Coming off a shutout victory, the Alabama Crimson Tide is 6-0 heads into its bye week. The Crimson Tide defense put on its best performance of the season, earning its first shut-out win since November of 2018. One big part of the defense this season is the emergence of Phidarian Mathis.

Mathis, a redshirt junior, has seen plenty of action this year with Christian Barmore and LaBryan Ray dealing with different injuries. He has made 14 total tackles with 4.5 of them for a loss this season. He was an instrumental element in shutting out Mississippi State as he got his first sack of the season and contributed a QB Hurry and two pass deflections.

“Like I told y’all before, just stepping up and taking on a big role. Like I said, just helping out LaBryan Ray, especially while him being down and people looking at me to be a leader up front," said Mathis. "Especially by me being the next older cat that’s in the room. I’m just taking it day by day, leading the young guys in the room and just being the best I can be whenever I get the opportunity to get on the field.”

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Crimson Tide Photos / UA Athletics
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Mathis will enjoy the bye week with his teammates but is looking forward to returning to his home state of Louisiana to play LSU next week. The former 4-star recruit hails from Neville High School in Monroe, Louisiana. He was rated the No. 4 recruit in the state of Louisiana in the class of 2017.

“Man, it’s going to be a big game. I can’t wait to get back home in front of my family and friends. I know those guys are going to give their best, so we got to prepare good for those guys and just be ready when the time comes," said Mathis.

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Crimson Tide Photos / UA Athletics
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The defensive line should be fully healthy as the Tide travel to Baton Rouge next week to take on the LSU Tigers. Alabama will attempt to put on a better defensive performance than last year's game that saw the Tigers gain 559 yards of offense in route to a 46-41 LSU victory.

Mathis, Barmore and Ray will be ready to play against an offense that ranks fourth in the conference averaging almost 36 points per game but was held to just 11 this past week in a loss to the Auburn Tigers.

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