Nick Saban discusses Alabama’s Will Linebacker position with Josh McMillon out
By Andrew Olson
Published:
The inside linebacker position was considered one of the question marks of the Alabama defense heading into the 2019 campaign. Coming off All-SEC and All-America selections, Dylan Moses was a certain starter. Redshirt senior Josh McMillon was slated to take the other spot with some younger players making up the depth behind the two of them. Now that McMillon is sidelined due to a leg injury, there’s a new competition to see who takes the starting spot opposite Moses.
“You’ll probably ask about the competition at the linebacker position, and all I can tell you is there’s a lot of competition there and we need somebody that will step up and be responsible to do the job, develop confidence of the players around them and develop confidence in themselves that they can go out there and play winning football for us, regardless of the circumstance or the situation,” Saban said in his post-practice press conference Thursday.
Redshirt sophomore Markail Benton is the most experienced option at the position. Freshman Shane Lee and sophomore Ale Kaho are also expected to see more playing time in McMillon’s absence. Sophomore Jaylen Moody and freshman Christian Harris round out UA’s inside linebacker depth.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
