Defensive adjustment

Not have half of your starters injured for the season.

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So, you guys who know football, (that knocks you out of the discussion Shaft), what kinds of adjustments do you see needing to be made in order to deal with modern offenses? Perhaps more high risk-high reward plays, like looking to jump routs? Go back to mount Cody in the middle will leaner defensive ends?

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I'm glad I'm on your mind.

D-line looks to be in good shape. If the assignment light comes on for Barmore with spring and fall camp our D-line should be excellent. The down side is that if Barmore does make that move he will continue the move out of the program and we only get one strong year out of him. I expect Ray to have a good year and jump to the NFL as well. Next two men up have to be identified and get good experience next season.
ILB - Moses and Harris should be good to go. Kaho/Lee/Kennedy/Bratton - We need two of them to step up to provide depth and add to the base for 2021.
OLB - it is moving day for Allen, I hope he is ready to step up. We need two more from the rest of the group to show they are ready go - 6 or 7 bodies that could do it but time to see who will do it.
Safety - Battle and Hellams look to be the future there. Battle appears to be the braintrust to run the backend show. Is he ready mentally to be That Guy? Hope so is all I got at this point.
CB - this will be Surtain's year. By the end of April we should know who will join him. We need two of the group Jobe/JAD/R Williams to take their place on the field.

I suspect the spring for Hellams/R Williams/Kaho/Barmore to determine how high the Tide rises next season.

I wouldn't call this a schematic adjustment as much as coaching and technique, but what made Joe burrow so special this season and why I think he'll struggle early in the NFL is this-

His shots downfield, more often than not, are 50/50 balls. He's not throwing guys open, he's not throwing pinpoint passes to guys in stride that have a step on the defender, he's simply throwing it to really good players that are looking when their defender isn't. I bet he threw 20 touchdowns this season where the DB was in perfect coverage but never looked for the football. It takes balls to make that throw. It's a risky throw. But if you're confident in your scouting and know that the cornerback hasn't turned to find the football all year, it's really not a risky throw.

Against great QB's like that that realize the reward outweighs the risk, my message to the defensive backs would be pretty simple. Defensive backs know when they're beat or out of phase, you see them panic and start to grab. So, defensive back, if you think you're beat, just turn your head around.

Easier said than done because that has to be instinctive or coached into a kid one, but the difference in Derrick Stingley getting 6 interceptions on the year and leading the country in pass breakups wasn't athleticism of the ability to stay in phase, Diggs did that all year and #8 from Clemson did that all night last night. They both got torched against LSU because they might as well have been blindfolded. Chase and Marshall are looking at the ball and the DB isn't. If you're toasted, resign to punishing the arms and hands and separating the football, don't worry about finding it. If you're beat by a step between 15-40 yards, just turn your damn head around and catch the ball. You know it's coming because that's a good QB and your guy has a step on you down the field. It's the most maddening thing that Saban teaches to me. You need a WR mindset when the ball is in the air. It's fair game when the ball takes flight, find it and go get it.

From a "scheme" standpoint, the same thing will work now that has always worked against any balanced offense.

Be able to pressure the QB with 4 players. That's recruiting, scouting, and execution. Doesn't matter who is playing QB. If he's under pressure and you have 7 guys defending 4, you have a tremendous advantage.

Saban said it last night. Disrupt the quarterback. If you can disrupt the QB you can get negative plays and sometimes turnovers. Now, it's awesome to be able to do this with four guys, but if you can't you need to bring pressure and live with the fact that you're going to give up some chunk plays. One issue is that our DL are so big that most of them don't have explosive pass rush ability. I wish they were a little smaller and quicker, but I don't see that happening unfortunately.

One thing is to stop starting each play with 3 or 4 players AT the LOS. We should have at least 5 at the LOS for every play. We don't have to rush 5 but for heaven's sake, mix up the looks to make the QB think. With the current passing attack, bringing pressure from the LB or DB spot is too slow. It works occasionally but most of the time, it's ineffective and takes someone out of coverage.