What happened to Alabama's defense? And can Nick Saban bring it back?
Glaciers change imperceptibly, eroding ever so slightly over thousands of years until what was once an ice-covered landscape is green and lush.
Continents are moving away from each other inches at a time, practically immeasurable until you factor in time and realize that they are practically speeding across the globe’s surface.
The point is that change doesn’t always happen all at once. More often than not, gigantic change happens like geology itself — the science of pressure over time.
The Alabama defense was once the most feared component of what was the most dominant dynasty college football has ever seen. In the past decade, the Crimson Tide produced so many dominant defenders running squeeze-you-to-death schemes that Tuscaloosa practically became a feeder system to the NFL.
But it was those imperceptible changes, almost forgotten about at the time in some cases, that slowly eroded the Tide defense like the Colorado River did to the Grand Canyon — just a little bit at a time.
This isn’t to say that the Grand Canyon exists now in Tuscaloosa. But there has been erosion in the Crimson Tide’s defense, and here are some of the reasons:
1. Kirby Smart coaches at Georgia now
The genesis of Alabama’s dominant defensive teams began with Kirby Smart, who followed head coach Nick Saban from LSU to the Dolphins to Alabama — becoming the Tide’s defensive coordinator in 2008.
Not only was Smart the coordinator and seemingly an extension of Saban’s brain, Smart also recruited like a machine. It didn’t take long for Georgia, his alma mater, to try and steal him away to coordinate the Bulldogs’ defense, but Smart stayed loyal to Saban and the Tide en route to coaching dominant defenses that helped win the 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015 national titles.
Other offers came and went, including a reported head-coaching offer from Auburn, but Smart stayed in Tuscaloosa. Alabama rewarded Smart accordingly, making him the highest-paid coordinator in the game.
But mama’s call was too much to ignore after Mark Richt was dismissed in Athens following the 2015 season, and Smart took his considerable coaching and recruiting talents home. Since then, Saban has had Jeremy Pruitt, Tosh Lupoi and Pete Golding coordinating the Tide defense.
None of them are Kirby Smart. And Alabama’s defense has suffered ever since, most dramatically after Smart’s recruits cycled through.
- 2015: 15.1 points per game
- 2016: 13.0 ppg
- 2017: 11.9 ppg
- 2018: 18.1 ppg
- 2019: 18.8 ppg
2. Trying to organically grow DLs instead of using JUCO players
Defensive linemen who come from high school to big-time SEC football aren’t exactly a dime a dozen. It takes time. It takes good nutrition and a whole lotta time in the weight room. And it takes projecting how an 18-year-old body will mature into a 20-year-old man.
And because of No. 4 below, Alabama doesn’t exactly have a ton of time between cycles to develop dominant defensive linemen up front. A couple of the more successful defensive linemen of the past decade (Quinton Dial, Jesse Williams) played somewhere else before Alabama caught up with them.
3. Injuries kill even faster than speed
Look no further than the 2019 Tide defense to see just how much an injury or 2 to key defenders can absolutely decimate an entire unit. As is the case with the entire sport, injuries — or lack thereof — are a luck thing. But when Alabama loses both veteran middle linebackers like it did before the 2019 season, well …
Imagine Alabama’s defense this year with linebackers Dylan Moses and Joshua McMillon calling plays and patrolling the middle instead of freshmen Shane Lee and Christian Harris.
Not that 2019 was the only instance of Alabama’s fortunes changing based on a key defender going down. Shaun Dion Hamilton, for example, sustained season-ending knee injuries each of his final 2 seasons with the Crimson Tide — a right ACL tear in 2016 and a broken kneecap in the same knee in 2017.
4. The NFL beckons every year
Talk about the reverse effect of being consistently great season after season. Much like Duke and Kentucky in college basketball, Alabama is forced to reload a year or 2 faster than most of the rest of the country.
Alabama typically leaned on veteran defensive players at every level during his its dominant stretch earlier in the decade. The past 2 years, in particular, freshmen have been forced into roles before they were ready. Injuries certainly played a part. But so did early departures.
Alabama has had 42 defenders drafted by NFL teams in the past 9 years. The majority of them were underclassmen, some spending only 3 seasons out of the possible 5 on campus. Just like 1-and-done has revolutionized/devolved college basketball recruiting at the highest level, the early lure of the NFL forces super-programs like Alabama to find more instant stars.
Which leads us to …
5. Recruiting misses
The math alone tells you that recruiting is an inexact science. Teams sign 25 players a year — in Alabama’s case, the vast majority of them either 4- or 5-star talents who were high school superstars. In home SEC games, teams can only dress 80 players. On the road, 70. Without factoring in attrition, that means there are a handful of high school studs every year who don’t even make travel rosters.
Of Saban’s 13 recruiting classes, 8 of which were ranked No. 1 in the country according to the 247Sports Composite Team Recruiting Rankings. That includes a 7-year run atop the standings from 2011-17 — a steak that was snapped in 2018 after the Crimson Tide signed the No. 6 class in the country.
That doesn’t seem like much of a stumble, but even a blip — especially when recruiting against Smart in Georgia — can mean a lot in the final equation. Also, players like pass-rushing beast Eyabi Anoma choose the transfer portal after not playing immediately and ended up in Houston. Defensive lineman Antonio Alfano, the No. 5 overall player in the Class of 2019 and top-ranked player in the Crimson Tide’s most recent recruiting class, suddenly bolted the program and Tuscaloosa itself after just a couple weeks before transferring to Colorado.
6. Not adjusting to the hurry-up
It is no secret that Saban’s defensive schemes are NFL-level complex. On the surface, that isn’t a bad thing — as it both accounts for increasingly complex offenses and gets superstar players ready to play football for money.
But said complexity is a bad thing when offenses go fast. Because the constant pre-snap adjustments that allow Alabama’s defense to key in on the football’s likely destination virtually disappear when opponents snap the rock 5 seconds after the last play ended. The Crimson Tide find themselves more and more with inopportune (typically young) personnel on the field when teams speed it up, and clever offenses like Auburn increasingly are able to capitalize.
“What happened to Alabama’s defense?”
Kirby left
That would be the short factual version of this article lol
Maybe there can be a companion piece explaining why Pruitt’s defenses were better?
Who coached the defense in 2016-2017? I’m assuming Pruitt. Yeah his defenses were better. So the real thing is when Jeremy Pruitt left.
Why do you think they were better? PPG? One stat? OK
The last sentence was sarcastic because Georgia fans were all gung-ho about Smart being the reason it is not as good. But of course you get offended.
Then why can’t he beat Bama?
Yet Saban beat you both times
Ouch! all those ‘facts’ about Kirby Smart, or the lack of there of, will not sit well with some of the Alabama faithful.
I don’t see how? It’s true, and we miss Coach Smart, but we also knew he wasn’t going to be a DC forever. He’s doing well as a HC at his alma mater, so good for him. We just need to find another like him. Easier said than done.
When y’all hire Dabo to replace the old man maybe you can get a twofer, none better the Brett…of course y’all are going to have to cough up scholarships for their 1 and 2 star sons to transfer in as well…
Why would Dabo leave Clemson?
Dabo would be an idiot to leave ClemPson. He’s like God there. Nobody wants to follow Saban and ClemPson’s pockets are just as deep as Bama’s
Yeah that is the dumbest idea people have come up with. The dude is set. He has 2 natties and his own slide. He ain’t going to bama.
@bamaman 234 How is Dabo coming home “the dumbest idea” people have come up with? I mean you’re an LSU fan for Christ sake. Les Miles wrote the book on dumb ideas.
I don’t personally think or expect Dabo to leave Clemson for Alabama, at least not to replace Saban. Also, if he had no connection to Bama whatsoever, I would probably agree with you. It would be like Saban leaving Bama to coach Ohio State.
But suggesting that he wouldn’t be tempted to come back and coach his alma matter when he’s already achieved GOAT status in Clemson lore no matter what he does is short sighted. If he wins multiple national titles at multiple schools, then you’re talking rarefied air.
@RTR2011 why would Dabo leave on his own terms, especially to go coach at a hated rival like Alabama, South Carolina, or Florida State? Now if he gets fired from Clemson I can understand…
Dabo is a trunksnorter alum for 1 and stated Bama would be his dream job earlier in his career. Alabama is far from a hated rival for Dabo.
I think it would be dumb for a dude who has already had success and is still having success while making MILLIONS to leave his job. I wouldn’t leave. And yeah I’ll agree with that Les Miles remark lol. It got boring to watch LSU when we were in the midst of his run up the middle bs.
TrophyKing80, classy comment, and true. Who wouldn’t want to come in and learn from Saban.
My comment was directed at the part of the fan-base who could never admit to missing anybody who ever left Alabama. There was one Alabama fan on an article last week claiming to have “never liked Kirby when he was at Alabama.”
That’s just plain ignorant on their part. Kirby was a great DC, and how his legacy will unfold at being HC remains to be seen, though so far, he’s looking pretty good.
A lot us miss Coach Smart, Jalen Hurts, even the last decent kicker we had….what’s-his-name….yeah, him. LOL
Lots of factors, but of course the haters will try and argue that Kirby’s departure had nothing to do with it.
I would argue that Saban did pretty well in adjusting to the new offenses in comparison to other defensive powers. His linebackers evolved from guys like CJ Mosley to Dylan Moses, etc.
Agreed.
But the problem here is Kirby coached the teams that were made up of huge run stoppers. He wasn’t really part of the transition to smaller spread-stoppers.
Kirby is great, there’s no salt here, it’s just not a good analysis that things went south because he left.
No doubt Kirby’s departure was a big blow to Alabama. That should be obvious to anyone. But Alabama has fielded great defenses since and would likely have fielded a top defense again this year without the injuries.
That’s kind of the point. When Kirby was there and someone went down someone else took their place and they never missed a beat. Kirby gave them more than great defensive coaching. He gave them incredible depth.
Not arguing with that, but did Bama ever lose as many starters (and quality starters, at that) as this year under Kirby? It seems like a fair question.
I’m not sure. I’m not a Bama historian nor do I care to be lol
Not really. Way back when, Bama was able to avoid the injury bug. Not now, it seems it has dug in like an Alabama tick (pun intended)
At this point it is just speculation. Next year will give a better understanding of this. If they rebound back to the standard of the last decade then maybe Kirby was just a piece of the puzzle.
Nobody is going to give Bama a break over starting a Freshman when they’ve got a 5* Senior riding the bench. Everyone has injuries and early departures that are critical.
Did it ever occur to you that the reason the senior is on the bench is maybe he wasn’t actually a “5*” despite what a recruiting website said? I mean, do you still think Byron Cowart was a “5*”?
Cowart transferred because he couldn’t beat out the guys that have been dominating on the DL this year. I didn’t say there wasn’t a reason for the guy to be on the bench…but that doesn’t mean Bama (or Auburn) are playing Freshmen because they’re the only dudes left.
You know we heard all of this a few years back too. What happened Nick won a couple of more titles. Its called reloading and even the mighty Nick Saban has to himself now and again.
I’d be perfectly happy to see Saban right the ship — beginning on Sept. 20, 2020.
Ha, I see what you did there.
Yeah, I forgot to add the cheesy grin emoji. Here ya go…
Awwww doesn’t work.
But I know it’s there, nonetheless. We’ll see you boys on September 19th. Good luck to your team this weekend. I don’t have a dog in that fight, but recent experience with Georgia’s program has taught me that they show up for games like these. That 2012 SEC Championship game is probably still one of the best of all time. That game was a heavy-weight bout, and I hope you guys feel no shame about that game. Your squad put up a heckuva fight, and I expect nothing less this Saturday or next September.
GO DAWGS (this weekend- not 9/19/20.)
He will go 3 for 3!
Can Saban bring it back?
I vote yes.
Can Alabama recruit 5 star players.
I vote yes.
Can Alabama go out and hire a quality defensive coordinator and defensive position coaches?
I vote yes.
Climb on now.
And hold on.
Can other schools in the SEC match the streak of going to five straight playoff?
Sure.
We’ll see how far Bama falls.
Really, that far!
Let me guess, you voted for hillary
…and let ME guess…you voted for the Head MAGAT?
You guys are a joke.
Yay, politics.
That has nothing to do with the conversation; stay on point or be gone.
Here
What are you, 6?
Telling people to “stay on point or be gone” on a 2nd rate sports blog, what are you, preschool?
The orange man is bad and he shagged a pr0n star, see I don’t play favorites.
Ah lighten up guys, I’m not the one that brings politics into sports – Colon Kapernick, Stephen Smith, Lebron etc all beat me to it.
Plus, Herschel supported President Donald J Trump – every good Dawg wants to follow Herschel’s lead.
Nobody should be angry or embarrassed over who/what they voted for, it’s America. My apologies if I caused somebody’s blood pressure to spike.
.
.
But answer me this – how well is College Football doing in Venezuela?
Well, not much does well under a dictatorship. ::shrugs::
My 403-B is glad Trump got elected.
I think we can all agree on that.
The revolving door with coordinators, in my opinion, has taken the greatest toil on quality depth. The consistency of Smart was beneficial in relationships that have to be developed over time to evaluate and attract the top recruits. The high rate of coaching turnover is hurting Bama in fostering those relationships. It was bound to start having an impact. Coaching staff stability is very important for consistent recruiting success.
Where is the next Kirby?
How many millons upon millions does Saban have in the bank?
Ever seen Saban’s mansion on Lake Burton in Georgia, the one where he likes to get naked, grab a bar of soap and bath in the lake?
I wonder what the bidding war for Saban as an announcer/analyst would be like.
What is Saban this year, 69 or 70?
Maybe he brings it back, maybe not.
10/31/1951, making him 68.
He was born on Halloween??? I knew he was evil
I see the UGA fans are back out in full force…
Harvey, where ya been? Finally got out of jail for hacking Wikipedia I see…
BAHAHAHAHAHAHA
UGA playing LSU and all they talk about is Bama. Cuz they know this is their only chance to talk before their season ends Saturday.
Can’t argue with that…but it sure is nice to get that extra week of jaw time again, for the 3rd straight year…enjoy the game. Two really good teams
At least our season is still alive. Enjoy the game. You’re free right?
UGA fans are versatile. We can hold multiple conversations at the same time. Not like Bama fans that struggle spelling three letter words.
BamaTimeTard
Will your goat able to walk right again? I know AU kicking that aaass was frustrating.
It was, but not quite as bad as losing to South Carolina!
Well, it IS an article about Alabama, so I imagine most fanbases are well represented here. Except Vandy….I wonder why? Maybe cause they’re smart enough to stay on their own site? ::shrugs::
Vandy’s on some obscure Reddit thread discussing quantum physics.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
They will be hiding out after Saturday!
The issue has been in the defensive secondary, of which Saban himself rules. The freshman Alabama played this season, were on the D-line and at the linebacker level, which, over the course of the season, improved. The secondary, which is Saban’s baby, has been awful for 2-3 seasons. That’s on him.
Georgia fans are about as hilarious as they are delusional; Smart isn’t the SOLE REASON Bama had such dominate defenses.
If you’d pay attention to the stats provided in the article you’ll see that Pruitt’s D allowed fewer points per game over the two years he was Defensive Coordinator under Saban.
But I’m sure y’all don’t like FACTS.
Too bad Pruitt couldn’t scheme for Ga State.
Now BYU, they’re an elite powerhouse.
TDOW, South Carolina is a powerhouse.
So is Auburn apparently
Y’all behave.
Nobody said he was the sole reason. Pruitt was just as good of a DC as Kirby. Kirby’s edge was his ability to recruit. Pruitt inherited Kirby’s recruits. That’s the facts
But I’m sure y’all don’t like FACTS.
Yeah, Alabama doesn’t recruit well anymore once Kirby left. CAPITAL LETTERS.
The caps were for volman.
Then take it from a Longhorn: If you assume the talent level was equal since Kirby used his own recruits and Pruitt used Kirby’s recruits…. Pruitt’s defenses were statistically better.
This article makes for a fun discussion, but just about every premise in it is wrong.
First, Alabama currently has the most talented roster in the country, according to the 247 Sports composite ranking. So it isn’t a talent drop-off and it isn’t Kirby leaving, as far as recruiting is concerned.
Second, in the past 11 seasons, Alabama has won five national championships and played for two more. In the five championship years, opponents averaged about 61 offensive plays per game and 4 yards per play. In the six non-championship years, opponents averaged about 64 plays per game and 4.7 yards per play. The Tide’s overall average opponent yards per play for the last 11 seasons was 4.4.
The 2018-2019 non-championship seasons are virtually identical to the 2013-2014 non-championship seasons in opponent yards per play. Kirby was the DC in 2013-2014.
Alabama’s current problem is simply injuries. How many true freshmen started on defense this year because of injuries to upperclassmen? And how many total snaps have true freshmen played? The answers are several and a lot.
Alabama had superstar after superstar on defense when Kirby was there. Today I can’t name one player on Bama’s defense.
Perhaps. But the statistics are what they are. And with all those freshmen playing tons of snaps this year, I suspect you’ll be able to name a few in the next couple years.
Maybe. It just seems like every year there was a LB and DE that were sure fire first rounders every year with Kirby. Even when a big name was injured it never seemed to matter.
If something has changed, it’s that Alabama requires the occasional rebuilding year the way mortal programs do. In Finebaumese, this means they’re done forever.
Lol
This year it would’ve been Diggs and Moses, and maybe McKinney. Now it’s just Diggs. Next year or the one after it’ll be probably Surtain, Moses.
UGADAWG, did you not watch Quinnen Williams play last year? Good lord, he was the best player in the country.
1. *Pruitt coaches at UT now
2. Jonathan Allen, Quinnen Williams, Da’ron Payne etc disagree.
3. I agree, but you also forgot Labryan Ray
4. The NFL always takes alot of players so this is not new
5. They weren’t recruiting misses because they signed, more of developmental issues
6. Saban adjusted to the hurry up back in 2014/2015. When most of the defense cut down weight and got faster and had more stamina. 2016 was a prime example of that with that elite defense. Problem now is the injuries and the coaching IMO.
What exactly is “done” anyway? Bama will never be “done”. If you look at program history they have won nattys in every era going way back. I once worked with guy who was a walk on (can’t remember name for life of me) that told me they won when bus showed up. Maybe now that won’t be the case but they still have the aura about thier brand. I listened to Gus interview and biggest reason Auburn wins as much as they do against Bama is that program and players aren’t intimidated. Maybe the “done” narrative just means that Bama has lost the intimidation factor. It happened to Dale Ernhardt and seems to be happening with TomBrady.
Interestingly, though, Brady has been dealing with a multitude of injuries on one side of the ball, while the other side has been performing at an elite level. Sound familiar?
Thanks everyone. Comments , some of them at least, were better than the article.
Yeah, can we get another Georgia guy to come coach a defense under Saban? Smart, Muschamp, and Pruitt are all pretty darn good at this defense thing.
In all seriousness though, we have had two train wreck hires that have ultimately ruined our defense. Tosh Lupoi and Pete Golding were not ready to be DCs and it has shown in the way the last two defenses have played. It’s not good when your DC is getting more praise for his recruiting acumen than his actual play calling.
We just have to hope we will find someone good enough to turn our defense around.
Also that’s not to say that injuries haven’t played a huge role in the way our defenses have played as well, so it’s not all on our defensive coordinators. I guess us Bama fans have been incredibly lucky in the past with how well players have stepped up when the guy in front of them on the depth chart was injured.
The past 3 years have been crazy with injuries. It’s the type of thing I never remember happening to our teams prior. So we’ve never had to ask so many young guys to step up and play such big roles as we have in recent years. Minkah played special teams his first year, now guys like Surtain and Battle immediately play on day 1, not to mention all the other freshmen that had to fill holes this year, from DJ Dale to Shane Lee and many others, it’s just not been normal.
And that makes it hard to evaluate someone like Golding because it’s a major handicap for him to have to become DC while also playing a record amount of freshmen. We won’t know how good or bad Golding is until next season when he’s playing with more veteran guys…assuming Saban doesn’t fire him.
This is crazy talk. The talent is there, they just need some continuity in the coaches box. You can’t turnover the entire staff and expect to stay at the top. They will be better next year but their offense will be a dumpster fire compared to this year’s offense. Alabama will be a contender for years to come, but they have lost the benefit of doubt they’ve enjoyed over the past decade.
Go Dawgs!! Beats LSU!!!