Injury updates for Alabama’s Malachi Moore, Christian Harris

Alabama was never truly threatened in the 31-14 win over Notre Dame so the biggest concern online during the Rose Bowl seemed to be the status of a freshman defensive back.

Malachi Moore didn’t appear in the win and the social media questions were enough to draw a halftime response from his mom. He was a little banged up, was the gist of Tina Moore’s Twitter post.

Nick Saban addressed his absence and one other injury note from Friday’s win in Arlington. Moore, it turns out, was injured in the SEC title game win over Florida on Dec. 19.

“He was able to practice on and off but it’s the type of injury that exercise aggravates it,” Saban said. “So he wasn’t able to go today.”

Jordan Battle started in Moore’s place and made five tackles.

Middle linebacker Christian Harris started but didn’t play the full game, a move Saban explained. It was a precaution after Harris was injured Dec. 12 at Arkansas.

“He was getting a little sore with the injury he has,” Saban said. “We just took him out because we didn’t want him to get hurt, which we do on occasion. But he played through it and he could have finished the game, we just took him out.”

Harris finished with five total tackles while his replacement, Jaylen Moody had two solo stops. Harris also had the game’s only interception of Ian Book on a critical third-quarter drive when the Irish trailed by only 14. Alabama scored on the following possession.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.

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