Known for Alabama’s ‘Gravedigger’ score, Texas football fans waking up to Isaiah Bond’s elite speed

When Isaiah Bond bid farewell to Alabama, Auburn fans wished him good riddance. His goal was simple transferring to Texas.

“Number one guy off the edge. A guy that you have to game plan for,” Bond said.

The blazing speedster will forever be known in Iron Bowl lore as the “Gravedigger” for the stunning game-winning touchdown catch he made on fourth-and-31 to help Bama beat Auburn 27-24 last season.

That now-iconic play was designed to “put them in the grave,” Bond said afterward. “We put them asleep,” he added for good measure.

Texas fans are waking up to how fast and dangerous the receiver who wears a diamond-studded necklace flashing “007” can be.

Related: AI clocks Texas WR Isaiah Bond with fastest speed in college football and Arch Manning wasn’t too far behind

“He’s starting to become one of those guys,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “He catches a curl route and you hold your breath because he might spin out and go.”

Bond became a starter in his second season at Alabama. He had a team-leading 48 catches for 668 yards and four touchdowns. Tide coaches named Bond their offensive player of the week four different times last season.

This was a former Georgia high school state sprint champion in the 100 meters (10.51) and 200 meters (21.19) as a junior. His personal best in the 100 was clocked at 10.48 seconds.

“You look at his career at Bama. Everybody knows about the fourth down catch at Auburn,” Sarkisian said. “I think our players, our quarterback, seeing that on TV automatically gave him a little bit of a head start. Oh, this guy can make a play when you when you got to have it.

“He hasn’t disappointed that way for us,” the coach added. “He’s made some big-time catches, some big-time plays.”

In a room with some big-time personalities, Bond stands out because he doesn’t stand still. One of the fastest players on the entire roster, Bond has a team-high 20 receptions for 364 yards and three touchdowns. UT quarterbacks have targeted him a team-high 26 times.

In some respects, it’s not a total surprise given Bond’s familiarity with what the coaching staff wants. Sarkisian, offensive line coach Kyle Flood and special teams coach Jeff Banks all coached at Alabama before coming to UT. While they didn’t coach Bond in Tuscaloosa specifically, Sarkisian said the Crimson Tide kept some of the same offensive concepts they installed.

“So when he came here, the transition for him to integrate himself into the offense and feel comfortable in the offense was probably a little easier for him than maybe a Matt Golden or a Silas Bolden coming from other places. And so it kind of sped up his process,” Sarkisian said.

Bond has already shown incredible agility with a 56-yard over-the-shoulder catch from Arch Manning against Louisiana-Monroe. He was clocked running 22.1 mph on a 51-yard touchdown catch-and-run against UTSA. Bond’s 33-yard touchdown catch against Michigan in week two now looks tame by comparison.

“Everybody’s got their own redeeming qualities, and probably at the top of his list from a redeeming quality, is he has elite speed,” Sarkisian said.