Alabama defenders suggest change in speed of defensive play-calling
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The Alabama defense has been under a microscope since its horrific performance on Saturday in a monumental upset to Vanderbilt.
Aside from allowing 40 points to the Commodores, the Crimson Tide defense gave up 418 yards of offense and allowed 12-of-18 attempts on third down. Vanderbilt took an early lead and held it for the entire game, in large part because the defense was incapable of getting the Vanderbilt offense off the field with any consistency.
Obviously, a game like that doesn’t come close to what the team would call the ‘Alabama Standard.’ So, what changes need to be made?
Safety Malachi Moore, addressing the media after Tuesday morning’s practice, suggested that speeding up the play-calling in-game could provide a positing result.
“I think sometimes we get the call in a little late, so sometimes it gives us a little anxiety of not knowing what the offense is gonna run or adjusting to their formations,” Moore said. “Coach [Wommack], that’s kind of his style of calling, which one is gonna put us in a perfect position. He knows that we’re at ‘Bama now, and we have a lot of pieces, so he doesn’t have to compensate for anything. As long as he gives us a call and allows us to get our feet in the dirt we’re gonna be great.”
During yesterday’s press conference, defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said he felt like Alabama’s defense was playing ‘on our heels’ for much of the game. Moore’s assessment gives a reasonable explanation for why that is.
Moore also included that this feedback was not just from him, but from the other position groups on the defense as well.
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“I think that was the feedback I’ve gotten, just from the d-line all the way to the secondary, we feel like if we can just get the call in a little bit quicker, it can give us time to line up and go whip the man in front of us,” Moore said.
Speaking separately about the defense’s problems against Vanderbilt, defensive lineman Tim Smith stressed the importance of communication, and the lack thereof in Saturday’s game.
“Definitely a miscommunication. I felt like, in my opinion, there was a lot of miscommunication,” Smith said. “Not only with just like the linebackers but the secondary, as well. But we came in with the mindset today to go ahead and be intent and be pure in everything that we were gonna do, so we got majority of everything corrected today.”
Moore, one of Alabama’s defensive captains, said Wommack, the coaching staff, and the rest of the defense have been working tirelessly to figure out and correct what went wrong as Saturday’s game against South Carolina approaches.
“Coach [Wommack] has been doing a great job coming in and taking accountability on his part of the coaches, and on the players too, showing us how we didn’t fit stuff right, or what we messed up at,” Moore said. “Also telling us the good we did do in the game. I think everybody, like I said, is being very accountable of what happened Saturday and working very hard to never have that happen again.”
