Nick Saban updates search to find next Phidarian Mathis

Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide are trying to fill in holes this spring left behind by six defensive stars from the 2021 team. Perhaps the most difficult to replace is defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis, who projects as a second-round pick in the NFL Draft later this month. Saban wouldn’t name names but he believes he has a group capable of making up for Mathis’s impact on the Tide’s pass-rushing in 2022.

“We’ve got a couple of guys that I think, they’re all young guys, that can really make a difference there but I don’t think it’s worthy of mentioning anybody’s name right now until they actually prove that they can do it on a little more consistent basis,” Saban said after the team’s first spring scrimmage. “But I think we’ve got some guys that can do it. We’ve got some pretty good edge rushers, you know (Chris) Braswell has done well, Dallas (Turner) has done well, Will (Anderson) has done well.

“That’s an area that we have to work on. We’ve got guys that can do it but I think them doing it correctly so that they learn to push the pocket, especially when we’ve got good edge rushers, is really important.”

Mathis had a dominant season in 2021 and established himself as one of the premier defensive tackles in all of college football. He racked up 53 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, and nine sacks. He also had six quarterback hurries, two fumble recoveries, and one forced fumble. Coming into the year, he was one of the most underrated pieces on a very talented defense.

Saban on replacing top-three wide receivers

Nick Saban lost his top three receivers to the NFL Draft in Jameson Williams, John Metchie III and Slade Bolden.

Together, those players combined for 3,122 yards receiving and 26 touchdowns in 2021. As usual, the Crimson Tide feel they have the necessary players behind them to make up for that production. In an interview following a scrimmage at spring practice, Saban revealed which players are standing out so far.

“Jermaine Burton did a really great job today,” the coach said. “Little Aaron Anderson had a couple of big plays, did a nice job. Really good run-after-catch ability. Took a five-yard play and ran for 35 or 40 yards against the first team defense. So I think the receivers are coming along. Traeshon Holden has been pretty consistent all spring. Of course, Jacorey (Brooks) is not out there. The young guys seem to be getting better and better. JoJo (Earle), (Christian) Leary, Thaiu Jones-Bell, they all at times seem to show a lot of promise in terms of what they can do.”

On3’s Chandler Vessels contributed to this report.