re: Spring Football News & Info

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Touchdown Alabama Magazine Premiered Mar 30, 2019 Leadership in the secondary has played a vital role in the five national championships for Alabama under Nick Saban. Having a solidified defensive backfield goes in direct correlation with the amount of the success the Crimson Tide has had. After struggling in the postseason in 2018, the Tide hired Charles Kelly to bring some stability for the back five. Stephen Smith of Touchdown Alabama Magazine explains why Kelly is the most influential hire.

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Over the years, Nick Saban’s 3- variant of the 3-4 defense has made a pretty significant transition (starting in 2012 with the loss to Texas A&M, and really kicking into overdrive after the 2014 loss to Ole Miss) in the role and play style of the big men lining up on the line of scrimmage.

In the early years, these defensive linemen were all massive space eaters whose jobs were to occupy blockers and free up holes for the linebackers to come charging through. As college football offenses have changed, Saban has put much more of an emphasis on these players being able to create the havoc for the quarterbacks and force running backs out wide. This has meant finding much more athletic and faster players, even if at the expense of pure size (though often enough he’s managed to find freaks of nature who can do both).

Returning Starters

Raekwon Davis

The monstrous senior from Mississippi is a towering 6’7” specimen and will be a 3rd year starter in 2019. After racking up 8.5 sacks and 10 TFL in 2017, he was poised to really break out and tabbed as a potential 1st round draft pick in 2018. That never really materialized as he hit a bit of a slump, and he only managed 1.5 sacks in all of last season.

Despite his lack of statistical production, Davis was still very much a vocal and enthusiastic presence on the field all year. And that kind of energy mixed in with his massive frame is a major intimidation factor. He will be the unquestioned leader of the position group in 2019.

Returning Depth

LaBryan Ray

A five star prospect a couple of seasons ago, Ray has been one of the first guys to sub in the last two years. He’s a little lighter than the usual Alabama defensive lineman, but is known to be a tremendously athletic player who can actually drop into coverage and play linebacker in a pinch. He’s racked up 44 tackles and 8.5 tackles for loss over the last two years, and should be a front runner for one starting job.

Phidarian Mathis

From the same recruiting class as Ray, Mathis was a little less heralded and known more as a traditional nose tackle than an explosive rusher. After redshirting his first year, Mathis got quite a bit of playing time as Q’s backup as the season wore on and he played quite well whenever he got the chance, even catching our eyes chasing wide receivers down the sidelines a couple of times. He wound up winning Freshman All-SEC honors and is likely the top candidate to take over at nose tackle.

Stephon Wynn

A redshirt freshman out of IMG Academy, Wynn played in a few games last year during mop up duty and wound up with 3 tackles on the season. A bigger, more technical player than a havoc-wreaker, Wynn would have been a prototype at defensive end in the 2011 Alabama defense, but will be facing an uphill climb against some of his more athletic counterparts.

Christian Barmore

A fellow classmate of Wynn, Barmore also took a redshirt, but did not play at all last season. At 6’5” 310, Barmore was an explosive-but-raw prospect coming out of high school who needed a season in college to learn how to do more than just overpower everyone with his pure size and athleticism. How he’s developed is a total unknown to us outsiders at this point, but he has a lot of potential.

Tevita Musika

The 340-pound mountain of a nose tackle transferred in from the JUCO ranks late last offseason. He played in five games in 2018, either in blowouts or occasionally in short yardage situations where his bulk was a, dare I say, big advantage. He recorded 3 tackles on the year and will be a senior in 2019.
Reinforcements

Antonio Alfano

The crown jewel of the 2019 recruiting class, the uber-athletic phenom out of New Jersey is already on campus and took the jersey #56. The #1 overall recruit by 247’s rankings is an explosive 288-pound player who can speed rush around the end just as well as he can bull rush a center and take down a running back. Alfano will be making his push for playing time from day one, and the older players will be hard pressed to hold him off.

D.J. Dale

Wearing #94, Dale is a big 315-pound nose tackle with much more speed than he’s given credit for. Though still a 4-star prospect, Dale was one of the lower rated members of the 2019 recruiting class, but will be getting a leg up on some of the other defensive linemen coming in because he’s enrolling early.

Justin Eboigbe

A four-star defensive end out of Georgia, Eboigbe was a top 100 prospect who, despite his size, is an excellent edge rusher with surprising speed and ferocity. Again, enrolling early will give him as good of a chance as anyone else to carving out some playing time for himself.

Projected A-Day Depth Chart

DE- Raekwon Davis, Antonio Alfano, Justin Eboigbe

NT- Phidarian Mathis, Tevita Musika, DJ Dale

DE- Labryan Ray, Christian Barmore, Stephon Wynn

Davis is an unquestioned starter, and Mathis and Ray are likely your other two starters— though their jobs are not a certainty for the 2019 season. Alfano will definitely push for a contributing role. The rest is pretty much a big mashup of depth.

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Spring is a time for experimentation. It allows Nick Saban and his coaching staff to see if a player might have a better opportunity to contribute at another position, he said, or bolster the depth for a group that was lacking beforehand. A couple of Alabama football players have spent time at different positions during the Crimson Tide’s spring practice, including redshirt freshman linebacker Cameron Latu working at tight end. “Obviously, losing Hale (Hentges) and Irv (Smith Jr.), we’ve got some experience issues at tight end and also some depth issues,” Saban said. “Having another guy suspended for four games next year at that position, I mean, you’re taking three out of the first four guys, so we need to get some people there. We’ve been encouraged by the progress that (Latu)’s made at that position.”

Hale Hentges and Irv Smith Jr. were Alabama’s first-team tight ends the last two seasons, and both are no longer on campus with Hentges exhausting his eligibility and Smith entering the NFL draft a year early. That left the Tide with four scholarship tights on the roster for the spring in Miller Forristall, Kedrick James -- who will be suspended -- Major Tennison and Michael Parker.

The tight end UA signed in 2019, Jahleel Billingsley, won’t join the team until the summer.

That’s why Latu has spent the last eight spring practices, including Saturday’s scrimmage, with the tight ends.

And according to Forristall, Latu has shown it could be more than just an experiment. “People forget, he came in as like a 5-star athlete, outside linebacker,” Forristall said Friday. “He’s going to be really good at whatever he does. I think he can play tight end, he can play outside linebacker. I wouldn’t be surprised if he stayed at tight end because he’s going to be really, really good at whatever he does, whether it be outside linebacker, tight end. He’s done great, transitioned to the room, really good guy. I love having him in there. It’s been a pleasure.”

Latu joined the Alabama program as a Top247 recruit out of Salt Lake City, Utah, a season ago. He was the No. 3 player in Utah, the No. 7 weak-side defensive end and the 131st overall player in the 2018 recruiting cycle, according to the industry-generated 247Sports Composite.

Latu appeared in two games for the Crimson Tide last year -- the first two against Louisville and Arkansas State. He collected his first career tackle in the season opener against the Cardinals, and because of the new redshirt rule, he was able to maintain a year of eligibility by playing in four games or less. And now ahead of his second year, he’s helping out the tight end group.

The redshirt freshman hauled in at least one pass during Alabama’s first scrimmage Saturday.

He could always switch back to outside linebacker, even as soon as today, but the 6-foot-5, 247-pound has shown he’s capable of making the transition to offense. As a player that has experienced a position change in the past, Forristall has helped guide Latu along the way.

“We all try to do our parts to help the new guy in the room, try to help him, lead him along,” Forristall said. “As an older guy, you kind of have that duty. They did the same thing for me when I first got here, so I don’t see why it would be any different. But Cam has done a good job.”

Latu and company will be back on the practice field later this afternoon at 3:30 p.m. CT.

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Griffith's kick in the championship game against Clemson for the 2015 title. It was an onside kick but it was just as important, maybe even moreso since it led to a national champsionship, than either Tiffin's or Doyle's legendary FGs...

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None of them are proven yet...247 rankings.

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