He is in his fifth season, but Freddie Roach has a defensive line that’s about to crazy for Alabama football.
Alabama’s defensive coaching staff is excited about its edge rushers — including Jah-Marien Latham, LT Overton, Keon Keeley, Quandarrius Robinson, Keanu Koht, and Qua Russaw — but it has two interior players that are ready to set the tone.
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Jeheim Oatis and Tim Keenan III have been in the program for at least three years.
Both have had body transformations, which earned them starting roles on the line.
Oatis was over 400 pounds when he first arrived at the University of Alabama; however, he’s now at 325 pounds. Keenan was huge coming out of Ramsay High School, yet he dropped to 326 pounds.
Both are marquee run stoppers, but Kane Wommack is maturing them into pass rushers.
Oatis and Keenan feed off each other in the middle of the defensive line. Oatis, a junior from Columbia, Miss., believes ‘no one will block him and Keenan’ this season.
“I feed off Tim Keenan because of how he plays,” Oatis said on Tuesday.
“I just see him on the field being a dawg, he’s getting past the offensive line, and nobody is touching him. I want to do the same thing when I go in. So I go in with the same mindset as Tim. Nobody can block us, so we just go.”
This duo can cause a lot of disruption in college football, especially if they have a mindset to dominate.
Alabama fans are looking forward to watching Oatis and Keenan shut offenses down.
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Stephen M. Smith is the senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
