re: CKD has lost just 2 games at Alabama when the offense produced 21 points

Yes, I think you are spot on. Ty is a very talented player, and I lm really happy for him to get drafted early (soon), and I certainly appreciate what he accomplished this season, and getting to Atlanta for the SECCG in a 16 team league now as well as advancing in the Playoffs was a tremendous success for the program regardless of the (very) evident struggles offensively.

Like you pointed out, it is similar to when Tua got reps (minimal) in the regular season as a Freshman, and then he came out and made those couple of plays against Vanderbilt where most fans could tell right then that he was going to be special.

The tape on Russell though is as good as any QB I can recall. He played against the best talent in the country all 4 years as a starter for Duncanville , and competed in the most prestigious recruiting camps/competitions.

He went from an SMU commit/“3-star” prospect and finished up as the #2 overall recruit in all of the country. So clearly a lot of talent evaluators see the same traits he possesses that some of us have posted about on here.

I am just super grateful he is in Crimson and will have two full seasons to witness him playing here.

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This is insanity. Sorry, but, C'mon.

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Note what I said and didn’t say.

I didn’t say he was more accurate.
I didn’t say he had a bigger arm.
I didn’t say he was better.

We don’t know any of that because we aren’t in practice and he didn’t get enough reps to say any of those things.

I said if you specifically compare the releases as TF between those four I believe he was as good or better last year than any of them. The ball friggin explodes off his fingers.

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I dont think its unreasonable to say he has a better release than BY, Tua or Mac.

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I think it’s better than Mac’s. Possibly better than BY, but not Tua’s. Maybe on par with Tua’s. That dude could get the ball out quick and accurate

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I am very high on the defense going in to year 3….the DL finally has the body types CNS always fielded up until his final recruiting classes when Faga and Beaman were the only two he signed. London Simmons was the most productive interior DL out of their
Front-3 as a TF this past season.

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I would share your optimism but I dont fully understand what we're trying to do.

Wommack came in with the schematic intention of attacking offenses. Rather than sit back and plug gaps with interior guys who needed a double team, the concept as I understood it was that we were going to get our DL upfield into gaps to attack mesh points, etc.

What I saw year one was a DL that couldn't get up field and after adjustments were made to make the defense more vanilla to supplement that more reactive approach with mug blitz looks from the LBs and and sending safeties to disrupt the QB.

What I hoped going into last year was that James Smith would be the kind of disrupter we haven't had in a few years who could get up field without having to send people, but whether it was due to losing our big guys early (Keenan had a major injury, Beamon went down, etc) it never played out and he and Overton were basically non-factors in terms of consistently being able to make plays.

Do you think our new personnel will allow us to get the playmaker types more active in attacking by being able to hold at the point of attack inside due to having more size or do you think we will just be more effective at doing what we did last year with better size to take on blockers?

Much like the OL I just didnt always understand what the coaches wanted to or at least felt like the could do within our system with the personnel we had though I admit I have much less of a feel for the Wommack system than I did with the base concepts anyway that Saban was using for so long (although some of them evolved over time obviously with changes in rules and offenses).

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The one aspect of the 2026 group that I’m not so certain about is the RB position.

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Man I don't know. You show me an OL that looks like they've played organized football before and aren't wearing concrete boots and I bet we find some RBs that can pickup 3+ YPC.

Go back and watch the tape. They were the slowest, least communicative most passive OL I've seen in my time going back to Shula. I'm not sure what we were even trying to do half the time and watching guys like Cubelic and the Film Guy who are OL experts they didn't either.

How was Proctor so soft at his weight? Why did it always look like they were a bunch of kids who hadn't studied for a math test waiting for the defense to engage them rather than quickly getting to a spot and sealing an edge if that's what this system wants them doing?

I haven't seen the stats after the playoffs but going in we legitimately were bottom 5 in all of P4 at avg first point of contact running the ball and that's with two NFL guys in Proctor and Brailsford and what will end up being an NFL guy in Carrol.

I just cant hold the RBs to account when they're having to make their first guy miss while they're standing one step in front of the QB and not one guy on the OL was getting positive bend to open up gaps.

Hill needs to embrace being a Brian Robinson type back at his size.
AK Dear needs to stop running passive like a freshman in his first fall camp.
Riley needs more size if he doesn't want to spend his career as a 3rd down back.
Crowell is only 17 so while I think he is a future NFL feature back I'm not sure he's ready to start the year as RB2.

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Ty Simpson gave his thoughts to @aldotcom this week on Alabama’s future under Kalen DeBoer: “Don’t be a fan later. Everybody likes to criticize him now. Don’t be a fan later. That dude is the exact person for the job. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

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I believe him

I will start with the Defense:

I think your observations are very accurate and you have a solid understanding of the game more than typical fans.

You are correct about Wommack being a die-hard 1-gap 4-2-5 guy. His “swarm” defense took gambles by utilizing a lot of stunting with smaller DL body types to get penetration.

CKW did use a 3-4 Under Front (as did Pruitt in 2016-2017 vs 12/20 personnel groupings), but it was maybe 15% of the time at best.

The thing I appreciate about CKW is his willingness to adapt and not stay “married” to the scheme that he learned from his father and ultimately landed him one of the top DC positions in all of football.

I believe he saw the trouble they were having stopping the run against much more physical and well/coached offenses/Olines in the SEC.
Beginning with the week after the Vandy loss, CKW began using a 3-4 Under on early (run) downs, and also the “mugged up LB’s” in obvious passing situations and began sending some creative pressures, and it paid off BIG TIME…..after the Vandy loss week 5, they were ranked in the bottom of most every statistical category out of P-4 teams. Over the next 8 weeks, they allowed the 4th fewest points in all of CFB and ended up top10 in the country in Scoring Defense at 17.8ppg, the fewest Bama allowed since 2017.

However, the miserable Milroe performances vs OU and Michigan to conclude the season and blowing their opportunity to reach the SECCG by beating a poor OU team, which probably would have won CKD the SEC COY honors, then of course were left out the Playoffs.

Studious fans applauded the defensive adjustments and the (borderline miraculous) turnaround from where they were after the conclusion of the 2nd half blown lead to Georgia and loss to Vandy. Unfortunately, a large % of the fanbase wrote him off indefinitely after the Vandy loss, but it is what it is.

This year, they played an Odd Front much more frequently on early downs and against heavy personnel groupings compared to a 4-2-5, and it resulted in the defense making a major improvement stopping the run. Bama gave up less than 300ypg (296.8) for the first time since 2019, and finished 2nd in Total Defense in the SEC behind only OU, despite playing an absurdly difficult schedule including 3 postseason games.

I do not think fans understand how much talent the 2023 defense lost (five future 1st rounders counting Downs), along with all the transfers when CNS retired. The recruiting, especially on the DL and at LB, had dropped off significantly in CNS’s final two classes.

What CKW has accomplished (allowed fewer points AND total yards over the past two years than Kirby’s Georgia defense) with subpar talent (by Bama’s standards), has been extremely impressive to any realistic fan, and to fans/coaches who understand scheme specifics.

Now, I believe CKW has the DL body types that actually fit his 3-4 Under that he has committed to over his former base 4-2-5 that struggled to stop the run or get affect the passer.

CKD said he was quote, “fired up” about the DLine group they brought in. I believe that in Year 3, they have the best Secondary in the conference and the Front-6/7 will be even more stout against the run. Yhonzae Pierre is one of the top edge rushers in the SEC.

If the offense can sustain drives and help keep the defense fresh, along with the improvement at Punter (who may be the most significant individual transfer they brought in), I think the defense will FINALLY get the respect it deserves and finish top10 Nationally in both Scoring and Total Defense.

No doubt the OL play was porous to say the least. However, I would point to (dead horse I know) Grubb’s track record when it comes to running the football.

Alabama attempted the 6th (if I’m off it’s not by much) most pass attempts out of ALL 131 FBS teams this past year. I read that he’s never had an offense finish ranked higher than 64th nationally in rushing.

The only thing I will defend the OLine with is the fact that Proctor is a lock to be a 1st round Pick at LT, Jaedan Roberts had started (and looked so good) on the 2023 SECC team that ended Kirby’s chance at a 3-peat, Brailsford is considered a top5 Center in the Draft and he started for Grubb at Washington as a TF. Then Michael Carroll was named to the Freshman All-American team and appears to be an elite talent that will start at Tackle for the next 2-3 years.

So, if you look at what those guys did in their pasts, and how professional scouts view them, along with the success they had individually at various stages, it’s just hard for me to label them as “pitiful” players or make them the scapegoat for Grubb running “Duo” 15 times a game right into the teeth of the defense with a 240lb RB who should be used as a short yardage Back only.

Grubb’s OL won the Joe Moore award for Most-Oustanding OLine in the country at Washington, and they only averaged 124ypg on the ground (64th nationally), which Penix accounted for a portion of that with his scrambling yardage.

I just think as Bama fans, we have to accept that other than having an ELITE Saban (prime years) caliber RB who creates on his own, that the running game is going to be very limited.


Be thankful for Keelon Russell and Ezavier Crowell….if they keep recruiting and evaluating the skill positions as well as they have these first two years, then hopefully it won’t matter.

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Look at the list of True Freshmam LBs that started under CNS: - Rolando McClain
- Donte Hightower
- Reggie Ragland
- CJ Mosely
- Christian Harris (played Cornerback as a Senior at University Lab (1A) in Baton Rouge
- Trey Depriest (injury wrecked his career)
- Dylan Moses (same)
- Rashaad Evans
Many others who played a lot as well:
- Jihaad Campbell (rotated with Trez Marshal/was start in Semi-Final game vs Michigan)
- Reuben Foster (making the calls was the only reason he didn’t start day 1)

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And these guys have what to do with Xavier Griffin?

These guys listed were coached by some of the best defensive minds in the game - some of these defensive coaches being historically great. That is no longer the situation in Tuscaloosa.

CJ Mosley 2.0 is a big frickin ask too. You think Griffin will be one of the best ILBs in the conference (which is incredibly watered down, particularly from a defensive standpoint, compared to when Mosley was in TTown) on Day 1?

Look, I think X. Griffin will be a good player for us at some point, but a lot of your takes are overly optimistic to the point of delusion.

Who have I discussed beyond X. Griffin and K. Russell?

I stand by my assessment of both. Also, evaluators comp’d them to Jihad Cambell and Jayden Daniels, so they must have also lost their mental faculties as well I assume?

How is it so far off-base that I’m bordering on “delusional” for thinking Griffin is good enough to rank amongst the top10 LBs of the CNS Era when his time at the capstone is over?

What if I had made these same remarks about Bryce Young heading into his Sophomore season and CJ Mosely as a 1st year starter?

Would that have “bordered on delusion”?