Secondary Discussion - One Month To Go

bamaslammer

All-American
Jan 8, 2003
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Zero news coming out of summer and even if there were news it would probably be bad or a lie so I figured I'd whip out my old roster and review what I think is a strange bag of toys for Alabama's 2014 secondary. Of couse this is all "my guess" and I welcome yours.

At safety is where Alabama's only bankable star resides, Landon Collins. Collins has been solid since his freshman season and has a chance to seriously enrich himself with an All-American season. The expections are there he just needs to get it done. He's got physicality and smarts having played both safety positions last season without missing a beat.

In our last episode (srping) it seemed Geno Smith was a little ahead to start opposite Collins. Smith earned a starting corner roll late in Alabama's 2012 championship season and looked like a super star in the making as a true freshman. Last summer however off field troubles signaled what would become a classic sophamore slump season where he barely made it out of the scout team. This spring he switched positions and may have found a home at safety. But there are others still clawing at his heels.

Senior Nick Perry has been in and out of the lineup for all four of his years and has been a good but not spactacular player. As always he continues to compete for playing time.

True freshman Laurence Jones (Hootie) showed up this spring and I didn't hear much about him but this guy is big. He's listed at 6' 2" 220 and that's no stretch.

I believe Jabriel Washington may have played some safety. Also true freshman Chris Williams *[I mean Ronnie Clark]* might get a look there. he could also go linebacker but I believe he was going to be tried at safety first.

I figure as long as Collins is healthy we have enough people to have an excellent rear guard.

At Corner Alabama had a riseing star in Eddie Jackson going into spring but it ended with him on an operating table. They have not released the nature of his knee injury but just from history we know that the chances of him being truely 100% in time for fall practice seem remote. It could be a situation where he could sort of "arrive" as a player several weeks in the season. In reality Alabama really won't need him the first three weeks. Hopefully he is a quick healer. A return to 100% would be a big boost to the secondary no matter what else happens.

No matter how good Jackson might look in the "tread pool" We have to consider 2014 without him. With that thought the next best options this spring appeared to be juniors Bradley Selve and Cyrus Jones. Both of these guys were part of the revolving door at corner last season and both had good moments and bad. Of the two Cyrus Jones seems to have a little more potential and just from observation seemed to be the one who played more agressively and had more ability to cut in front and bat balls down preventing receptions. Cyrus spent early time at receiver so I think it set him back somewhat at DB. Hopefully he will begin to come into his own this fall.

Then we have the two freshman Eddie Jackson and Marlon Humphrey. Alabama has signed some great secondary players in a single season but they have never signed two more athetic and highly rated corner in one year. These two both have first round potential but of course potential means nothing until it's realized. Brown however looked every bit the part this spring. Humphrey is behind having just arrived but his kind of athletisisim can make up for a lot. Alabama has three winnable games to start the season two of them are at home. Normally freshman corners don't play much early but if it were ME, I'd throw them out there some and see how they react. It would be awsome if these guys were pushing for a start by mid season.

Then there is the "X" factor. Mr X is senior Jarrick Williams. Williams was given up for dead after a season ending knee injury a few years back came back from the dead and at this point he has probably played every position in the secondary. This guy can step in virtually everhwere and give you quality minutes. He's also fairly big at 6'2" 215 lbs at last check. I believe he will regularly play the star position as he did in 2013. Williams isn't afraid to stick his head in there on run support either.

Another player who figured in the revolving door at corner last season was Maurice Smith. He came to Alabama with accolades. I'd like to see him make a move this fall to get back in the race for corner. He did get a fair amount of playing time last season.

Finally there are two redshirts Anthony Averett and Jonathan Cook. Both were three star recruits who have spent a season on the scout team. It remains to be seen if or when they might become a factor.

Alabama's corners have been dangling over a burning fire for years. Every year I wonder to myself how much better could they do if Alabama had a pass rush with a pulse, but since the 2009 season Alabama simply has not. Going into 2014 I once again cross my fingers and blindly hope that what ever reason Alabama has not been able to rush ANYBODY will be resolved.

1 month to go folks, can we make it?
 
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JustNeedMe81

Hall of Fame
Sep 30, 2011
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I can't argue with this. Believe it or not, Cyrus had great spring and so from what I'm hearing so far is that everyone back there improved to some degree and we shouldn't see so many mistakes as we did last year. Hootie probably will be a backup and play on special team. Marlon has a chance to get playing time but it depends on other performances....

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RollTide1224

All-American
Feb 18, 2008
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Thanks for the post, I got through most of it and was like where the heck is Jarrick Williams before seeing your part on him.

The point you bring up about the pass rush is why I feel a bit better about this season than I normally would given what we have at CB. I really do think we are finally going to put a solid pass rush on the field and that will help with our corners. I think our OLB's have a differnet level of athleticism than they have in the past and we have a good assortment of young talent and experienced players there. I think our DE's will actually be better at pass rushing as well instead of just standing up offensive lineman. It all remains to be seen how it develops but I'm quietly confident.

The other thing I like, as you mentioned, is that we won't be tested in a game that we have a decent chance to lose until a few games into the season. I think that period will give our young guys whoever they end up being to play and get some confidence and experience they will need later in the year.
 

tusks_n_raider

Hall of Fame
May 13, 2009
12,130
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I'm extremely worried about the secondary to be honest. You hit the nail on the head at the start in that Landon Collins is our only true 'known' that's a star player right now. Geno Smith may well be the best Safety option opposite of him if the light bulb comes fully on.

Corner is where the serious question marks lay. When healthy from what we have seen Eddie Jackson looks like a phenom. But can we count on him making it back and being 100%? Tony Brown looks ultra promising but we still need to see him in week in week out SEC play of course. Same for Marlon Humphrey.

All the other Corners have rotated and rotated playing time with no one really stepping up to separate themselves from the pack as you say.

I can't really remember a group quite like this. The younger guys who have no real playing time *could* come together and be ridiculously fantastic. They also *could* go through rough learning curves while sharing time with veterans with less talent and shaky 'consistency in performance'. The whole group could go any which way....it's impossible to predict. Fingers crossed the young studs surprise with their quick grasp of the system.
 

bamamc1

Hall of Fame
Oct 24, 2011
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Great Post. I think we will be better because we kind of have the band back together with Smart back with the DB's and Steele with the linebackers. I like most of all the fact that we are not preseason #1 and FSU and the barn are all hyped up (of course we are still a top 5 pick but at least we don't have the 3-peat to worry about.) RTR.
 

formersoldier71

All-American
May 9, 2004
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I'm not prepared to dismiss West Virginia. Holgorsen is one of the top innovators of high-speed spread offense. Because of this, I think this first game will be huge in determining the season - at least on the defensive side of the ball. I think this game can show what adjustments CNS and CKS have made against spread offenses and if they'll be successful. Also, it should show what kind of impact the fast-twitch kids we've brought in will make.

I have high hopes that this year's defense will be very good and that the secondary will be fine, if for no other reason than I expect the front seven will be lights out.



My main concern going into the season is the offensive line.
 

Blindside13

All-SEC
Oct 22, 2011
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Also true freshman Chris Williams might get a look there. he could also go linebacker but I believe he was going to be tried at safety first.

Chris was not part of our class did you mean Ronnie Clark by chance. I think Clark may figure in to our secondary somewhere.








1 month to go folks, can we make it?[/QUOTE]
 

gtgilbert

All-American
Aug 12, 2011
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the two freshmen are Tony Brown (not Eddie Jackson) and Marlon Humphrey. minor typo you do correct later in the paragraph though.

Other thoughts/observations:

Landon has all the tools to be great, but he does need to work on his angle of attack/pursuit in run support. He had several instances where he came in way to shallow and lost outside leverage, letting the ball carrier get outside for a big gain. Fixable for sure, but I would look for some of the first opponents we play to attack that spot to see if it's been addressed or not.

base coverage doesn't worry me that much, but then again we don't play a ton of base coverage with 2CB and 2S; we play a ton of nickel and dime. Over the last few years that's meant some packages where we had 4 guys listed as safeties on the field at the same time. Filling out these packages is what worries me. Jarrick Williams played really well in one of the spots and he'll probably do the same next year, but the question is who takes the other spot and can stay healthy.

The other thing to watch is a bleedover from the LB spots. Prior to the emergence of CJM as a great cover LB, there would be times where we'd have 7 guys listed as DB on the field, because we'd take Mark Barron and slot him into an LB position. It doesn't look like we have another LB with the same type skillset as CJM, so we might see some of this happen this year, which would stretch the depth even further.
 

WMack4Bama

Administrator
Staff member
Nov 7, 2008
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Here's some news: Geno Smith has looked like an All-American in shorts & t-shirts this summer. Won't quite play the Javier Arenas role but will be able to cover safety very very well while Collins blitzes.

We're more than solid at safety. The edges are the concerns because of the uncertainty of the true freshmen, and Eddie Jackson's injury recovery. Also haven't heard a peep about Maurice Smith
 

TUSKtimes

1st Team
Sep 18, 2008
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Right here, Right now
One of our freshman phenoms will have to get it done and that doesn't seem like such a reach after the great spring by Brown. Of course, it would be nice if the front 7 make it logistically impossible for deep crossing routes and the dreaded double move, stop and go, the post and anything else Mike Evans felt like catching.
 

BamaMoon

Hall of Fame
Apr 1, 2004
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Two things to make us all feel better:

1. Remember the cornerback (can't think of his name, somebody will help me out) that couldn't cover at all before CNS arrived (recruited by CMS) and CNS got him to the pros???

2. CNS, the best recruiter, has recruited every one of these cornerbacks and that means he sees something in each of them that will likely gel/mature into a solid contributer at corner. There are busts, but not all of them will be busts!
 

BigBama76

Suspended
Oct 26, 2011
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Atlanta, GA
Thanks for the post, I got through most of it and was like where the heck is Jarrick Williams before seeing your part on him.

The point you bring up about the pass rush is why I feel a bit better about this season than I normally would given what we have at CB. I really do think we are finally going to put a solid pass rush on the field and that will help with our corners. I think our OLB's have a differnet level of athleticism than they have in the past and we have a good assortment of young talent and experienced players there. I think our DE's will actually be better at pass rushing as well instead of just standing up offensive lineman. It all remains to be seen how it develops but I'm quietly confident.

The other thing I like, as you mentioned, is that we won't be tested in a game that we have a decent chance to lose until a few games into the season. I think that period will give our young guys whoever they end up being to play and get some confidence and experience they will need later in the year.
To be fair to our Dline as to pass rushing. In the past our strategy was more about containment than all out pass rush. CNS addressed this more than once. Usually towards the end of games is when we tended to get sacks or intense pressure.

I think it's a lot harder to do containment and decent pressure. The 2011 defense could do that. We'll have to see if this new bunch can do it. They certainly have the tools to do it I believe.
 

TouchThatThang

All-SEC
Feb 8, 2014
1,161
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I'm hoping Tony Brown will buck the trend of first-year-starting corners struggling under CNS. He's incredibly smart, he had seventeen college credits coming out of high school. He arrived early so he should be familiar with the system. He's got great work ethic and he is intent on starting.
 

BamaJama17

Hall of Fame
Sep 17, 2006
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I'm hoping Tony Brown will buck the trend of first-year-starting corners struggling under CNS. He's incredibly smart, he had seventeen college credits coming out of high school. He arrived early so he should be familiar with the system. He's got great work ethic and he is intent on starting.
Well if there is anyone who can it has to be him. That guy has such great closing speed.


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