I used to think the fact that Alabama uses a base 3-4 caused us to miss on a lot of potential DL prospects. But more and more schools have switched to the 3-4 and our recruiting at the position has continued to be inconsistent.

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Posted by TideSaint

Hill Country

Member since Sep 2008

75910 posts

Posted on 8/31/16 at 9:29 am to CapstoneGrad06

quote:
I used to think the fact that Alabama uses a base 3-4 caused us to miss on a lot of potential DL prospects. But more and more schools have switched to the 3-4 and our recruiting at the position has continued to be inconsistent.

The state of Alabama just hasn't produced guys like Dareus, Gilberry, etc. in the last couple years. I know we got Daron Payne and he looks like a future stud, but we've had to go out of state or JUCO to land defensive line starters lately.

The in-state guys we have gotten haven't really panned out for whatever reason. Darren Lake had a decent career, but he wasn't elite. Dee Liner never saw the field before transferring. Darius Paige had a medical condition that ended his career before it even began.

A'Shawn Robinson, Jarran Reed, Jon Allen, Dalvin Tomlinson, Josh Frazier, Terrance Cody, D'Shawn Hand, etc. were all out of state guys.

We signed Daron Payne and Anfernee Jennings in 2015 and they both show immense potential.

Last year you had Marlon Davidson (an Auburn legacy with a brother on their staff) and Quinnen Williams in the Top 20. Williams may very well end up a starter.

Now we have LaBryan Ray in this class who looks like a future All-American, but in the Top 25 Composite for the state of Alabama there are only two other defensive linemen in Ryan Johnson and Neil Farrell. Johnson is #12 and Farrell is #25.

Bottom line is the state isn't producing quality D-Linemen right now and our recruiting is reflecting that. It's always harder to snag an out of state kid.

ETA: The 2014 in-state class was laughably bad for D-Linemen.