Lane Kiffin has high praise for one of the key players on Alabama’s defense, LB Will Anderson.

“He’s a dominant player,” Kiffin said Wednesday on the SEC coaches media teleconference. “I said it this week: he looks like Derrick Thomas, which is amazing at his age. I mean, the guy’s just a freak. I guess from who we played over time, I mean, he’s not as tall as Myles Garrett but (he’s) as disruptive as that. They’ve got great players all over, but he’s the best of all of them.”

Anderson is a 6-foot-4, 243-pound edge rusher has dealt with a knee injury this season, but for his performance against Florida, he was named the SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week. In that game, Anderson had 7 total tackles with a quarterback hurry, including a career-best 3.5 tackles for a loss.

This is nothing new after Anderson started every game as a freshman last season.

Anderson finished third in the SEC in sacks with 7, while also ranking third in tackles for loss at 10.5.