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Which defensive units do you see being better/worse in 2014? A-Day thoughts
Posted on 1/20/14 at 9:04 am
Posted on 1/20/14 at 9:04 am
Better or worse? Which units on the defense do you think will get better/worse from 2013 to 2014 season?
D-Line: Better. Ashawn and Allen will have a year more experience. We have guys like Dashawn Hand, Jarran Reed, and Josh Frazier coming in. And we have a few on the bench that I've been curious about their development. Dee Liner and Tomlinson come to mind.
Linebackers- Worse. We lose CJ Mosley, who may have been the best linebacker of Saban's tenure. Depriest has shown improvement. There will be a position battle for Hubbard's spot, but most see that as addition by subtraction. Newcomers that may see the field include Hand (should we keep him there) and Pettway. Curious to see how Dillon Lee plays during meaningful time. Also excited about Reuben Foster.
Secondary- Wash. The only returning starter is Landon Collins. We have lost HaHa, Vinnie, and Belue. The other corner spot was never solidified. The only reason I call this one a wash is the corners can't be any worse than they were last year, right? The position battle is wide open. Jarrick Williams and Geno Smith seem to be the front runners for the safety spot. Eddie Jackson, Mo Smith, Bradley Sylve, and Cyrus Jones look to earn the starting cornerback position. In terms of bench warmers, I'm wondering what Jonathan Cook and Anthony Averett will bring to the table. Will Ardarius Stewart switch to safety? With incoming freshman, will Tony Brown stay out of Saban's doghouse and be able to contribute? How much time will Hootie see? How much playing time will Humphrey see?
ETA: Wanted to hear your thoughts now that A-Day has passed.
D-Line: Better. Ashawn and Allen will have a year more experience. We have guys like Dashawn Hand, Jarran Reed, and Josh Frazier coming in. And we have a few on the bench that I've been curious about their development. Dee Liner and Tomlinson come to mind.
Linebackers- Worse. We lose CJ Mosley, who may have been the best linebacker of Saban's tenure. Depriest has shown improvement. There will be a position battle for Hubbard's spot, but most see that as addition by subtraction. Newcomers that may see the field include Hand (should we keep him there) and Pettway. Curious to see how Dillon Lee plays during meaningful time. Also excited about Reuben Foster.
Secondary- Wash. The only returning starter is Landon Collins. We have lost HaHa, Vinnie, and Belue. The other corner spot was never solidified. The only reason I call this one a wash is the corners can't be any worse than they were last year, right? The position battle is wide open. Jarrick Williams and Geno Smith seem to be the front runners for the safety spot. Eddie Jackson, Mo Smith, Bradley Sylve, and Cyrus Jones look to earn the starting cornerback position. In terms of bench warmers, I'm wondering what Jonathan Cook and Anthony Averett will bring to the table. Will Ardarius Stewart switch to safety? With incoming freshman, will Tony Brown stay out of Saban's doghouse and be able to contribute? How much time will Hootie see? How much playing time will Humphrey see?
ETA: Wanted to hear your thoughts now that A-Day has passed.
This post was edited on 4/20/14 at 10:44 pm
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Posted on 1/20/14 at 9:24 am to chattabama
D-Line: Better. Agree with pretty much everything you said. I think A'Shawn and Allen will be monsters. It needs to be a wide open competition at Nose though. Ivory/Lake shouldn't be grandfathered in, they didn't play well this past season.
LB: Worse, but still one of the best in the country. Losing Mosley hurts big time. We still have DePriest, who in the last five games of the season played just as good if not better than Mosley. He's the second best ILB in terms of coverage we've had under Saban, but I think he'll have to compete with Lee for the Dime LB job. Devall will probably take more Jack snaps, but don't be surprised if Hand ends up earning PT at the position, if he even plays it. Reuben Foster at Will will be interesting. We know he has a lot of talent, and he is good in space from what we've heard despite some thinking he's just a downhill thumper, I think he could secretly be an amazing blitzer. At Sam, you'd think Dillon Lee and Ryan Anderson may end up sharing the spot, but I'd like to see Christian Miller get a chance to play some, and if we were to land Evans him too.
Secondary: Wash. Better CB play with Eddie Jackson, Tony Brown, and hopefully Marlon Humphrey getting the most PT. Safety play will take a hit, but Landon Collins is probably the best Safety in the SEC now that some guys left for the NFL. Jarrick played the Star well for the most part. Should be open competition at every position. Wouldn't mind seeing Hootie get PT at Safety or Money.
LB: Worse, but still one of the best in the country. Losing Mosley hurts big time. We still have DePriest, who in the last five games of the season played just as good if not better than Mosley. He's the second best ILB in terms of coverage we've had under Saban, but I think he'll have to compete with Lee for the Dime LB job. Devall will probably take more Jack snaps, but don't be surprised if Hand ends up earning PT at the position, if he even plays it. Reuben Foster at Will will be interesting. We know he has a lot of talent, and he is good in space from what we've heard despite some thinking he's just a downhill thumper, I think he could secretly be an amazing blitzer. At Sam, you'd think Dillon Lee and Ryan Anderson may end up sharing the spot, but I'd like to see Christian Miller get a chance to play some, and if we were to land Evans him too.
Secondary: Wash. Better CB play with Eddie Jackson, Tony Brown, and hopefully Marlon Humphrey getting the most PT. Safety play will take a hit, but Landon Collins is probably the best Safety in the SEC now that some guys left for the NFL. Jarrick played the Star well for the most part. Should be open competition at every position. Wouldn't mind seeing Hootie get PT at Safety or Money.
Posted on 1/20/14 at 9:40 am to AllBamaDoesIsWin
quote:
I think he could secretly be an amazing blitzer
If you saw his HS film this isn't a secret. He usually blitzed with great timing and a lot of power and explosion. Kirby loves sending his MLB on a bull rush blitz to collapse the pocket, Mosley, McClain and Hightower did this mulitple times per game
I really hope Reuben can grasp the scheme mentally, that's the only thing I ever worried about with him. He's the most talented linebacker on the roster as far as see ball hit ball goes.
I'm a Ragland fan but I think Reuben is a better MLB. I'm excited at the thought of either stepping in though, but i'm afraid if Reuben isn't the guy this year then he's gone pecan
ETA: I pretty much agree with everything else but I think the secondary is going to be better due to experience. Losing HaHa hurts but I think Jones and Jackson getting another year under their belt is going to help our secondary. Both of those guys have more natural talent than Belue, and instead of a fairly reliable corner and a very inconsistent corner we will start two fairly reliable corners next year.
Cyrus Jones is going to be a stud BTW, watch and see
This post was edited on 1/20/14 at 9:45 am
Posted on 1/20/14 at 9:42 am to chattabama
We should have a dominant DL as long as we get solid play at NG. We have DE's running out our arse.
Losing Moseley will hurt but we'll just plug and play another 5 star there and our LB corp will still be the best around.
CB? Easily see improvement here. A year under the belt of the freshman and Cyrus Jones who I think will really impress this year. Plus some talented newcomers coming in that could impact.
Safety? Should be very good with our starters but God forbid an injury. Maybe coach can develop some depth there this spring or maybe Hootie can come in and learn his assignments and play early.
Bottom line. Even with a small drop off we'll still field the best defense in the SEC again.
Losing Moseley will hurt but we'll just plug and play another 5 star there and our LB corp will still be the best around.
CB? Easily see improvement here. A year under the belt of the freshman and Cyrus Jones who I think will really impress this year. Plus some talented newcomers coming in that could impact.
Safety? Should be very good with our starters but God forbid an injury. Maybe coach can develop some depth there this spring or maybe Hootie can come in and learn his assignments and play early.
Bottom line. Even with a small drop off we'll still field the best defense in the SEC again.
Posted on 1/20/14 at 9:50 am to Riseupfromtherubble
quote:
If you saw his HS film this isn't a secret
Well I kinda meant because we haven't seen it (because he hasn't played much of course) yet in college.
quote:
Kirby loves sending his MLB on a bull rush blitz to collapse the pocket, Mosley, McClain and Hightower did this mulitple times per game
Yep, and I think we may see Reub be another reason our pass rush will be better. Mosley was a good blitzer, but Reub is gonna be a load and will probably end up getting a few sacks.
quote:
I really hope Reuben can grasp the scheme mentally, that's the only thing I ever worried about with him. He's the most talented linebacker on the roster as far as see ball hit ball goes.
Definitely agree with ya there.
quote:
I'm a Ragland fan but I think Reuben is a better MLB. I'm excited at the thought of either stepping in though, but i'm afraid if Reuben isn't the guy this year then he's gone pecan
I think it'll be Reuben, with Ragland maybe seeing time here and there. I'm a Reggie fan too, but then again I like seeing big ILBs play, that's one reason that 2011 D was so good, Hightower was like 270 and Nico was like 250. Even on the rare occasion you found a hole between Chapman and Williams on that front, you ran into another huge mfer.
quote:
ETA: I pretty much agree with everything else but I think the secondary is going to be better due to experience. Losing HaHa hurts but I think Jones and Jackson getting another year under their belt is going to help our secondary. Both of those guys have more natural talent than Belue, and instead of a fairly reliable corner and a very inconsistent corner we will start two fairly reliable corners next year.
Cyrus Jones is going to be a stud BTW, watch and see
I haven't given up on Cyrus, but I'm not as high on him as I was Belue because at least Belue was in position in 2012.
Which reminds me, is everyone still high on Cyrus because of me being right about Deion, or is this some double standard thing?
Posted on 1/20/14 at 10:18 am to AllBamaDoesIsWin
I'm high on cyrus because he is a great athlete. Good speed and fluid hips on a compact frame. His build is similar to Arenas.
Yea he was out of position a lot this year, but how soon people forget that first year corners struggle under Saban and this was Cyrus' first year playing it. He's still a young guy that last year played spraringly at WR. Considering how deep we were at WR last year I think it speaks to the kids athleticism that he was able to get on the field at all as a true freshman WR.
As soon as it clicks upstairs and he is just playing instead of thinking then he is going to be a stud. He's got a lot of natural ability
ETA: And i'm one of the few i've seen on here that is high on Cyrus, most of y'all want him on the bench for the rest of his career
Yea he was out of position a lot this year, but how soon people forget that first year corners struggle under Saban and this was Cyrus' first year playing it. He's still a young guy that last year played spraringly at WR. Considering how deep we were at WR last year I think it speaks to the kids athleticism that he was able to get on the field at all as a true freshman WR.
As soon as it clicks upstairs and he is just playing instead of thinking then he is going to be a stud. He's got a lot of natural ability
ETA: And i'm one of the few i've seen on here that is high on Cyrus, most of y'all want him on the bench for the rest of his career
This post was edited on 1/20/14 at 10:20 am
Posted on 1/20/14 at 10:19 am to Riseupfromtherubble
quote:
but how soon people forget that first year corners struggle under Saban
I don't.
Posted on 1/20/14 at 12:04 pm to Riseupfromtherubble
I'm high on Cyrus too. A second spring and fall camp plus a year under his belt will spell a big increase in skill and experience. I think he has the ability to be all SEC.
Posted on 1/20/14 at 1:39 pm to CrimsonChin
Besides the second year upgrade CBs get under Saban we will see with Eddie and Cyrus we will get Kirby back with the SECONDARY!!!! This is the best thing going for us. Plus with Bo with the DLine now, both working together again - both will improve their numbers!!!
Posted on 1/20/14 at 9:13 pm to chattabama
I think all 3 units will be better. With the secondary making the biggest improvement.
Posted on 4/20/14 at 10:46 pm to chattabama
A-Day overreaction bump.
I'm almost ready to say that our secondary will be better than it was last year. Almost. Problem is that we haven't seen them tested very much.
What are your thoughts about the defense now that we have seen A-Day? Who are your standout players? What worries you the most about our defense?
I'm almost ready to say that our secondary will be better than it was last year. Almost. Problem is that we haven't seen them tested very much.
What are your thoughts about the defense now that we have seen A-Day? Who are your standout players? What worries you the most about our defense?
Posted on 4/20/14 at 10:53 pm to chattabama
quote:
I'm almost ready to say that our secondary will be better than it was last year
Maybe. Right now here is my ideal lineup, based off of A-Day and the Spring as a whole.
DE: Jon Allen or Jarran Reed
NG: Jarran Reed or Brandon Ivory
DE: A'Shawn Robinson
JLB: Xzavier Dickson or Tim Williams
WLB: Reggie Ragland
MLB: Trey DePriest
SLB: Dillon Lee or Denzel Devall
CB: Tony Brown
CB: Bradley Sylve (assuming Eddie can't play vs WVU)
FS: Geno Smith
SS: Landon Collins
Star: Jarrick Williams
Money: Hootie Jones
We're gonna use like, the entire three deep on the D-Line. I really wouldn't mind seeing Hootie step up and take the SS spot and let LC play Free, which would put Geno at Star and Jarrick at Money. I feel like we're gonna need to play out Corners one on one a lot this year, they need to be able to do it. If we had to play single high, I'd want LC to be the deep Safety.
Jon Allen is gonna be hard to keep off the field. If Reed could learn to play Nose, we could get him and Allen on the field together more. Ivory is too soft to be a dominant Nose anyway.
Posted on 4/20/14 at 11:04 pm to AllBamaDoesIsWin
I'm going out on a limb and saying Brown will start at corner by third game in and be amazing. He'll get burned a couple of times because he'll be out of position, but the rest of the time, he's gonna be lockdown. His pick in the spring game was dadgum beautiful
Posted on 4/20/14 at 11:06 pm to AllBamaDoesIsWin
quote:
DE: Jon Allen or Jarran Reed
NG: Jarran Reed or Brandon Ivory
DE: A'Shawn Robinson
I'm also thinking we will see a lot of rotation between the ones and twos. Might be the deepest dline we've had under CNS. You can't keep Pettway or Liner off the field for very long. Then you add in the newcomers like Frazier and Hand
quote:
JLB: Xzavier Dickson or Tim Williams
WLB: Reggie Ragland
MLB: Trey DePriest
SLB: Dillon Lee or Denzel Devall
Tim Williams impressed the heck out of me yesterday. He lived in the backfield. Dickson also looks like he has gained a step. He looked like how I remembered him in 2012. I was also impressed with Ragland's play defending the pass. I was pleasantly surprised there, as I was expecting Reuben to take the starting job.
quote:
CB: Tony Brown
CB: Bradley Sylve (assuming Eddie can't play vs WVU)
I think our secondary will be better next year if Eddie can start early. It should be interesting to see Sylve progress through the year, as it appeared that he almost locked down a starting job last year before getting injured. The wild card is Cyrus Jones. Will he improve or continue to be the worst DB on the field?
Tony Brown was very impressive. Really like his competitive spirit. I'd imagine there will be a lot of growing pains if he starts. I still can't imagine him being any worse than Cyrus Jones was last year.
quote:
FS: Geno Smith
SS: Landon Collins
Star: Jarrick Williams
Money: Hootie Jones
Really hoping LC will step up as the leader of the secondary. That will be needed desperately. Geno looked pretty good. I hope he doesn't screw it up in the offseason like he did last year.
Posted on 4/20/14 at 11:34 pm to AllBamaDoesIsWin
quote:
Jon Allen is gonna be hard to keep off the field. If Reed could learn to play Nose, we could get him and Allen on the field together more. Ivory is too soft to be a dominant Nose anyway.
My hope is that we play mostly true 4-3 on run downs. Pettway, Robinson, Reed, Allen up front and Lee, Depriest, Ragland at backer. That's over 1500 pounds of mean and powerful athleticism.
Tim Williams looks like he is going to be hard to keep off the field though. He's gonna be a player. Lots of talent on this defense, that's not deniable.
Posted on 4/20/14 at 11:38 pm to chattabama
D-Line - Better. I think davis is a much better coach than rumph, and i think our guys have the talent, drive, and physical ability this year to be the best saban has had at alabama
Linebacker- I actually think this will be a wash. Mosely is a big loss, but i still think our inside linebackers are going to be the best in the country again. depriest has played a ton of really good football and is ready to be the man, ragland looks like he is ready to blow up, foster can be a terror if he stops knocking himself out, Lee looks to be super versatile, and we will have plenty of young super talented and athletic guys who should be able to contribute situationally as they learn.
Secondary- Better. I think we will see a big improvement is cb play, and perhaps a slight dropoff in safety. Collins is ready for primetime, and geno looks to be a really good cover option at FS. Williams and perry both have lots of time in system. Corners, we have lots of guys who got good experience last year and who will know where they should be in the scheme, so fewer mental mistakes (guys like geno, mo smith, eddie jackson), plus some super athletic and talented freshman who will probably make big contributions and provide great depth. I fully expect brown to be a starter this season. But the biggest thing i think that will change is that the DL will not allow everyone so much time to pick the secondary apart with an improved pass rush. Im optimistic that if the work ethic this squad has shown so far persists, we have the potential to be saban's second best defense of his alabama tenure in 2014.
Linebacker- I actually think this will be a wash. Mosely is a big loss, but i still think our inside linebackers are going to be the best in the country again. depriest has played a ton of really good football and is ready to be the man, ragland looks like he is ready to blow up, foster can be a terror if he stops knocking himself out, Lee looks to be super versatile, and we will have plenty of young super talented and athletic guys who should be able to contribute situationally as they learn.
Secondary- Better. I think we will see a big improvement is cb play, and perhaps a slight dropoff in safety. Collins is ready for primetime, and geno looks to be a really good cover option at FS. Williams and perry both have lots of time in system. Corners, we have lots of guys who got good experience last year and who will know where they should be in the scheme, so fewer mental mistakes (guys like geno, mo smith, eddie jackson), plus some super athletic and talented freshman who will probably make big contributions and provide great depth. I fully expect brown to be a starter this season. But the biggest thing i think that will change is that the DL will not allow everyone so much time to pick the secondary apart with an improved pass rush. Im optimistic that if the work ethic this squad has shown so far persists, we have the potential to be saban's second best defense of his alabama tenure in 2014.
Posted on 4/21/14 at 10:17 am to narddogg81
Yep DL straight up nasty this coming fall. Again I think it will be the most disruptive DL we have seen since 92. Not saying as good but will be a terror for any style team. We have the speed to get into the backfield and sideline to sideline.
The best part about the D overall is some of our best future talent has yet to arrive.
The best part about the D overall is some of our best future talent has yet to arrive.
Posted on 4/22/14 at 8:45 pm to CrimsonChin
quote:
Bottom line. Even with a small drop off we'll still field the best defense in the SEC again.
Take off the crimson and white glasses. When healthy, Florida's defenses have been better than Alabama's the past 2 seasons. Will Muschamp has outdone Smart and Saban the past 2 seasons. One of the key reasons Alabama has finished statistically superior is due to a lack of injuries, an easier schedule, and a better offense.
Posted on 4/22/14 at 9:10 pm to Aurora Borealis
quote:
Florida's defenses have been better than Alabama's the past 2 seasons. Will Muschamp has outdone Smart and Saban the past 2 seasons
But they havent stayed healthy, so you have no point. We have had our fair share of injuries too. Numbers don't lie, chief.
Posted on 4/22/14 at 9:44 pm to Funky Tide 8
quote:
Numbers don't lie, chief.
You've got the crimson and white glasses. Also, numbers alone don't tell the whole story. I don't think you understand how decimated Florida was last year. 2012 and 2013 Alabama didn't suffer nearly as much adversity as 2013 Florida, nor did they play as tough of a schedule.
Quantitative measurements aren't a great argument for an Alabama fan to use in defense. Alabama and Florida didn't play the same caliber of schedule, and Alabama's defense had much better support from their offense.
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