Defensive Adjustments Question

[merino]

Consult with Saban all you want, but don’t forget that his defense the last two years was not stellar, and Golding was the scapegoat.

Why not change the lineup, replace some of the poor performers with youth, even if inexperienced. Can it get any worse? For example, Keon Keeley, the premier #1 pass rusher in the nation by ESPN, On3, and 247Sports, is riding the bench, and the coaching staff trying to transform him to a DL. Another is Justin Okoronkwo, who reportedly had an excellent spring.

 

[92tide]

Nothing wrong with old men screaming at kids to get off his lawn. I would not recommend using the M-1 Garand while doing so,

this was a great movie

 

[Slowpoke Catracho]

I just can't see another QB completing 80% of their passes against us again this year. That was outrageous on another planet playing!

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I just can't see another QB completing 80% of their passes against us again this year. That was outrageous on another planet playing!

The scheme against our defense and our young inexperienced DB's are what enabled the 80% completion %.

 

[B1GTide]

Consult with Saban all you want, but don’t forget that his defense the last two years was not stellar, and Golding was the scapegoat.

Why not change the lineup, replace some of the poor performers with youth, even if inexperienced. Can it get any worse? For example, Keon Keeley, the premier #1 pass rusher in the nation by ESPN, On3, and 247Sports, is riding the bench, and the coaching staff trying to transform him to a DL. Another is Justin Okoronkwo, who reportedly had an excellent spring.

Alabama's defense last year was great.

 

[Cruloc]

I miss defense.....but DeBoer isn't hiring Pruitt in any capacity.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I miss defense.....but DeBoer isn't hiring Pruitt in any capacity.

CKD will be to offense what CNS was to defense. We're an offensive team moving forward.

 

[KrAzY3]

I miss defense.....but DeBoer isn't hiring Pruitt in any capacity.

There is absolutely no good reason for this though, none.

Only if he wants to distance himself so far from Saban than he wants nothing to do with him or his previous coaches and why on earth would that be the case?

Pruitt is an Alabama guy, went to school at Alabama, lives in Alabama, coached for Alabama, he's better qualified than anyone on DeBoer's staff. He's a no brainer at this point because he'd be happy to work as a consultant and he only lives two hours from Tuscaloosa. He could easily meet anytime necessary without relocating.

If DeBoer really is going to shun people like that in favor of some guy he coached with at Indiana whose resume is immensely worse... well I'm not going to hold DeBoer in such low esteem.

CKD will be to offense what CNS was to defense. We're an offensive team moving forward.

Saban was willing to to try to hire the best on offense though...

 

[DzynKingRTR]

If we're a coach playing against Alabama, I would run that shovel pass until they show they can stop it.

 

[81usaf92]

There is absolutely no good reason for this though, none.

Only if he wants to distance himself so far from Saban than he wants nothing to do with him or his previous coaches and why on earth would that be the case?

Pruitt is an Alabama guy, went to school at Alabama, lives in Alabama, coached for Alabama, he's better qualified than anyone on DeBoer's staff. He's a no brainer at this point because he'd be happy to work as a consultant and he only lives two hours from Tuscaloosa. He could easily meet anytime necessary without relocating.

If DeBoer really is going to shun people like that in favor of some guy he coached with at Indiana whose resume is immensely worse... well I'm not going to hold DeBoer in such low esteem.


Saban was willing to to try to hire the best on offense though...

Pruitt has burned so many bridges that he didn’t even get major consideration for the Hoover High School Head Coaching job this year. I don’t know if we will ever see Pruitt back on major coaching staffs ever again. He seriously seems to be a Dubose career path at this point.

My point is the dream of Pruitt is most likely over forever so we can just stop bringing it up. Name any other good DC and it will be far more realistic instantly by comparison.

 

[KrAzY3]

Pruitt has burned so many bridges that he didn’t even get major consideration for the Hoover High School Head Coaching job this year. I don’t know if we will ever see Pruitt back on major coaching staffs ever again. He seriously seems to be a Dubose career path at this point

I think that's accurate, but with his level of expertise I'd still hire him as a consultant (Alabama does have consultants). I mean either he does the work or he doesn't, If Alabama's GM is worth what he's worth, I don't see why you don't throw high 5 figures at the guy and see if he produces. You know me though, I think he's one of the better defensive minds in college football.

I'm not saying fire Womack, I don't think I know enough about him yet, but I do prefer Saban's scheme and I'd in the least want Womack to have some resources to fall back on so the situation can't deteriorate further. I don't think it can be Saban, and if it can't be Pruitt, I'd just like to know he has someone with SEC coordinator level experience that he can turn to.

Edit: I would also add that I consider it a bit of a nightmare scenario that Pruitt could come back elsewhere in 2029 and institute his/Saban's offense and help another team dominate. Unlike DuBose, and this is important, he has a much better resume and track record. DuBose was only DC for one single year, that year the defense was good #6, but I'm not sure how only one year as a coordinator got him the HC job, furthermore, his defense was 2 PPG better than the previous year, good certainly not stellar enough for an instant promotion.

Pruitt improved the defense more than that at FSU, Georgia, and as much at Alabama so I see him as being in a completely different league, though I get your point.

 

[Cruloc]

There is absolutely no good reason for this though, none.

Only if he wants to distance himself so far from Saban than he wants nothing to do with him or his previous coaches and why on earth would that be the case?

Pruitt is an Alabama guy, went to school at Alabama, lives in Alabama, coached for Alabama, he's better qualified than anyone on DeBoer's staff. He's a no brainer at this point because he'd be happy to work as a consultant and he only lives two hours from Tuscaloosa. He could easily meet anytime necessary without relocating.

If DeBoer really is going to shun people like that in favor of some guy he coached with at Indiana whose resume is immensely worse... well I'm not going to hold DeBoer in such low esteem.


Saban was willing to to try to hire the best on offense though...

I'm afraid we are what we are this season. If it continues to be bad and there is little improvement....can DeBoer fire his friend or does he double down.

Pruitt is a great defensive mind, but he ain't coming.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

There is absolutely no good reason for this though, none.

Only if he wants to distance himself so far from Saban than he wants nothing to do with him or his previous coaches and why on earth would that be the case?

Pruitt is an Alabama guy, went to school at Alabama, lives in Alabama, coached for Alabama, he's better qualified than anyone on DeBoer's staff. He's a no brainer at this point because he'd be happy to work as a consultant and he only lives two hours from Tuscaloosa. He could easily meet anytime necessary without relocating.

If DeBoer really is going to shun people like that in favor of some guy he coached with at Indiana whose resume is immensely worse... well I'm not going to hold DeBoer in such low esteem.


Saban was willing to to try to hire the best on offense though...

The Wommack hire was praised as a homerun hire by just about every football person I knew. Our own JessN thought he was an excellent hire. I'm struggling to think that many people who know football didn't realize he wasn't that good. I'm giving the guy the benefit of the doubt and chalking a lot of what we're seeing to newness of a system and a lot of young inexperience on the field.

 

[81usaf92]

I think that's accurate, but with his level of expertise I'd still hire him as a consultant (Alabama does have consultants). I mean either he does the work or he doesn't, If Alabama's GM is worth what he's worth, I don't see why you don't throw high 5 figures at the guy and see if he produces. You know me though, I think he's one of the better defensive minds in college football.

I'm not saying fire Womack, I don't think I know enough about him yet, but I do prefer Saban's scheme and I'd in the least want Womack to have some resources to fall back on so the situation can't deteriorate further. I don't think it can be Saban, and if it can't be Pruitt, I'd just like to know he has someone with SEC coordinator level experience that he can turn to.

Edit: I would also add that I consider it a bit of a nightmare scenario that Pruitt could come back elsewhere in 2029 and institute his/Saban's offense and help another team dominate. Unlike DuBose, and this is important, he has a much better resume and track record. DuBose was only DC for one single year, that year the defense was good #6, but I'm not sure how only one year as a coordinator got him the HC job, furthermore, his defense was 2 PPG better than the previous year, good certainly not stellar enough for an instant promotion.

Pruitt improved the defense more than that at FSU, Georgia, and as much at Alabama so I see him as being in a completely different league, though I get your point.

Well here is the thing… Ole Miss is now putting up crazy defensive numbers this year. Guess who their DC is….

Ole Miss has a great defensive line and that makes a world of difference in what you can and can’t do on defense in the SEC. I think the problem Golding faced for most of his time here is largely due to the lack of talent on the defensive line because they were going to Georgia or aTm instead of Bama. The game on defense has become “get to the quarterback quick or else see him bake a cake while pulling a rabbit out of his helmet”.

Point is I still don’t think the Nick Saban defense is the end all be defense that many believe it is or else Georgia and Alabama would not consistently get owned by these mobile quarterbacks year after year since 2016. I just don’t think we have the talent or the right guys to run defense Wommack wants to run on the defensive line like many believe. Nor do I think we have the experience in the secondary to mask it. So the results are most likely going to be bumpy until something changes in scheme, talent, depth, or experience. Idk if it will happen this year or not.

 

[KrAzY3]

I'm afraid we are what we are this season. If it continues to be bad and there is little improvement....can DeBoer fire his friend or does he double down.

Pruitt is a great defensive mind, but he ain't coming.

Well, for the record I'm not calling for Womack to be fired. I wish Alabama kept Saban's system, I'm not sure of the necessity to change it, but I understand Womack doesn't necessarily have the expertise to run it anyway. What I want for now though, is for Womack to succeed. I'd like him to have more support ultimately.

The Wommack hire was praised as a homerun hire by just about every football person I knew.

I'm far from an expert, but I did not have that reaction. Admittedly though I was being pretty whiny at the time and gave myself a bit of a timeout due to the fact that I clearly wasn't being objective. Having said that, I worry you can apply Occam's Razor. What is more likely, that Indiana just happened to have two of the best coordinators in the entire nation, or they got hired because of their relationship with DeBoer? Having said that, even if the latter is true, Saban had to hire Applewhite his first year, so sometimes hires on short notice might not be the best possible ones. Still wishing the best for Womack though.

Well here is the thing… Ole Miss is now putting up crazy defensive numbers this year. Guess who their DC is….

Without going even further into the weeds, I will note that this is still early, it could turn out that Womack ends up with the better rated defense once this is all said and done. It does make me wonder if the maturation of Golding might finally be happening, he was never lacking in terms of understanding of defense, but his in game adjustments were questionable. If he's cleaned that up he could end up being a truly great DC, clearly the guy that Saban thought he could be.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

Well, for the record I'm not calling for Womack to be fired. I wish Alabama kept Saban's system, I'm not sure of the necessity to change it, but I understand Womack doesn't necessarily have the expertise to run it anyway. What I want for now though, is for Womack to succeed. I'd like him to have more support ultimately.


I'm far from an expert, but I did not have that reaction. Admittedly though I was being pretty whiny at the time and gave myself a bit of a timeout due to the fact that I clearly wasn't being objective. Having said that, I worry you can apply Occam's Razor. What is more likely, that Indiana just happened to have two of the best coordinators in the entire nation, or they got hired because of their relationship with DeBoer? Having said that, even if the latter is true, Saban had to hire Applewhite his first year, so sometimes hires on short notice might not be the best possible ones. Still wishing the best for Womack though.

I'm not an expert either, but the experts who did chime in gave their approval of the hire and said "everywhere he's gone the defense has gotten better." Granted the places he went may have started off at the bottom so the only place to go was up. So who knows? Since I'm not an expert I'll lean on the experts that say it was a good hire.

 

[JohnD]

If I'm an offensive coordinator preparing for Alabama, based on what I saw Saturday, I'm absolutely adding some option-type plays/looks to my game plan. Vandy steamrolled Alabama with inferior athletes, it's scary to contemplate what 5-stars would have done.

5 stars, inferior athletes...... That sort of thinking by Bama probably contributed to the butt whipping everybody witnessed. I did not see any inferior players on Vandy's team. They were well coached, strong, fundamentally sound and would lay the wood!

 

[JDCrimson]

The guy that we spent the better part of 5 years ridiculing has moved to the box to call the defense and has given up 23 points all season...

Well here is the thing… Ole Miss is now putting up crazy defensive numbers this year. Guess who their DC is….

Ole Miss has a great defensive line and that makes a world of difference in what you can and can’t do on defense in the SEC. I think the problem Golding faced for most of his time here is largely due to the lack of talent on the defensive line because they were going to Georgia or aTm instead of Bama. The game on defense has become “get to the quarterback quick or else see him bake a cake while pulling a rabbit out of his helmet”.

Point is I still don’t think the Nick Saban defense is the end all be defense that many believe it is or else Georgia and Alabama would not consistently get owned by these mobile quarterbacks year after year since 2016. I just don’t think we have the talent or the right guys to run defense Wommack wants to run on the defensive line like many believe. Nor do I think we have the experience in the secondary to mask it. So the results are most likely going to be bumpy until something changes in scheme, talent, depth, or experience. Idk if it will happen this year or not.

 

[arthurdawg]

Well here is the thing… Ole Miss is now putting up crazy defensive numbers this year. Guess who their DC is….

Ole Miss has a great defensive line and that makes a world of difference in what you can and can’t do on defense in the SEC. I think the problem Golding faced for most of his time here is largely due to the lack of talent on the defensive line because they were going to Georgia or aTm instead of Bama. The game on defense has become “get to the quarterback quick or else see him bake a cake while pulling a rabbit out of his helmet”.

Point is I still don’t think the Nick Saban defense is the end all be defense that many believe it is or else Georgia and Alabama would not consistently get owned by these mobile quarterbacks year after year since 2016. I just don’t think we have the talent or the right guys to run defense Wommack wants to run on the defensive line like many believe. Nor do I think we have the experience in the secondary to mask it. So the results are most likely going to be bumpy until something changes in scheme, talent, depth, or experience. Idk if it will happen this year or not.

I think you are on to something... particularly with Oatis packing it in. Our DL are space eaters recruited to work in Coach Saban's scheme, and not the rangier disruptors that Wommack prefers for his scheme. Whether or not Wommack's preferred body type can handle the SEC is another question though.

Our secondary needs lots of work. We have two CBs who have skillsets well under last year, Moore is good, Sabb is average, and we really need Devonta healthy as Red is a freshman and it shows. Behind our starters are three average transfers and true freshmen.

And to add insult to injury, I think Lawson is solid, but my impression is that Jihaad is confused and out of position frequently.

I've watched (painful as they are) a couple of analyses of the Vandy game, and it appears Wommack tried a number of adjustments, but the players never executed very well.

Overall... I think we will do better against modern offenses and hopefully will continue to improve.

 

[JDCrimson]

What im struggling with is the opportunistic approach on both sides of the ball we employ. We had most mostly pro level players playing in prostyle systems with prostyle techniques.

Now, we cant run the ball unless an OL is pulling. All this swarming defense is just taking elite players and putting some of them out of position.

Our QB and OL couldn't run ball control offense if their lives depended on it.

I think at some level our coaches are running systems that you find in more talent challenged programs. Imo, this at some level masks deficiencies in coaching strategy and technique. That being said, i am concerned our DC is in over his head in the SEC. Golding at least had the mentorship of Saban and he learned a few things while with us in stopping the run.