is going to feed off you,” Anderson said. “If you’re the best player on your defense and you’re out there and you’re knocking the hell out of people and helping them up, your team and your whole defense is going to be nice like that. You go to help a guy up, you might take it easy on him the next play. I feel like you can’t be like that when you play this game. It’s a war when you step on that field, and you have to expect that.”
He didn’t mind when things got chippy late in the game against Washington.
It was his pick-six that all but ended the game, after all.
“They had a long season,” Anderson said. “They had high hopes and they lost this game and they didn’t know how to react to it. They’d never been there before. So you can’t blame them. They didn’t train like us.”
Whether Clemson did remains to be seen.
The Tigers lost a shootout to the Tide in last season’s title game, and Alabama’s defense is hoping to keep Deshaun Waston & Co. from having as much success this time around.
Anderson’s play, as much as his personality, will go a long way in determining the outcome of the game.
On a defense stacked with stars like Jonathan Allen, Tim Williams and Reuben Foster, Anderson has been vastly underrated.
Over the 2015 and 2016 seasons, he’s amassed 14 sacks, 19 quarterback hurries, 28.5 tackles for loss and five forced fumbles,
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