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D-Line depth
Posted on 6/30/19 at 2:33 pm
Posted on 6/30/19 at 2:33 pm
1) who are we expecting to replace QW at NT? DJ Dale has been getting rave reviews. Will he take the starting spot over Phi Mathis? Regardless of who starter is I expect both of them to rotate frequently.
2) which underclassmen/freshmen do we think has a serious chance to earn quality reps and provide solid depth. Last years D-Line recruiting class was deeeep. The staff really knocked it out of the park regarding picking up some quality players on the line.
Justin Eboigbe (sp?) was an EE and getting him on campus for the spring was huge. I think he’s a specimen and will be able to contribute in high capacity.
I think Sophser is a project. Would be surprised if he plays this year in meaningful time. As goes for Braylen Ingram.
The two I’m most excited about are Alfano (for obvious reasons; top recruit and so much potential. Has a great attitude and demeanor of previous Alabama great Jonathan Allen), and the second player being Byron Young. I think this dude is going to be an animal. He’s got great measurables and that country boy strength. Wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up being the best of the bunch and a Marcel Dareus type player for us down the road.
Who do y’all think we see in the two deep?
2) which underclassmen/freshmen do we think has a serious chance to earn quality reps and provide solid depth. Last years D-Line recruiting class was deeeep. The staff really knocked it out of the park regarding picking up some quality players on the line.
Justin Eboigbe (sp?) was an EE and getting him on campus for the spring was huge. I think he’s a specimen and will be able to contribute in high capacity.
I think Sophser is a project. Would be surprised if he plays this year in meaningful time. As goes for Braylen Ingram.
The two I’m most excited about are Alfano (for obvious reasons; top recruit and so much potential. Has a great attitude and demeanor of previous Alabama great Jonathan Allen), and the second player being Byron Young. I think this dude is going to be an animal. He’s got great measurables and that country boy strength. Wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up being the best of the bunch and a Marcel Dareus type player for us down the road.
Who do y’all think we see in the two deep?
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Posted on 6/30/19 at 2:58 pm to Hawaiian Punch
The DL should be pretty salty. We needed a freshman haul and coach got it done.
Posted on 6/30/19 at 3:47 pm to Hawaiian Punch
I look for Mathis to start with Dale playing a lot more as he gets experience.
Davis and Ray will be studs at DL, just need some freshman to step up at DL.
Davis and Ray will be studs at DL, just need some freshman to step up at DL.
Posted on 6/30/19 at 6:00 pm to Hawaiian Punch
I expect our depth to be much better than the last few years, and I expect to have a true 2nd unit for rotation purposes. Part of this assumption is based on the talent in the Dline room, but the other part is based on the hire of Brian Baker from MissSt (and Sunseri returning). Those hires are huge, imo.
Regarding the rotation, I expect Davis, Dale, and Ray to make up the 1st unit with Mathis, Barmore, and Wynn getting a lot of PT as well. I can't say much about the young guys as I don’t know much, but we've recruited nastily and so I expect good things in time.
But the most important thing for me is that we get back to having 6-7 guys who we trust and play them all. I fully expect the days of playing a one-legged Buggs and such to be gone. Let's rotate, then rotate some, and then after that, rotate a bit. And then rotate.
Regarding the rotation, I expect Davis, Dale, and Ray to make up the 1st unit with Mathis, Barmore, and Wynn getting a lot of PT as well. I can't say much about the young guys as I don’t know much, but we've recruited nastily and so I expect good things in time.
But the most important thing for me is that we get back to having 6-7 guys who we trust and play them all. I fully expect the days of playing a one-legged Buggs and such to be gone. Let's rotate, then rotate some, and then after that, rotate a bit. And then rotate.
Posted on 7/1/19 at 10:10 am to prevatt33
quote:
Regarding the rotation, I expect Davis, Dale, and Ray to make up the 1st unit with Mathis, Barmore, and Wynn getting a lot of PT as well. I can't say much about the young guys as I don’t know much, but we've recruited nastily and so I expect good things in time.
Completely forgot about Barmore. He's another one that I think could end up being a really good player. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe he was named scout team defensive player of the week something like 9 times last year. I'm expecting big things from him. I remember before Quinnen got any meaningful playing time, he was a terror on the scout team - thus a lot of Alabama fans knew he was going to be good, but to the rest of the nation he seemed to come out of nowhere. Not saying Barmore will play himself into a top 5 pick in one year like QW did, but I think we could see a very similar situation.
Posted on 7/1/19 at 11:10 am to prevatt33
Yea, feels like we have a pretty solid group of depth.
The fact that everyone pretty much agrees Sopsher is going to have an entire year to get into shape and learn how to use his God given gifts speaks to the depth in that group.
The fact that everyone pretty much agrees Sopsher is going to have an entire year to get into shape and learn how to use his God given gifts speaks to the depth in that group.
Posted on 7/1/19 at 3:12 pm to SummerOfGeorge
I'm super excited about this DL group. I think by mid-season as some of the young guys start to come into their own, it could get nasty for opposing offenses.
Posted on 7/1/19 at 3:53 pm to tider04
The problem last year besides depth was Q Williams was doing everything himself. Kwon was a ghost, and our edge rushers were out all the time or for the season. At least we can spread the workload out. I’ll take 8 solid players over 1 superstar. Not to mention our Mike LB was totally lost.
Posted on 7/1/19 at 4:34 pm to CrimsonBoz
quote:
Q Williams was doing everything himself. Kwon was a ghost
Why do you think Kwon was a ghost last year? Not that I am disagreeing, he was absolutely a shell of himself from the 2017 season, but what do you think the reason was that he regressed so much? Seems like having QW demand so much attention would have allowed Kwon to really break out last year, yet he never really did.
Hopefully some of these younger guys can push him, and he will either get better or we will get to see what some of these underclassmen can do.
Posted on 7/1/19 at 5:39 pm to Hawaiian Punch
quote:
Why do you think Kwon was a ghost last year? Not that I am disagreeing, he was absolutely a shell of himself from the 2017 season, but what do you think the reason was that he regressed so much?
Your question piqued my interest and so I went back and watched a bit of tape on R. Davis.
The following link is a youtube video that is marked to show a specific play of R. Davis' from our most recent game with Clemson. Watch how he comes off the ball compared to the other 3 Bama defenders. It's like he's trapped in a parallel universe where everything is happening the same, but delayed by 1 second.
LINK
Now check out 2 consecutive plays from our game with Clemson 2 years ago. In the first play, he comes off the ball nicely, ends up disengaged and makes a nice broken play tackle. It was lucky in that the ball carrier came back to him, but he was not engaged and free to make the play. On the second play, he comes off the ball like Kelly Bryant kidnapped his mother.
LINK
In addition to the lack of explosiveness compared to a year ago, it looks like Davis moved around a lot in 2017, lining up anywhere anywhere in among the 1-, 3-, and 5- technique spots. The times he really ate seemed to be when he lined up more inside and went against Guards and Centers. In 2018, it seems like he played mostly 3-technique, when lends it self to 1) fighting against Offensive Tackles, who are much better at pass blocking than Guards and Centers, or 2) getting double-teamed by the Tackled and Guard. Notice how much Q. Williams ate when he was the 1-technique in 2018.
Also, if you watch film of both years, in 2017 R. Davis played a lot of Nose in our Rabbit Rusher package and was on the field on 3rd and long and other obvious passing situations. In 2018, he played a ton of 3-technique Tackle and came off the field on 3rd and long. If you watch the most recent National Title game, R. Davis is rarely on the field for obvious passing situations.
And so, it seems that R. Davis suffered from a few different issues. The first has to be something physical, whether it was poor coaching that led to poor technique, bad motor, or injuries. The second has to be the fact that he was playing a completely different position than the year before. I'm not saying that I know how to fix Davis, but I'm going to be very optimistic that Brian Baker has the answer. If I'm Baker, I tell Davis that if he doesn't fly off the ball like being shot out of a cannon, then I'll find someone who will. However, in Davis's defense last year, he was very, very effective in the run game. Very effective. He rarely got moved from his spot and plugged the line nicely. He just didn't affect the passer nearly as much.
This post was edited on 7/1/19 at 6:42 pm
Posted on 7/1/19 at 6:13 pm to prevatt33
He also put on a fair amount of weight between 17-18. He lost a step. I’m hoping they get him leaned back out a bit for 19.
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