The ink has dried on the contracts of David Ballou and Dr. Matt Rhea, as both are part of the Alabama football family.
Despite the primary task of getting the Crimson Tide in the best physical condition and winning championship, Ballou and Rhea will also focus on bettering each individual player.
Shane Lee, a sophomore, will benefit the most from both coaches.
A four-star in the 2019 class from Maryland, he had a good freshman season. The 6-foot, 246-pounder finished with 86 tackles – including 6.5 for loss and 4.5 sacks.
He recorded three quarterback pressures, two forced fumbles and one interception through 13 games. Lee was selected to the Southeastern Conference’s All-Freshman Team and made the Freshman All-America Team via Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and ESPN.
RELATED: Shane Lee to take the next step at LB for Alabama with David Ballou and Matt Rhea
While his statistics were great, Lee had issues with consistent speed and power.
In matchups versus Southern Mississippi, Ole Miss, LSU and Auburn, he either had trouble staying in the flow plays or got moved out of plays by offensive linemen.
The duo of Ballou and Rhea will provide Lee the much-needed speed and power to make the necessary improvements this season.
He has a lot of potential, but needs to clean some things. In Wednesday’s airing of In My Own Words, yours truly of Touchdown Alabama Magazine discusses why Lee will be the player to gleam the most from Ballou and Rhea.
Check out the video below.
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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.
