Alabama Football: Patrick Surtain is the star no one is talking about

Patrick Surtain balled out as a freshman for Alabama football. He’s a great cornerback for the Tide, and he deserves more respect.

Alabama football will be strong in the secondary in 2019, and Patrick Surtain is a big reason why. As a cornerback, he will get to play on the opposite side of Trevon Diggs this year. He’s a true lockdown corner, and Surtain does similar things for the Tide.

At 6’2″, Surtain has the size to face larger receivers, and he does well with jump balls. He had seven passes defended and a pick as a freshman. Quarterbacks tried to test him early in the season, and they learned early that it was a bad idea to do so.

Surtain also had a forced fumble last season. If they want him to step up more in the run game, I could easily see that number increasing. With his larger frame, he can surprisingly ring some bells as a corner.

For some reason, Surtain doesn’t get the respect he deserves. Maybe it is because of all of the talent around him in the secondary. Perhaps it is because of the fact that his was only a freshman last year. My guess is that corners usually only get the respect they deserve if they get interceptions.

The tricky thing about playing cornerback in college is that there are two ways to do your job well. You can either make a play on the ball when it is thrown your way, or you can keep an accurate ball from being thrown your way entirely. I’m not saying that Surtain was perfect, but he did a lot of things well for Alabama football at corner.

As he grows into his sophomore season, I expect many more people to talk about him. Playing across from Diggs as opposed to Savion Smith, quarterbacks will be forced to test his side of the field more often. If he does his job, he will get a couple of picks from desperation from the opposing quarterback.

By the time Surtain is entering his junior season for the Tide, expect more people to be talking about him and giving him the hype he deserves.