Alabama safety Malachi Moore kicks ball, slam’s player’s head in meltdown during shocking loss to Vanderbilt

Alabama safety Malachi Moore kicks ball, slam’s player’s head in meltdown during shocking loss to Vanderbilt

Alabama safety Malachi Moore had a meltdown that Nick Saban would’ve never tolerated.

The Crimson Tide defensive back was visibly frustrated during the team’s road blunder in Vanderbilt, where the nation’s No. 1 team fell to the Commodores, 40-35.

After a play, Moore kicked the football off the line of scrimmage after an official had just spotted it.


Alabama's Malachi Moore slams a Vanderbilt player's head into the ground after a tackle on the final play.Alabama’s Malachi Moore slams a Vanderbilt player’s head into the ground after a tackle on the final play. SEC Network

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And he also slammed a Vanderbilt player’s head and helmet into the ground following the final play of the game.

This came weeks after former coach Saban side-swiped Vanderbilt, saying they’re, “The only place you play in the SEC that’s not hard to play.”




Malachi Moore (13) gets burned for a big touchdown pass to Vanderbilt receiver Junior Sherrill.Malachi Moore (13) gets burned for a big touchdown pass to Vanderbilt receiver Junior Sherrill. AP

Following the outburst, Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer offered that Moore had behaved “much better inside the locker room,” according to a report from Tuscaloosa News.

“The guy pours everything into what he does,” added DeBoer. “Doesn’t make it OK. We want to be first class in everything we do. There’s a lot of guys that are very frustrated. The key is we turn that frustration into positive moving forward and make sure that we remember what we feel  here tonight and remember that when we show up tomorrow and Tuesday and Wednesday, all season long. Malachi, I’m 100% confident he will do that.” 

The game will be a crowning achievement for Vanderbilt football, who went 0-60 against top-five teams prior to this, and hadn’t defeated Alabama since 1984.

Additionally, the loss forced Alabama to drop to No. 7 in the latest Associated Press rankings and out of the No. 1 spot in the country, which they obtained after a big win over Georgia last week.