re: Bama hasn't had a top 5 scoring defense since 2017

quote:

---

They were in the 30s the previous 2 seasons, and were perennial top 15, often top 5 while Peterson was there. Might have just been a matter of the defensive talent level tanking after Peterson left, not enough data to know

---

There’s more than enough data to know. Jimmy Lake was the DC while Peterson was there. Saban tried to hire him on a couple occasions over the years but always stayed at UW. He was considered an elite DC and is now an assistant HC with the LA Rams

Peterson ended up retiring and Lake got the HC role at Washington and was there for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. He didn’t have much success winning or recruiting; was fired and DeBoer was hired to turn things around.

When Lake was fired a good portion of the defense either left or wasn’t very good to start with. They were fairly well gutted on that side of the ball, and wasn’t a great situation defensively there.

As for what things looks like going forward, I expect that DeBoer will try to fill out the defensive roles with long time SEC guys. We’re kind of seeing that already.