Deontae Lawson emerging as vocal leader of Alabama defense

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The preseason is dominated by talk of position battles, and rightfully so. Every team has to replace starters or key contributors that left their programs via graduation, the NFL draft or the transfer portal. For Alabama, some of the players that moved on after the 2022 season were not only some of the last team’s best players but some of its top leaders.

Finding new leadership can take time, but at least one Crimson Tide player stepped up over the summer, finding his voice when others were taking a relaxed approach to voluntary workouts. It was linebacker Deontae Lawson, as offensive tackle JC Latham explained it last month.

“There was a guy who wasn’t able to do the abs, and he was basically telling him, ‘Yo, that’s crap. You need to be here with us when we do our abs,’” Latham said of Lawson. “It was an optional workout, but we don’t take all that optional stuff for granted. We all do it. So he was getting on him and leading his group and letting them know, ‘We’re all in this year, we’re not losing. We’ve got this stuff lined up, do it.’ We’ve got a great team.”

Alabama has to replace all three permanent team captains and several other leaders from last year’s team, making one of the areas of importance of the offseason finding new players to step into those leadership roles. One would figure whoever wins the quarterback battle will be among those, but what about the quarterback of the Tide’s defense? With Henry To’oTo’o turning pro, Alabama will have a new general relaying the calls at the Mike linebacker position.

While the exact roles are still unknown, Lawson has seemingly embraced being a leader.

“Definitely, I feel like, with my position, that’s something I have to do,” Lawson said. “Seeing guys like Henry and (Jaylen) Moody, just following their footsteps, that’s a role I have to step into.”

Lawson played plenty of first-team reps throughout last season, splitting time with Moody at the Will linebacker position. He appeared in 11 games and made four starts, including the Iron and Sugar Bowls with Moody dealing with a shoulder injury. He finished fifth on the team in tackles last year, which was a couple of spots ahead of Moody. With both the latter and To’oTo’o moving on to the next level, Lawson is the most experienced returner at inside linebacker.

“Deontae Lawson played really good football when he played last year,” head coach Nick Saban said. “He was injured a lot of the time. He sat out the spring, got his knee worked on a little bit. He’s had a good summer. He’s got leadership. He’s got a good understanding of the defense.”

Lawson will have a new position coach and defensive coordinator for the first time in his career at Alabama, but the latter, Kevin Steele, echoed Saban’s thoughts on the redshirt sophomore.

“Deontae is a guy that’s very smart,” Steele said. “He works very hard. But he also has time on task. He’s been there, and so that always helps in college football. There is a difference in an 18-year-old and a 21-year-old, and particularly, if you’ve done the task over and over and over. So he has a lot of snaps under his belt. He knows the expectation. He knows the process, he’s very smart and he’s relentless in his approach in working toward improving himself and the defense.”

Teammates chime in on Lawson’s leadership

Lawson received rave reviews from the coaches this preseason, but his teammates have also been impressed with the leadership the native of Mobile, Ala., has provided this offseason.

“I think D-Law, just coming to work every day and leading by example,” defensive back Malachi Moore said. “But also I told him, because we are very close on the defensive side, I talk to him a lot and I told him that one thing he needs to do better a job of is being more vocal. ‘I know you’re leading by example, but me vocal and talk to our teammates,’ and things like that.

“He’s done a phenomenal job of doing that, and he’s a lot more vocal now that we’re in camp. He’s talking, we’re communicating and everything is good.”

Added offensive guard Tyler Booker, “He’s taken charge of that defense, and I’m very proud of him and very happy to see that. A lot of the weight was placed upon Will (Anderson) last year to be the leader of the defense, and now that weight is being spread over a lot of guys.

“It’s not just Deontae Lawson. You see Malachi Moore being a leader. You see Dallas Turner being a leader. You see Justin Eboigbe being a leader. There’s a whole lot of leaders on that defense, and when there’s a lot of leaders on the team in general, that’s when we have better success.”

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