For those who wanted a clear depiction of Alabama’s season on defense, look no further than a photo of Dylan Moses, Joshua McMillon, LaBryan Ray, Phidarian Mathis, DJ Dale and Raekwon Davis on the bench in street clothes at Bryant-Denny Stadium versus Western Carolina.
All six players did not see action and two of the five have not played all year.
Alabama’s season in a nutshell right here. All three of the Crimson Tide’s starting defensive linemen hurt along with its next best option. @TDAlabamaMag pic.twitter.com/UtJzJUvvXG
— Pat Dowd (@Pat_Dowd77) November 23, 2019
Despite this, the Crimson Tide still held the Catamounts under 200 yards offensively.
Shane Lee had another strong game at middle linebacker (seven tackles), but the stars of the matchup were the freshmen on the defensive line.
The group of Christian Barmore, Byron Young, Justin Eboigbe, Braylen Ingraham and Ishamel Sopsher will be good for years to come.
Barmore led the unit in tackles (six) and had one quarterback hurry.
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He shared a sack and collected on tackle for loss. Young chimed in with five total stops – including one tackle for loss and one sack. Eboigbe had four tackles, one sack, two tackles for loss and one quarterback hurry.
Ingraham posted three stops in the Tide’s 66-3 victory.
The freshmen accounted for 2.5 sacks and four tackles for loss.
Behind their efforts, Xavier McKinney and Jared Mayden collected two interceptions.
McKinney’s takeaway went for an 81-yard touchdown in the first quarter.
Alabama’s defense forced five turnovers, with four coming via interceptions off Tyrie Adams of W. Carolina.
While it has not been the campaign the Tide envisioned on defense, players are growing in confidence and this experience will be major for next season. The freshmen will take this performance into the Iron Bowl next week, in hopes to handle Auburn on the road.
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Stephen M. Smith is the managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
