With “A-Day right around the corner, the headlines have been eerily silent surrounding Alabama’s defense. There’s been plenty of talk about the QBs, OL, and WR observations over the last few weeks, but outside of a few comments about Jah-Marien Latham and Cam Calhoun, the defense as a whole has been out of the limelight.
There’s been a few minor coaching changes since last season. Safety coach Colin Hitschler hit the road and was replaced by Jason Jones, a former Alabama cornerback who’s been coaching defensive backs ever since 2005, including a “National Defensive Backs Coach of the Year” award with Ole Miss back in 2014.
Then there’s Chuck Morrell. He was part of Washington’s staff under Kalen DeBoer and came to Alabama with him, but took the job as an analyst and “special assistant tot he head coach”. In reality, he spent time working with the linebackers all year, but was officially promoted to an on-field coach back in January.
With Morrell taking over as linebacker coach, defensive coordinator Kane Wommack is no longer directly responsible for any specific position group and is just the defensive coordinator.
Outside of those minor changes on the coaching staff and the losses of Jihaad Campbell, Que Robinson, and Malachi Moore to the NFL, Alabama’s defense from last season remains remarkably stable. Which, considering they were a top-10 unit in the entire NCAA by most important metrics, that’s a pretty big deal.
Defensive Tackles
Returning Starters: Tim Keenan III, James Smith
Returning Contributors: Edric Hill, Jeremiah Beaman
Returning Depth: Isaia Faga
New Players: Steve Mboumoua
Tim Keenan’s return was a pleasant surprise, as most expected the senior to go pro. Having a veteran nose tackle in the center of the line to keep things stable is a huge boon for the defense. Then there’s James Smith, a former 5-star who worked his way into a lot of playing time as the 3rd defensive tackle, with his best performance coming against Michigan at the end of the season. If Smith continues to ascend, the pair could be a devastating duo.
Behind them, Edric Hill and Jeremiah Beaman got a bit of playing time near the end of the year last year and will be looking to get more important rotational snaps. Faga was a redshirt last year, so we have yet to see him.
The wildcard, though, is JUCO transfer Steve Mboumoua. The Canadian originally signed with Alabama but decided to spend a year in JUCO to work on his English and bulk up. He’s an athletic freak of nature with a rather short resume of football to his name, so he’s the kind of guy that could be a superstar or never see the field.
Ultimately, the battle to watch here is who steps up to be the rotational guy behind Keenan and Smith.
Bandit
Returning Starters: LT Overton
Returning Depth: Jordan Renaud, Keon Keeley
New Players: Kelby Collins
LT Overton likely could have been a 2nd or 3rd round pick had he left for the NFL, so his decision to return was a big one for Alabama. The senior was a force for the Tide last season, racking up 42 tackles, a couple of sacks, and 9 QB hits. While he was never able to settle on being a linebacker or a lineman at Texas A&M, Wommack’s scheme with the Bandit position was perfect for him, and he’s got a good shot to be a legitimate star this year.
Kelby Collins transferred in from Florida after going through a similar situation to what Overton did at Texas A&M. Typically, it’d be easy to pencil him in as Overton’s backup, but there’s a pair of returning players who will make it difficult for him. Jordan Renaud played some DT and some Bandit last year before quietly getting a lot of quality snaps over the last 1⁄4 of the season, and he slimmed down a bit to get faster on the edge. And then there’s Keon Keeley, once a top-10 prospect as a linebacker that has spent a couple of years changing positions to the defensive line. While we haven’t seen him on the field much yet, he brings elite potential and size.
While Overton is the guy, Wommack rotates this position plenty, and it’ll be interesting to see what the pecking order becomes.
Wolf
Returning Starters: Qua Russaw, Jah-Marien Latham
Returning Contributors: Yhonzae Pierre
New Players: Fatutoa Henry, Justin Hill
Qua Russaw looked to be a revelation at Wolf early last season, but an injury derailed him for a bit, and he wound up playing second fiddle to Que Robinson and never quite looking as explosive as he did early on. An offseason should do him good, and he should be expected to be the main starter.
However, Jah-Marien Latham was a co-starter at Bandit last year and dropped weight going into his graduate senior season to make a position change to Wolf. He’ll likely be used more situationally while Russaw is the typical starter.
Yhonzae Pierre got a decent bit of rotational time last year, though he didn’t make much impact with it.
Finally, there’s a couple of new players with extremely high potential. Fatutoa Henry is a JUCO transfer who absolutely dominated the junior college ranks. He’s on the injured report this spring, so whether he’s available at A-Day is up in the air.
Justin Hill is a freshman that many think should have been a consensus 5-star prospect. He brings both the frame and the production to be an elite pass rusher, and has already been getting some mentions this spring as a player that’s standing out.
Linebacker
Returning Starters: Deontae Lawson, Justin Jefferson
Returning Depth: Cayden Jones, QB Reese, Noah Carter,
New Players: Nikai Hill-Green, Abduall Sanders, Luke Metz, Duke Johnson
Deontae Lawson and Justin Jefferson both return as senior starters thanks to Lawson deciding to not leave for the NFL and Jefferson benefiting from the JUCO ruling to give him an extra year of eligibility. They return multiple seasons worth of starting experience for Alabama.
Behind them, Nikai Hill-Green transfers in after an All-Big 12 season at Colorado. He’ll be the third team, but will likely split things 50/50 with Jefferson as a co-starter.
Past them, there’s a bunch of freshmen and redshirt freshmen that we haven’t seen much of yet, but will be battling to see if one can rise above the rest to get a rotational back up role.
Cornerbacks
Returning Starters: Domani Jackson, Zabien Brown
Returning Contributors: DaShawn Jones
New Players: Cam Calhoun, Dijon Lee
Domani Jackson and Zabien Brown were, arguably, the best cornerback duo in the country last year. Jackson was barely targeted the entire season, and while Brown gave up some balls early in the season as a true freshman, he also pulled off some high-profile interceptions and became more and more consistent as the season went on. These two will be the starters at the two corner spots, no doubts about it.
DaShawn Jones returns as a guy who originally rotated with Brown early last season, then moved to the Husky slot corner position to rotate with a couple of other players. By the end of the season, he was getting the bulk of the slot snaps, and should be expected to reprise that role. If he gets passed up by someone else, though, Jones can be the primary backup to any corner spot.
Cam Calhoun transferred in from Utah and is Jones’s chief competition for Husky. He’s a high energy, high effort player with D1 starting experience, and Wommack has already called him out as a guy who’s attitude raises the whole team.
Finally, 5-star freshman Dijon Lee is a 6’4” freak of nature who will likely see the field some out of necessity and should be a primary backup for Jackson and Brown.
The battle between Jones and Calhoun for the Husky role is probably the biggest position battle on defense this offseason.
Safeties
Returning Starters: Keon Sabb, Brayson Hubbard
Returning Contributors: Red Morgan, Zay Mincey
Returning Depth: Kameron Howard, Dre Kirkpatrick Jr
New Players: Ivan Taylor
Keon Sabb was one of Alabama’s best players early last year before a broken leg ended his season, and Bray Hubbard just took over and played even better. If Hubbard produces over a full season like he did over the half season in 2024, he’ll be an All-American.
They’ll both now be starters, but who stays at free safety and who moves to rover safety will be interesting to watch.
Behind them, Red Morgan got a good bit of playing time early last season before poor performance saw his snaps dwindle. On the other hand, Zay Mincey moved from corner to safety and got to start in the bowl game against Michigan with Malachi Moore out, and he played admirably.
Kam Howard and Dre Kirkpatrick Jr. make up the rest of the depth, while freshman Ivan Taylor brings upper tier potential and was talked about back during bowl practices as an early enrollee that looked way ahead of his age.
While things seem mostly locked up for the starters, Kane Wommack made it clear last year that everybody rotates, so there will be plenty of room for new players to make an impact this fall. And if you happen to be in Tuscaloosa on the 12th, maybe you can figure out who will be the starting Husky next year or even catch a Keon Keeley sighting if you’re lucky.
