Alabama’s defensive coordinator Kane Wommack and the Crimson Tide are familiar with TJ Finley.
Finley was named the Hilltoppers’ starting quarterback Monday by Western Kentucky’s head coach Tyson Helton.
The veteran quarterback previously suited up against Alabama earlier in his collegiate career as a starter. He faced the Crimson Tide in 2020 as a starter for the LSU Tigers and in 2021 as the starter for the Auburn Tigers before transferring to Texas State, where Wommack faced him in 2023 as the head coach of South Alabama.
Alabama defeated Finley in both matchups. However, Wommack lost to Finley and Texas State 52-44 with the quarterback throwing for three touchdowns.
Wommack commented on what Finley brings to the table Monday and discussed the physical stature he presents as a quarterback, standing at 6-foot-7 and weighing 255 pounds.
“I mean obviously when a player has had experience playing against a certain team that gives them a certain level of confidence, especially if you’ve been in the stadium or whatever that may be,” Wommack said. “But then when you’ve faced a guy that you’ve seen in real time and you know how he responds to adversity, you know quarterbacks are so much of what progression does this quarterback go through, what is his presnap routine, what’s his cadence look like. And so getting to see some of those things in real time, it certainly helps. I would say it probably helps on both sides. But I was really impressed with him a year ago. He’s got a solid release. He can make all the throws. I thought he did a really good job of managing there offense really well. You know he took what was given early and can work through progressions. It’ll be pretty interesting to see how Tyson (Helton), Western Kentucky offensive coordinator, and their staff utilizes him maybe different than what GJ Kenni did or Auburn staff did before that or whatever it may be. But I think he’s got a skillset that you can utilize, plus he’s a big son of a gun. He’s a guy that can fall forward, and if he does for three or four yards, just getting downhill. One of the things we really leaned into was escape styles, and he might have a very different escape style that we’ve seen from Ty Simpson or Jalen Milroe and those are things that we wanna get our guys very clued into as we’re getting ready to match these guys up.”
Wommack and the Alabama defense will look to stop the experienced signal caller when they take the field Saturday at 6 p.m. CT under the bright lights of Bryant- Denny Stadium.
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