TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell had the worst start of his young career last time out on the road in the 26-10 loss at Tennessee. Russell is now preparing for another huge road test this Saturday at No. 15 LSU.

The Tigers have the No. 4 overall defense in the country, allowing just 258.1 yards per game and are second in the nation with 34 sacks on the season.

Russell was sacked five times at Tennessee. Some of the those were because of poor blocks by the offensive line or skill players, but sometimes Russell didn't have the offense lined up in the right spots. His ability to quickly and accurately assess what the LSU defense is trying to do during his pre-snap reads will be critical this week against LSU.

"For Kee, just like any good defense that can change the picture, it's keeping our eyes and focus on the right things, not letting the carrot in front of you take your attention off" Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said Monday morning. "I think that's tough for any quarterback, whether you're younger or older, and certainly LSU does the same thing a couple teams in this conference do, and they do a great job trying to distract the guys and taking their vision off what they need to concentrate on.

"So for Keelon, we've really got to keep him focused on what's important in the pre-snap and keep him locked in."

Alabama sophomore offensive lineman Mal Waldrep Jr. said Russel's "grown tremendously" in his pre-snap reads to get the calls out since the beginning of the season.

"Feels like to me, we’re all starting to come together as one, and he’s really able to… It’s to a point where we know what he’s going to say before he even says it now," Waldrep said. "It’s definitely been a great step in the right direction.”

Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer wants Russell to take all that he's learned from his previous eight starts this season into Saturday's pivotal matchup with the Tigers.

"It's not just a road environment that we've been in, it’s all the experiences that you've been through to this point in the season," DeBoer said. "Understanding down and distance situation. Understanding how each game -- there's ebbs and flows. But you just got to stay steady and give yourself a chance to see the next play, right? It's keeping yourself upright, getting rid of the football. I think that's, again, something that continues to improve at. I think the number of plays that you see continue to drop when it comes to those times where he's trying to do too much or trying to create but also balancing that out with the abilities that he has to go do some special things, but that will come to him because he's that type of player.”