The defensive line has long been a strength of the Alabama program, whether it was guys like Marcell Dareus, A’Shawn Robinson, and Quinnen Williams on the inside, or edge rushers like Will Anderson and Dallas Turner in recent years, the Tide has always produced top-tier talent along the line.
Schematically, Nick Saban changed his front throughout his tenure at Alabama. Early on, the 3-4 defense focused primarily on allowing the inside linebackers to get rush lanes. As we moved to the mid 2010s, Saban shifted more toward a nickel defense that allowed the interior defensive tackles to get more glory. By about 2020, Saban (with Pete Golding) shifted again to more of a 2-4-5 that saw Alabama really focus on the edge rushers.
In 2024, though, Kane Wommack’s scheme acted much more like a lighter version of the early Saban 3-4: much of the pressure design was based on defensive tackles clearing out lanes for a rotating cast of blitzing linebackers.
It makes for an interesting change, and seeing what types of players that Wommack and DeBoer recruit will go far towards what the long-term plan is, scheme-wise.
As a quick refresher on position terminoligy, check out my offseason article from last year on Wommack’s Swam defense.
In name, the defense is a 4-2-5. In practice, though, the defensive line typically lines up more as a a traditional 3-4 under front, with the two defensive tackles tilted to the weak side (one lined up between the guard and center on the strong side and the other between guard and tackle on the weak side), with the Bandit playing on the edge on the weakside while the Wolf acts as the stand up edge rusher against the TE/T with the Sting ready to back him up.
In year 1, Alabama’s passing defense improved fairly substantially over the previous seasons, but their run defense didn’t quite keep up, with poor showings for parts of a few games, against option QB keepers, mostly. Moving on to 2024, the Tide loses defensive tackle Tim Smith and edge rusher Que Robinson to graduation, but return the rest of the starters and major contributors. Predictably, it was a fairly small recruiting class at the position group. Still, the Tide added a small quantity of quality players from multiple levels of football who have future star potential.
London Simmons
One of those Mississippi recruits that could have untapped potential, Simmons used to play at 330+ but slimmed down to around 300 pounds as a senior, and it paid off for him as he racked up over 25 tackles for loss and double-digit sacks as an interior rusher. He absolutely dominated the private school league in Mississippi and won back-to-back state championships. After showing up to camps last summer and impressing the Alabama staff, the other big programs also all started jumping in on him despite his 3-star rating.
Playstyle
Being the biggest player on the football field on every given play, Simmons really stands out as a defensive end that’s a good bit bigger than the nose guard. He generally played the 5T defensive end in a traditional 3-4 alignment, but sometimes even stood up to be an edge rusher.
In a lot of ways, Simmons has all the makings of a true superstar defensive tackle. He’s a huge guy, but has a blindingly quick first step and a wiggle that can leave offensive linemen grasping at straws as he sidesteps them. And when he does decide to go with power, he treats the blockers in front of him like ragdolls, often knocking one blocker into another like a bunch of bowling pins…. All while he winds up swallowing up the ball carrier at the back end of the chaos.
He still has some body-shaping to do to get to a college-level athleticism, and there’s a lot of room to learn leverage and hand technique to hold up in short yardage and shed better blockers. But at his level, he was about as perfect of a defensive lineman as you’ll see. The question for him will be if he can elevate his game to play at higher levels of competition.
Scheme Fit and Prediction
While Simmons played defensive end, similar to the Bandit role, in high school, it’s hard to see his body type being anything but a defensive tackle. I think he’ll be better suited early on as the weakside DT, but I could also see him wind up being better suited to play nose tackle – and be an absolute wrecking ball at it – as he spends a year or two in Alabama’s strength program. He likely will be a redshirt player as a freshman this season.
Steve Mboumoua
A soccer player from Camaroon that grew up in Canada, Mboumoua was still new to the sport of football when he signed with Alabama a year ago as an edge rusher and linebacker. Due to still learning English, he wound up deciding to not jump straight into the world of Alabama football and heading to Community College for a year, where he added 30 pounds to his already imposing frame and became one of the top overall recruits in the JUCO circuit.
He wound up getting 7 tackles for loss and 5 sacks in only 9 games, and his work ethic and rapid improvement at technique lessons impressed all the coaches. He’s now coming to Alabama more adjusted to the country and having filled out to focus on a position.
Playstyle
A year ago, I said this about him coming out of high school:
Mboumoua is built like a Hummer and attacks blockers with a relentless power befitting an off-road vehicle. He uses both of his arms in a sort-of straight ahead stiff arm and then will duck past the blocker and accelerate into the poor QB or RB. And when I say “accelerate into” them, that’s exactly when his tackles look like – it’s not a wrap up tackle or a shoulder tackle or anything like that— He just runs through them like an inevitable force.
There’s not a whole lot to his game yet past that, though. He’s an elite athlete with minimal technique, and therefore has extremely high upside to go along with a good shot of never seeing playing time.
While a lot of this still holds (like how his tackling still looks like a semi-truck running over a ball-carrier), Mboumoua seems to have really taken to playing defensive tackle. He can get really low in his stance and explode up into a blocker, then use his long arms to fend them off and really stonewall the line of scrimmage. In that way, he reminds me a lot of former Alabama DT, Jarran Reed.
He still has limited technique to shed blocks as a pass rusher, though his JUCO would often send him on a stunt and get him a free rush lane, where his height and speed allowed him to quickly close on the QB.
Prediction and Scheme Fit
Mboumoua is a natural fit as a 2-gap interior player at defensive tackle, and could represent an upgrade in run defense immediately, giving him a potential situational role depending on opponents.
I think he’ll get some regular rotational time this year. He won’t be a starter or even a major role player early, but don’t be surprised if he gets 10 snaps per game or so early on, and if it goes well, his playing time grows a bit later in the year.
Kelby Collins
A borderline 5-star player coming out of high school with nearly 20 sacks as a senior edge rusher, Collins was always a bit of a tweener – bigger than an edge rusher, but not an interior rusher, either. In his first year at Florida, Collins got on the field early and often as an edge player, winding up making the Freshman All-SEC team.
In 2024, Florida moved his position around a bit, and he wound up barely playing the whole season. Here is a great article from 247 with the Bama site interviewing the Florida site about Collins.
“He is really promising player, who I think was in a little bit of an unfortunate situation this year. Florida, in spring camp due to some of the numbers they had in their defense with having an edge and a JACK linebacker position. They felt really good about the interior defensive line getting Cam Jackson back at nose tackle, getting Caleb Banks who had a really good season. Along with Desmond Watson, multiple seniors there. They also added Joey Slackman. Right before spring camp Florida moved Collins to an edge position, which was locked down by Tyreek Sapp and a few others. It really kind of hindered Collins’ trajectory in Gainesville and he saw his role decline.
“You know how difficult it is to play as an underclassmen along the interior defensive line,” Graham continued. “I think the move to edge was originally intended to be in his best interest to allow him to continue playing as a sophomore (at Florida). He’s a very smart player. Quiet and humble. Well-liked within the locker room. He just kind of found himself on the outside looking in from a numbers standpoint in Gainesville. It became quite clear during the midpoint of the season that a parting of ways was in the best interest of both parties just knowing that he was probably a little frustrated. (This) gives him a chance to go back to his home state. A guy (Florida) would have liked to keep, but it just didn’t work out.”
Playstyle
Collins is a bull rush specialist that can really blow an offensive tackle into the backfield. He’s not a blazing-quick first step edge rusher, but he packs a lot more power into a 275-lb frame than you’d expect. His ability to use his long arms to win the hand fights with offensive linemen and keep them from getting leverage really allows him push the line of scrimmage backwards.
He was starting to show some inside counter moves at Florida, but to this point, most of his production has come from the bull rush and a nice ability to disrupt run plays at the edges.
Scheme Fit and Prediction
While a position fit may have been hard for him in many schemes, Collins is a perfect fit at Bandit in Wommack’s defense – and Alabama will be hoping he has the same career revival as LT Overton (their careers looks very similar so far).
The interesting part is that Alabama return both Overton and 6th-year senior, Jah-Marien Latham. So while Collins is likely capable of being an SEC starter this year, he’ll be in a 3-way rotation this year.
I think he’ll likely get a solid 25% of the snaps throughout the year as a regular player, and look to be the odds on favorite to be a starter in 2026.
Kevonte Henry
Henry was originally a Michigan commit back when Alabama GM Courtney Morgan was at the Wolverines. He eventually signed with Oklahoma, though, and after a quiet season in Norman, he transferred to junior college, where he shot up the rankings to the #2 overall player. He’ll have two seasons of eligibility at Alabama (or maybe more, depending on the eventual Diego Pavia ruling).
Playstyle
Henry has an astonishing first step quickness that makes him a truly terrifying pass rusher. He usually will throw in a little head fake and a shimmy as he accelerates, and often times offensive tackles never even manage to touch him. When they do, he does a great job of just bouncing off and slapping their hands away, preventing blockers from ever actually engaging with him.
Even more impressive, in my opinion, is his rush lane awareness. Henry is excellent at flushing a QB, but not overcommitting. If he pushes the QB towards his teammate, he’ll go ahead and back off to cut off other potential escape lanes. He does the same thing when he does get blocked, and often gets himself in position to get those clean up sacks.
Most of his run stops are more of the backside chase down variety, so how well he can hold up at the edge at the point of attack remains a question.
Scheme Fit and Prediction
Henry has said that Alabama recruited him to play Bandit. He’s an interesting case, as he’s definitely more of a lineman than a linebacker, but he’s got the body type of a Wolf edge rusher. Plus, there isn’t a three-way rotation at Wolf like there is at Bandit.
I think Henry winds up being the 3rd down package specialist that subs in for either Russaw or Overton, depending on the situation, and winds up with a nice 4-5 sack season for the Tide.
Justin Hill
Despite being a Cincinnati kid that most assumed to be a lock to Ohio State, Justin Hill committed to Alabama over Ohio State and Oregon over the summer and never looked back. He played both on the edge and as a move linebacker to get good matchups and had a tremendously productive career as a pass rusher.
Playstyle
Hill has possibly the highest upside of Alabama’s entire recruiting class. He’s a well-rounded player who can do just about everything you could ever want an outside linebacker to be. He’s got tremendous closing speed, an impressive first step off the edge, and a comfort with making counter moves inside that makes him an absolute nightmare for offensive tackles on an island. Add that to the fact that he can also pull out the occasional bull rush, and he’s a terror.
He also will often move around to inside linebacker to get in a middle blitz, he can get out into the flats to cover when needed, and he’s also constantly looking to get his hands up and swat passes if he’s not getting all the way there for a sack.
Plus, he’s got a whole reel of highlights of him blocking things on special teams. The guy just kind of gets into everything.
The only question to his game will be if he can maintain that speed as he adds 10-15 pounds to be able to hold up in run defense in the SEC – and that question is the one thing holding him back from being a surefire 5-star prospect.
Scheme Fit and Prediction
Hill is a perfect candidate for Wolf linebacker. He’s essentially Rashaan Evans 2.0, and that position will fit him perfectly. I don’t think he’ll be a regular player this year or anything, but he’ll probably get some mop up snaps and start pushing for playing time in 2026.
