Alabama defense quietly built into one of the best in college football

On3’s Andy Staples was in attendance at this year’s SEC Football Media Days, where the college football expert did several live shows from the Andy Staples On3 Podcast, interviewing players and coaches alike and breaking down the upcoming season. During one of the episodes, Staples and his co-host, On3 national writer Jesse Simonton, gave their thoughts about the Alabama defense.

With multiple players headed to the greener pastures of the NFL, such as star defensive end Will Anderson, some fans have begun to question the Crimson Tide’s defense. But Staples says Anderson was an outlier in how head coach Nick Saban’s defenses are run. And his absence won’t be as detrimental as something as Alabama has three more defensive lineman stars ready to step up in 2023.

“You lose Will Anderson; you have Dallas Turner and Chris Braswell to rush the passer,” said Staples. “Will Anderson actually kind of changed what they were defensively a little bit. Nick Saban was not usually a big sack guy. Like he didn’t necessarily care if they had huge sack numbers. He’d take sacks if they’d get them, but he more wanted to affect the quarterback. Confuse the quarterback; make his eyes lie to him. They’ve still got two guys that can get after the quarterback. But then, they also have that dude up the middle in Jaheim Otis who ain’t moving.”

Simonton is a fan of Alabama’s secondary

In the last two seasons, you could make a case that Alabama’s front seven was the strength of their defense. At the same time, their secondary struggled to keep opposing offenses in check. However, Simonton believes that the days of individuals calling into question the Crimson Tide secondary will be a thing of the past in 2023.

“I mean that defensive line; again, I think they’re probably gonna be better in the secondary. They added the all-conference guy from UAB,” said Simonton. “Kool-Aid McKinstry was here. He’s probably the number one corner in the country. Another guy that’s been seems like he’s been in Alabama forever, Malachi Moore—his capability to be versatile at corner and nickel. So the pieces are there.”

With so many individuals questioning the Alabama roster’s strength on offense and defense, this could be just a bulletin board material Saban needs to help fuel the fire for the Crimson Tide next season. And if individuals continue to doubt Alabama heading into their Week 2 matchup against the Texas Longhorns, Simonton anticipates the Crimson Tide sending a message at home against their future SEC foe.

“I think if enough folks are continuing to ‘doubt’ the Tide before this Week 2 game against Texas, that could be a statement performance.”