Here’s a quick Alabama football trivia question.
Only two Alabama players have caught touchdown passes from two different quarterbacks this season. One is Jerry Jeudy. Who is the other?
If you bypassed Henry Ruggs, Jaylen Waddle, DeVonta Smith and Najee Harris and went straight to Miller Forristall, you win.
Forristall has caught two touchdowns from Tua Tagovailoa and added another scoring reception from Slade Bolden last week against Tennessee. This week, he will be looking to make it a trifecta if he can catch one from the Crimson Tide’s Mac Jones.
The 6-yard touchdown catch against the Volunteers came with Alabama in a Wildcat package that featured Bolden at quarterback and completely fooled the Volunteers with no one nearer to Forristall in the end zone than the back judge.
“That was a lot of fun,” Forristall said.” We practiced that play all week. Slade Bolden showed he was a pretty good quarterback, didn’t he?”
Most of the questions directed to Forristall, a redshirt junior from Cartersville, Georgia, at Alabama’s Monday media opportunity were about another quarterback — Jones — and Forristall’s confidence level in the Alabama backup.
“I’d tell him the same thing I’d tell any quarterback, especially one I’ve known and practiced with,” Forristall said. “I’d tell him ‘I’ve got faith in you, as much faith as I have in anybody. We’ve done well historically with backup quarterbacks. I’ve got as much faith in Mac as in any of the quarterbacks who have been here. He has (been) here in practice, going against our defense for three years. He was the MVP of the spring game. He can throw the crap out of the ball.
“It’s not like our playbook gets limited or we stop attacking down the field. We’re going to roll the same way we always do.
“I think that a lot of people don’t understand Mac Jones. They don’t know how good he is and how good he is going to be. That why I always (answer) when people say ‘What’s going to happen after Tua?” by saying ‘Mac Jones is really good.’
“He’s a confident player. He plays with a lot of emotion. People feed off of that and that’s something I love and appreciate.”
Jones didn’t explode against Tennessee, but Forristall attributed that to his sudden entry after Tagovailoa’s ankle injury.
“You get in there (for) the first time and you come in mid-game, it’s tough to come in with no rhythm,” Forristall said. “You’re not warm. He’ll be prepped and ready for Arkansas. I expect him to come out with guns blazing.”
Forristall says the Alabama running game will also be critical in Saturday night’s game against Arkansas. That means he will be called on in his role as a blocker as well as a pass receiver.
“It’s always (about) pad level, hats and hands,” Forristall said. “I’m not as big as some of these DLs (defensive linemen) that we play. I’m not 300 pounds. So I have to play super aggressive at the point of attack and I’ve got to play low. When I play high, bad things happen. When I play low, good things happen.”
Reach Cecil Hurt at cecil@tidesports.com or via Twitter @cecilhurt
