Why will the Alabama defense be better/worse/the same under Golding? Make your case!

DzynKingRTR

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You have to keep that in mind that We really don't know what went on behind the scene. Who developed the game plan? Who called the plays during the game?



source: https://www.al.com/alabamafootball/2019/01/why-tosh-lupoi-leaving-alabama-was-long-expected.html

We don't know what game Golding took over the playcalling, but if you look at the stats for the first 5 games: We really struggled to stop the total offense of opponent such as Lousiville, Arkansas State, TAMU, Louisiana and I think and this is my guess that Golding took over the playcalling from that point on. Our run defense improved significantly until Citadel game and after them, our run game suffered for the next five game. Our passing game since Citadel suffered as well.

Bottom line: I think Golding made adjustments and we did improved, but in the final few games, the team lost focus and we played sloppy for a while. With the experienced staff, the team should be more focused, and their fundamental skill should be improved.
I would hope the Arkansas game was the tipping point. We gave up 30+ to a not very good Arkie team.
 

Bamabuzzard

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It was the Arkansas game that I realized we had problems on the defense and IMO, it very well may have been after that game that a move was made at defensive play calling. I vividly remember the number of plays that our guys not only looked lost before the snap, but confirmed it after the snap with busted play after busted play.
 

DzynKingRTR

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It was the Arkansas game that I realized we had problems on the defense and IMO, it very well may have been after that game that a move was made at defensive play calling. I vividly remember the number of plays that our guys not only looked lost before the snap, but confirmed it after the snap with busted play after busted play.
and if you were vocal about it here, you got labeled an eeyore.
 

81usaf92

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and if you were vocal about it here, you got labeled an eeyore.
Or told Savion Smith was better or just as good as Diggs so there is no need to worry. I had the same feeling that I had about the 2014 defense in that we looked great against bad or average offenses, but the proof was in the pudding that if we ever had to face a competent offense that we were going to rely on our offense to outscore them.
 
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Ole Man Dan

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The competition did improve drastically over the second half of the season, especially the last 3 games. So there is that. Also, the defense may have slipped too far into disarray to have been saved by that point in time.
I thought we had an attitude problem toward the end of the season.
Some guys didn't play hard, because they were sure someone else would...
(Just because we could run over 'The Sisters of the Poor', didn't mean we could run over Georgia, and Clemson...)
Like some of our coaches, I think some of the guys were planning an exit.
AND... Injuries took a toll on our team.
 

92tide

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I thought we had an attitude problem toward the end of the season.
Some guys didn't play hard, because they were sure someone else would...
(Just because we could run over 'The Sisters of the Poor', didn't mean we could run over Georgia, and Clemson...)
Like some of our coaches, I think some of the guys were planning an exit.
AND... Injuries took a toll on our team.
thankfully, jalen could ;)
 

Bamabuzzard

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True. When it happened, I didn't think it was all that big a deal. How wrong I was.
Yep. It's why you hear Saban talk about "the bottom 40" of the roster when determining how good a team is going to be. It's important that the bottom 40 of your roster be as close to your starters in development as possible. If there's a huge gap between first string and second string, all it takes is one or two injuries and the boat begins taking on massive amounts of water.
 
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CoolBreeze

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I expect us to be worlds better than last year. Last year we had a bunch of first year coaching going on without the continuity of "The Bama Way" as Nick pointed out. On D, we had a first time D Coordinator over his head at the job and Pete (also as a first year coach) didn't really have a chance to implement his style at mid-year in an unclear chain-of-command structure IMHO. Coach brought back a lot of that continuity with the coaches he selected and Pete has a full off-season to plan his implementation with Coach Saban. Combine that with some depth development on the LOS and suddenly veteran backers and DBs and I think Defensive stats will return back to our former stingy levels of success on the ground and through the air.
 

B1GTide

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I think that he probably was calling the defense at the end of the season, but maybe not. I do know that he coached your ILBs and they all regressed last year significantly - all of them.
 

BAMAVILLE

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We should be better ... part of the challenge is, we wont know yet will it be because of Golding unless he's running a different defensive scheme that last years DC ran. I.E. the difference between CKS defenses at Bama vs CJP. Both were solid defenses but different philosophies as far as blitzing.

Talent-wise we will be better by default if the alphas step up and hold the team accountable and be leaders. And also if we avoid any key injuries.
 

tusks_n_raider

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My instinctive answer would be the cliche "It can't get any worse....right?".

But honestly I have no idea right now. There's too many variables to make a solid guess.

The ILB's are going to hold the Key. If someone emerges as a general on the field getting people into the right assignments while playing and executing their own role at a high level then we stand to be much improved.

But if no one 'Get's It' for another season with guys looking confused and signaling and shifting around right up until the ball is snapped then we might be in for another let down near the end.

Either way I would still bet on our Offense being our best Defense. If we can somehow put together an O-Line that can consistently block well on Passing AND Rushing plays then it might not matter how good or bad our defense will be.
 

gtgilbert

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I think that he probably was calling the defense at the end of the season, but maybe not. I do know that he coached your ILBs and they all regressed last year significantly - all of them.
Wilson certainly did not progress for sure, but I thought Moses played reasonably well given there were times there was obvious communication challenges and I think times where he knew Mack was making the wrong adjustment but he had to execute that anyway.
 

CoachJeff

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From a talent standpoint they may be ahead of last year's team based on where they finished, but that's not saying a whole lot.

I am *not* excited about Golding at DC. Supposedly he was doing more later in the season, and that's when the defense looked its worst.
 

Bamabuzzard

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I know it's not popular to say. But there are times when players simply reach the peak of their development on the mental side of the game, regardless of the coaching. I know we like to think coaching can fix all woes but anyone who's ever coached knows that simply isn't true. I'm not saying this is the case here, but at least keep it in mind before blaming everything on the coaches. Granted, if we get into this season and our LB corp struggles again with different players. Then that's a pretty good indication it is coaching. But last season, it seemed to be the same one who struggled more than any of the other LB's.
 

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