Link: Alabama's Part-Time Pass Rushers are Ready for Full-Time Production

If asked who the most productive pass-rusher on a per-snap basis was last year, Ohio State’s Joey Bosa, Texas A&M’s Myles Garrett and Clemson’s Shaq Lawson would all be expected answers. However, as good as all three of them were, no edge defender in the nation was more productive as a pass-rusher than Alabama’s Tim Williams. He was utterly dominant on very limited snaps and, paired with fellow part-time pass-rusher Ryan Anderson, will play a huge role in getting Alabama back to the College Football Playoff as they aim to repeat as national champions.

The news out of Alabama’s spring game was that Williams has embraced his new every-down role, and flat out ruined the offenses day at Bryant-Denny Stadium. That’s great news for him, and for everyone who wanted to see more of him — but less so for opposing offensive tackles, quarterbacks and offensive coordinators.

We now have two full seasons of data on Williams, but the sample size is still so much smaller than most of the other top players in the nation. He registered a sack, a hit and 11 hurries in 2014, and while those numbers don’t exactly scream dominant pass rusher, he did that on just 48 pass rushing snaps. That means he got pressure once every 3.7 pass rushing attempts. To put that in context, Joey Bosa just went in the first five picks of the NFL draft, and he got pressure once every 4.9 pass rushing attempts.

Playing just 59 snaps total as a sophomore, more playing time was expected for Williams in 2015. While he did get more snaps, a loaded Alabama defense meant that he was still relegated to a part-time role. With 148 pass-rushing attempts, Williams notched 11 sacks, eight hits and 33 hurries.

52 total pressures on just 148 attempts.

A pressure once every 2.8 pass rushing attempts.

That’s incredible, and one of the key improvements in his game in 2015 was that he was able to finish better, with his 11 sacks tied for ninth among edge defenders in the nation, despite such a low snap count. The play below was a hit as opposed to a sack, forcing an intentional grounding penalty from Connor Cook, but make no mistake about it — we’re talking about one of, if not the best best pass rushers in all of college football heading into the 2016 season.

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bamacon said:

Overall it's absolutely the case. Think about how young and inexperienced the secondary was last year. They were still awesome and now they've got a year under their belt. I think they will compare to the "hateful bunch" from 2011. The problem is that the game has evolved so much even from 6 years ago that those stats defensively will be tough to match ever again.


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