Jordan Rodgers played 25 games at quarterback for Vanderbilt, but one of his more vivid memories took place vs. Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 2011.

Now an analyst for the SEC Network, Rodgers was a first-year junior-college transfer for the Commodores that season. He entered the Commodores’ 34-0 loss to the Crimson Tide after starter Larry Smith was pulled for ineffectiveness, and quickly got his introduction to SEC football courtesy of All-America safety Mark Barron.

“My vivid first memory is walking to the line of scrimmage — because back then we still took snaps from under center — and looking left and right at this defense and thinking in my head ‘I’ve never seen guys this big,’” Rodgers said in an interview with AL.com’s Ben Flanagan on Wednesday at SEC Media Days in Atlanta. “… We called a speed option play, and the defensive end took the running back, so I decided to cut it up upfield. My fullback was the lead blocker. He kind of dove trying to cut (block) the corner.

“For some reason I felt like I had to jump a little bit … and Mark Barron, who had about a 20-yard head start running full-speed at 230 pounds, hit me — which (today) he would have been ejected and it would have been suspended for the next half of the first next game as well — because we went helmet-to-helmet. And hit me right in the ear hole.”

The worst part, Rodgers said, was Vanderbilt’s coaches immediately called the same play again.

“(TV cameras) zoom in on me as I pop up,” he said. “I had a fight-or-flight, pop-up reaction, because I’m out on my feet. My helmet is crooked, my earpiece is up by my forehead. I’m trying to like piece it back down. I’m blinking and all I remember is my offensive coordinator called a speed option the very next play.

“I looked to the sideline like, ‘what are we doing?’”