2016 BAMA Defense

dvldog · Jan 21, 2016

Lots of good posts here

. As always, defense will be impacted by how the Offense performs re: turnovers, 3rd down efficiency, etc.

Moro Creek · Jan 21, 2016

With the additional speed we put on the field, I believe we can be better.

RTR91 · Jan 21, 2016

There are a few guys on the DL that can replace Reed and A'Shawn...

RTR91 · Jan 21, 2016

And the pass rush shouldn't be a problem in 2016....

crimsonaudio · Jan 21, 2016

Relayer said:
We are losing some very strong leaders, so a lot will depend on the next wave of leaders.

And this might be the biggest benefit of so many of these juniors returning (particularly Foster and Allen).

I'm one that believes the potential is there for the 2016 defense to be 2011 good.

TRU · Jan 21, 2016

Let's not forget that we are losing the most important person on defense - Kirby Smart. With CKS, 2016's defense would have been pretty good, assuming that the senior leadership develops. Without him, things are much less clear.

RTR91 · Jan 21, 2016

TRU said:
Let's not forget that we are losing the most important person on defense - Kirby Smart. With CKS, 2016's defense would have been pretty good, assuming that the senior leadership develops. Without him, things are much less clear.

As numerous people said when he took the UGA job, it's CNS' defense no matter who the DC is. Nick Saban is the most important person on defense.

B1GTide · Jan 21, 2016

RTR91 said:
As numerous people said when he took the UGA job, it's CNS' defense no matter who the DC is. Nick Saban is the most important person on defense.

Yep - Saban took Smart from GA to DC. He was totally developed by Saban. The intelligence was Smart's, but the defense was/is/always has been Saban's.

BamaHoosier · Jan 21, 2016

Talent wise, next years defense should be just as good. The attrition we've had has wound up being pretty minimal. Where I do think we'll take a step back will be the depth in the front 7. This year the defense couldn't get winded because we cycled so many guys in.

Not only are we losing ARob and Reed, but maybe more importantly we are losing Lee, Devall, Lake, and Pettway. I have no doubt the guys waiting to fill in for them are just as talented, but how about those 3rd stringers about to be 2nd stringers? All of those guys were seniors, and their backups were mainly juniors. That's a lot of experience we are losing on the 2 deep.

This year as much as any, development will be a huge key to the success of next year. I can't wait to see that starting 11 though. I can easily see this defense being similar to the 2011 defense where all 11 guys made NFL rosters. I believe they are that talented.

JBama_in_PCOLA · Jan 21, 2016

crimsonaudio said:
And this might be the biggest benefit of so many of these juniors returning (particularly Foster and Allen).

I'm one that believes the potential is there for the 2016 defense to be 2011 good.

Glad I'm not the only one to see it.

Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk

TiderJack · Jan 21, 2016

gtgilbert said:
Not sure if better or not as good, but it will certainly be different. I can't imagine the DL being as tough against the run without Reed and ARob. The pash rush will also have to be different as those guys got doubled a LOT, which left some of the other guys in 1-1 matchups which they were able to exploit pretty well.

The LBs could certainly be on par with this year - roughly even at ILB, and a bit better at OLB.

At CB we should be good to go - good options here with players who've gotten good time and some real talent around them. Same at S really with package players likely taking bigger roles going forward.

Agreed. You just don't see DL every year like Ashawn and Jarran that can not be moved and totally destroy the inside run.

gtgilbert · Jan 21, 2016

RTR91 said:
There are a few guys on the DL that can replace Reed and A'Shawn...

All these guys have great potential, but at this time last year, we knew we likely had three guys in ARob, Allen and Reed that were day 1 picks who had played a ton as starters. Now we have one + these guys. Payne could get there, but would be about like ARob coming into his soph year (although ARob contributed more as a TF and I think Payne will also have to put in the extra conditioning work like ARob did), Tomlinson I think has a ton of potential now that he appears to have worked back from his knee issues and I don't think we'll see a huge drop off with him due to his wrestling background and knowing how to use leverage and technique), Frazier we haven't seen much of so that's more of a toss up

CoolBreeze · Jan 21, 2016

The talent will be there. The coaching will be there. I think our defensive production will be determined by how well our offense can move the ball. If we are balanced, put points up and can bleed the clock then that will define our success on D next year.

crimsonaudio · Jan 21, 2016

gtgilbert said:
All these guys have great potential, but at this time last year, we knew we likely had three guys in ARob, Allen and Reed that were day 1 picks who had played a ton as starters.

I don't recall anyone predicting the sort of dominance we saw from the three starters this season. We knew the run D would be good, but I don't know that we were in better shape, so to speak, entering 2015. We knew we had lots of potential coming off the 2014 season, just like we know this now.

TiderJack · Jan 21, 2016

RTR91 said:
And the pass rush shouldn't be a problem in 2016....

Not worried at all about pass rush next year. We will have some elite guys going after the QB. What is a concern is instead of having 3rd and 6-10+ yards that we had many times this year due to our run D, the 3rd downs could be more in the 2-5 yard range which slows down a pass rush big time. I know we have talent at DT and DE but Ashawn and Jarran are both top 15 picks and not sure our inside guys have that potential right now.

crimsonaudio · Jan 21, 2016

TiderJ said:
Not worried at all about pass rush next year. We will have some elite guys going after the QB. What is a concern is instead of having 3rd and 6-10+ yards that we had many times this year due to our run D, the 3rd downs could be more in the 2-5 yard range which slows down a pass rush big time. I know we have talent at DT and DE but Ashawn and Jarran are both top 15 picks and not sure our inside guys have that potential right now.

I think we'll be OK:

TiderJack · Jan 21, 2016

crimsonaudio said:
I think we'll be OK:

I agree totally we will be OK and very good just not as good IMO w/o three 1st rounders.

RTR91 · Jan 21, 2016

With the pass rush and the secondary, teams are going to probably have more success running against Alabama than passing, which is difficult to say.

TrampLineman · Jan 21, 2016

I think we could be better honestly. Harrison and Jackson probably make up the tail end with Hump and Fitzpatrick at the other corner spot to go along with Reuben and probably SDH and with those coming back on the line we could be better on D.

Hump is the lockdown I thought he would be. If Fitzpatrick continues to do well we are in great shape.

Probius · Jan 21, 2016

The defense will be better next season. The secondary was young this season, and will be much improved next season with another year of experience. The pass rushers were much better this season, and I think they will continue to improve next season. The defense next season should be down right nasty.

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