Mississippi State's Jaray Bledsoe Making a Solo Tackle AND Stripping The Football With No Helmet Might Be The Coolest Play You See Today

Dios Mío, Jaray Bledsoe. Welcome to me knowing your name. I feel like people aren't making a big enough deal about this play. Maybe it got lost in the shuffle during the brief MAC game that broke out in Starkville, Mississippi this afternoon. Three fumbles in barely a minute of gameplay. There were footballs and helmets everywhere. It was hard to keep up. 

But please appreciate the play Mississippi State's Jaray Bledsoe makes on the second Alabama fumble. Appreciate both how impressive it is, and how cool it is – #9 lined up over the right guard.

Before the ball reaches the quarterback, he's already double-teamed, on his knees, with a faceful of 300-pound men. The helmet immediately pops off. At this point, you gotta think most regular players are cooked. 

Yet he somehow manages to teleport (or duck) through the double team and meet the running back at the line of scrimmage. To slow the running back down at that point is a good play. To be involved in the tackle at all is a great play. To strip the football mid-solo tackle and force a turnover that keeps your team in the game when they needed it most. Phenomenal. 

And he did it all without the helmet. Hell yeah. Not many players get the chance to make a great play without his helmet on. It's the curse of being a football player. There are so many greats out there that we'd barely recognize because every time we see them, their whole heads are covered. So I'd imagine when a defensive player's helmet pops off, he thinks to himself (if he's not a coward), "Holy shit. This is my moment. I'm the no helmet guy. Where's the ball?!? I have to make a play NOW!!!"

But 99% of the time, the play is already over. Or it's on the opposite side of the field. Maybe you're able to catch up at the very end, just enough to kinda-sorta say you contributed. Rarely do we see the helmetless player make a real impact.

Jaray Bledsoe did, though. He made one of the best plays of the day. He didn't celebrate a lick either. Watch as the rest of his team goes nuts, Jaray Bledsoe calmly picks up his helmet and saunters back to the sideline.

Good stuff, Jaray. I like his style. The only thing I like more than elaborate choreographed celebrations that incorporate gunfire and large-caliber artillery, it's when players do nothing at all.