Nick Saban says Deontae Lawson, Terrence Ferguson are 'very questionable' vs. Mississippi State

Neither Deontae Lawson nor Terrence Ferguson practiced Wednesday, Alabama head coach Nick Saban said. That puts their status into question for Saturday’s game against Mississippi State.

Lawson suffered a sprained ankle last week against Ole Miss while Ferguson walked gingerly heading to the locker room. Saban confirmed both players sat out practice, which is why he put them in the “very questionable” category for this week.

“Both guys were unable to practice today, so that would put them in a probably category of ‘very questionable,'” Saban said.

After Alabama’s victory over Ole Miss, Saban said Lawson would be “day-to-day” with his ankle injury. He’s a key piece of the Alabama defense with 26 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks through four games. Last season, he had 51 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss as a redshirt freshman.

If Deontae Lawson can’t go, Saban said Alabama has a plan against Mississippi State.

“Well, you know, we played most of the game this last week with Jihaad [Campbell] playing and Trezmen [Marshall] playing,” Saban said. “So, that’ll be the way that we go. Obviously, the depth at that position is going to become critical for us if Deontae can’t go. So, we’ll keep working with those guys and try to get them ready to go this week.”

Ferguson, meanwhile, entered the game against Ole Miss in place of Darrian Dalcourt, who left the game in the second quarter. Dalcourt returned, but Ferguson didn’t.

The offensive line has been a big question mark for Alabama this season as all three quarterbacks — Jalen Milroe, Tyler Buchner and Ty Simpson — saw the field. Milroe’s mobility could help things, however, and Saban said the defense could come out with some different looks as a result.

“That should be helpful in terms of protecting [Milroe] better,” Saban said. “If [opposing defenses] play man to man and everybody turns their back, he has an opportunity to make plays if he can beat [the defender] one on one. But there are also opportunities to take it off.

“Everybody is going to have a different philosophy on how they want to play when it comes to how they want to control the quarterback … You never know how a team is going to approach that.”