Alabama Football G03 vs Southern Miss 2014

Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper (9) battles Southern Miss linebacker Elijah Parker (16) during the second quarter Saturday.

(Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com)

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — Amari Cooper's not a big talker. Instead, he carries himself with a quiet confidence.

Ask him about Saturday's matchup with Florida, and he's knows the deal. The Alabama junior who leads the nation in receptions will toe-up with possibly the best cornerback in the country. Sophomore Vernon Hargreaves III, a preseason All-American, broke up four passes Saturday in a triple-overtime win over Kentucky.

It has the feel of the Julio Jones/Patrick Peterson duels of a few years past and the significance isn't lost on either side.

"Everybody knows what's coming," Hargreaves told reporters Monday in Gainesville. "Obviously I'm going to be covering him. I'm excited for it."

Cooper played it cool.

"He's fast, quick," the Miami native said. "He plays smart."

Neither has faced an opponent with quite the talent they'll see at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Bryant-Denny Stadium. For Cooper, it'll mean seeing a cornerback unafraid to play tight man coverage. The last few defenses played well off the line, allowing him to pile up the national-best 33 catches for 454 yards.

"You can't really get anything out of that as a receiver," Cooper said. "But press man, it's good work for a receiver to have in the game."

From the game film, Saban recognizes the talent in Hargreaves. He also remembers recruiting him as one of the nation's top cornerbacks in the 2013 class.

The Tampa product visited Tuscaloosa and had an Alabama offer, but stayed closer to home with the Gators. In a 2013 interview with the Tampa Bay Times, Hargreaves recalled meeting with Nick Saban in his office. It was an "intimidating" experience, he said.

"He's pretty straightforward and said this is what we have, take it or leave it," Hargreaves told the newspaper. "You could tell he was all business because if you don't like to win, don't go there." ... Asked if he could see himself having fun there, Hargreaves said: "Nah. That's why I didn't go."

Living up to the billing last year, Hargreaves started the last 10 games and ranked second in the SEC with 1.17 passes defended per game. SEC coaches and the media made him first-team all-conference.

Florida defensive back Vernon Hargreaves, III (1) prepares to defend against Eastern Michigan's Kenny Jones (82) on Sept. 6.

"He's very instinctive, he's fast, quick," Saban said Monday. "But I think probably his greatest asset besides having great ability is he's a very instinctive player. A very good cover guy. He's tough, physical."

That makes for a good matchup with Cooper.

At 5-foot-11, Hargreaves is two inches shorter and 15 pounds lighter than Cooper. Both have the speed element as Cooper said he was clocked at 4.31 in the 40-yard dash this spring. Saban called him "the complete package."

"He's exceptionally good against press, coming off the ball, but he's also very good coming out of a break," Saban said. "Most of the time the defender gets beat either on the release or out of the break. A lot of guys are pretty good at one and maybe not as good at the other. And he has really good hands and good ball skills."

Saban said Cooper's looked good against man coverage in practice but hasn't seen much of it in games this fall. With Hargreaves, he'll see a speedy cornerback who's a sturdy 195 pounds.

"The quicker guys, they fall for moves easier so it's kind of like, it can be hard, but it can be easy also," Cooper said in general, not about Hargreaves necessarily.

The two haven't played against each other previously, but they're not strangers either. They've communicated a few times via Twitter.

@_VH3 look forward to playing y'all too bra. Good year this year too bra keep it up. — R.I.P Freddy G (@AmariCooper9) December 12, 2013

In July, Hargreaves said they're keeping it friendly. No trash talk.

"We knew this was coming," Hargreaves said Monday. "He's excited. I'm excited. We both know the magnitude of the game and it's going to be a great matchup on Saturday."