TUSCALOOSA -- Alabama linebacker Keith Holcombe is “a whole ‘nother animal.”

As a key contributor on special teams and a reserve inside linebacker for the Crimson Tide, the redshirt sophomore has impressed his teammates with a mixture of explosiveness, leadership and a Reuben Foster-like mentality this season.

And because of that, Reuben Foster himself could only smile when asked about his fellow linebacker.

“He’s just got one speed,” Foster said. “He motivates me. He’s got one speed. He don’t let nothing get him down. I’ve never seen someone like that. His diabetes and all that, he don’t ever get down. He’s on go 100 percent.”

Holcombe is now in his third season at Alabama and has seen his role on the football team increase over the past couple seasons. He is tied with senior defensive end Jonathan Allen for the fourth-most tackles on the roster with 14 through four games. And the senior defensive lineman was just as happy to talk about Holcombe earlier this week as Foster.

The Tuscaloosa native has earned some reps with the first-team defense at practice, Allen said. And when that happens, “we’re not really missing a beat. … A lot of guys can rally around him and follow him. He’s just a natural born leader.”

“He’s just like Reuben in a lot of ways,” Allen said. “When his time comes, he’s definitely going to be that. I feel like he can be a really good linebacker. Just his presence. He’s got good presence. He doesn’t get rattled in most situations. He commands the defense, gets us lined up, communicates well with one another. I think that’s his biggest attribute.”

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Allen also said Holcombe can hit like Foster, who gave himself a black eye on a ferocious hit on Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly a couple weeks ago in Oxford. Holcombe, however, pumped the brakes on that comparison.

“I don’t know about that,” Holcombe said with a chuckle, in his debut in the Naylor Stone Media Suite. “Reuben’s a freak of an athlete. I try to hit as hard as him, but if I do that, I might break my body in half.”

The only black eyes Holcombe will be admitting to are his own. Just as he does on the baseball diamond, the Hillcrest (Ala.) High School product adds a layer of paint under his eyes before each football game. It’s something he learned from his father, Danny Holcombe, who played at Alabama from 1980-82. Danny was an offensive lineman for legendary coach Paul Bryant.

“Growing up, my dad said, ‘If you look good, you play good,’ so that’s a little bit of a thing I like to carry, just a little bit of eye black,” Holcombe said. “I mean I’m not the biggest guy, so I gotta improve on my intimidation factor. I put a little bit of eye black on to help with that.”

Holcombe registered seven tackles in No. 1 Alabama’s 48-0 victory over Kent State a week ago and could see similar playing time and production this weekend as the Tide will host Kentucky for its 2016 homecoming game.

Eye black and all, one of Alabama’s three Players of the Week on defense after its win over the Golden Flashes will suit up in front of his hometown crowd this weekend -- which he used to imagine doing in his childhood.

“I was just glad to be out there,” Holcombe said. “The coaches trust me to go out there and do my job, make my calls and that’s what I pride myself in doing. It’s fun going out there just flying around to the ball, feeling like you’re a little kid again, what you’ve always dreamed of doing. That’s what they recruited me to come here and do, and that’s why I’m trying to fulfill that.”

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