BAMA ON3 SHOW: Kevin Steele's defense + Alabama coveting tight ends
The Bama On3 Show is back for Episode 124, which includes BamaInsider’s Clint Lamb and Jimmy Stein breaking down all the latest happenings surrounding the Alabama football program. Today’s list of topics include the following:
- New offensive braintrust in Tuscaloosa helps Tommy Rees
- Why tight end is becoming a coveted position
- Kevin Steele’s defensive fronts compared to Alabama’s
- And more!
To keep track of the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal
Click here to join Alabama fans on the Talk of Champions message board
Links to Podcast
Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3Igz9Lg
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3IpPOvS
Megaphone: https://bit.ly/41bfmFP
Why we were concerned about Alabama’s DL in 2022
While there was plenty of returning experience, Alabama’s defensive line lacked star power.
Don’t get me wrong, there wasn’t a shortage of good front defenders available in Tuscaloosa. But at least going into the 2022 season, none of those options were considered great front defenders yet. To be fair, we weren’t as concerned about that as others, but we still felt like it was a situation worth monitoring.
We were also concerned about Alabama identifying a complementary interior pass rusher.
Burroughs had given us hope through all the offseason buzz, but a known commodity had yet to be established. We knew the exterior pass rush should be effective with Dallas Turner, Will Anderson Jr. and Chris Braswell all available. But Alabama’s defenses are usually at their best when they’re able to generate pressure from inside and out.
Take Jonathan Allen, Tim Williams and Ryan Anderson in 2015-16, for example.
Over that two-year stretch, the trio combined for 57 sacks. As a result, Alabama fielded the top-ranked defense in sacks in both of those seasons. The Crimson Tide ranked amongst the top 3 in both scoring and total defense during that stretch, too. Finding such a disruptive trio isn’t easy, but as the results have shown, it’s effective when you do.
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Terrell Lewis was supposed to complement Quinnen Williams and Christian Miller in 2018 to give Alabama a similar setup, but he suffered a season-ending injury. To compensate, Isaiah Buggs (9.5 sacks) emerged as an inside-out presence, which provided Alabama with another top-5 finish in sacks. But by the time Lewis was healthy in 2019, Williams was in the NFL.
Really, the closest we’ve seen to that Allen-Williams-Anderson trio was in 2021.
Anderson and Turner combined for 26 sacks out on the perimeter while Mathis and his nine sacks provided a perfect complement on the interior. As a result, Alabama once again ranked No. 1 in sacks. Injuries at cornerback left the defense vulnerable, but that position — at least for the most part — had a clean bill of health going into 2022. That’s why we felt it was so important for the defense to find an adequate replacement for Mathis heading into last season.
For more on why we were excited about the DL, what we learned and more, click here.
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