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Considering the team’s lack of lateral speed at linebacker and its rotating cast of mediocre cornerbacks, it’s a minor amazement that the Tide won an SEC championship in 2014.
Alabama finished 11th in the conference in pass defense and tied for 10th in defensive takeaways.
Some guy named Lane Kiffin has mitigated the defensive downturn by ramping up the offense, as coach Nick Saban has allowed the team to take the kid-park go-kart governor off the playbook.
In the team’s five losses since 2011, the Crimson Tide has allowed an average of 34.6 points and 420.8 yards per game. In ’11, one of the best defenses in college football history allowed 67 points — combined — in nine games against SEC opponents.
The team may not equal the insane NFL talent it boasted on that ’11 defense, but for myriad reasons, Bama may feature its strongest unit on that side of the ball in four years.
DEFENSIVE LINE
Projected Starters: Jonathan Allen, A’Shawn Robinson, Jarran Reed
Biggest Loss: Brandon Ivory
The Skinny: The Tide’s best defensive asset in 2014, the line lost just one player on its three-deep. Barring injury problems, it’s hard to imagine the team performing at less than outstanding here.
ESPN recently ranked Alabama’s defensive line No. 1 in the SEC, ahead of Ole Miss and Tennessee. No single player will put up national-best numbers — it would be a surprise to see any of them get to double-digit sacks — but the group includes a combination of middle-clogging run-stuffers (Robinson, Reed) and still-stout edge rushers (Allen, Da’Shawn Hand, Dalvin Tomlinson).
Players like D.J. Pettway and Darren Lake add legitimate depth as well, and junior college transfer Jonathan Taylor could make an immediate impact.
The group can be penetrated or worn down, which Ohio State proved in the College Football Playoff, but it’s not easy. Alabama likely won’t match the ’11 team at linebacker or cornerback, but the ’15 defensive line could be even better.
Bottom Line: Expect slight improvement
LINEBACKERS
Projected Starters: Reggie Ragland, Denzel Devall, Reuben Foster, Ryan Anderson
Biggest Losses: Xzavier Dickson, Trey DePriest
The Skinny: The Tide got exposed at linebacker at times in ’14 after C.J. Mosley, one-man glue for two seasons prior, departed for the NFL. Mosley is from another planet athletically and his ability to read offenses may have been unmatched in the SEC.
It’s easy to say that a team can’t replace a linebacker of his caliber, but Alabama has done so successfully for many years after the departures of players like Rolando McClain and Dont’a Hightower. No offense to Trey DePriest, but he seemed better suited to play the “Mike” position, fighting through traffic and playing downhill against the run. On top of his limitations athletically, he played the entire season on a torn meniscus.
Enter Reggie Ragland, an All-SEC player in ’14. He’s a more athletic and versatile player than DePriest, so the Tide should upgrade at “Will” linebacker.
Xzavier Dickson was an effective pass rusher last season, nearly logging double-digit sacks playing off the team’s brute strength at defensive line. Replacing him may be the most difficult task of the year at linebacker, though Ryan Anderson proved to be an effective pass-rusher in limited packages.
Questions remain about the ability of Alabama’s linebackers to drop into coverage, their lateral quickness and their ability to rush the passer off the edge. But if Reuben Foster can morph from a reckless head-hunter to a fundamentally sound specimen, this group should be tremendous against the run and less vulnerable in other areas.
Bottom Line: Expect slight improvement
SECONDARY
Projected Starters: Cyrus Jones, Marlon Humphrey, Geno Smith, Hootie Jones, Maurice Smith
Biggest Losses: Landon Collins, Nick Perry, Jarrick Williams
The Skinny: Cyrus Jones isn’t the prototype NFL defensive back the way the game is trending. (AL.com recently reported him as 5-foot-9 and 195 pounds.) But by the end of last season, he’d transformed from a chest-pounding bulldog with inexplicable bravado to a true No. 1 cornerback in the SEC.
It’s been years since the Tide claimed one of those, as the run of first-round cornerbacks Kareem Jackson, Dre Kirkpatrick and Dee Milliner ended after the 2012 season. Jones, in addition to the decision to re-introduce a defensive backs coach to the staff, adds stability to a position that’s been a revolving door of disappointment and mediocrity for a few years now.
New defensive backs coach Mel Tucker will be judged in 2015 on whether he can identify another starting cornerback. Does he elect to streamline the development of one of the five-star guys from the ’14 class in Tony Brown or Marlon Humphrey? Does he give another chance to maligned veterans Bradley Sylve or Eddie Jackson? Or perhaps ’15 five-stars Kendall Sheffield and Minkah Fitzpatrick will rush into Tuscaloosa this summer, shock us all and take over by the middle of the season?
There’s no shortage of options, and it’s much easier to suspect that one of the talented players will rise to the occasion, rather than needing two if Jones wasn’t part of the picture.
At safety, Geno Smith and Hootie Jones aren’t as seasoned or touted as the players Alabama has fielded there in the last few seasons. Guys like Landon Collins, Nick Perry, Vinnie Sunseri and HaHa Clinton-Dix have helped prop up a relatively weak batch of corners. The Tide won’t have that luxury this season, but Smith knows the defense very well and Jones has the requisite athleticism.
If Tucker can coax Jones along, don’t expect the drop-off at safety to be as large as you might think, with the team having lost its top three players at the position, including an All-American.
The team made a combined 22 interceptions the last two seasons after making at least that many in ’09 and ’10 alone. Due to an upswing in play at cornerback, Alabama should take away the ball more often and make it tougher in the passing game.
Expect defensive coordinator Kirby Smart to feel more confident in his team’s ability to match up cornerbacks 1-on-1 with SEC receivers, allowing for more pressure and mixed schemes elsewhere. Alabama should more easily accomplish what it would like with its secondary in ’15.
It’s nice to have All-American safeties, but the Tide defense is designed to cut down the opposition’s best receivers without devoting extra resources. Get back to doing that, and the safeties can do more to help the linebackers in space while the team gets more pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
Bottom Line: Expect moderate improvement at cornerback and a slight downgrade at safety
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
