There is no denying the fact that Tennessee has a young talent at the quarterback position in redshirt freshman Nico Iamaleava. The California native will present challenges for Alabama’s defense given his sheer arm strength and continued development in Josh Heupel’s offense.
On Monday, Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer harped on the importance of slowing down Iamaleava as much as possible.
“They get into their tempo off of positive plays, and that’s the key is try to make sure that they don’t get into that rhythm, just like any offense, that’s what you’re trying to do. He’s talented (Iamaleava). You can see it’s there. He’s still, I think, growing and developing, and we’ve got to make sure we disrupt him enough and make sure we’re showing pictures and also getting bodies on bodies on the outside to where we make life hard like we would want to any other opponent.”
In the past two weeks, Iamaleava faced immense pressure from Arkansas and Florida’s defense. He took seven sacks and had one interception. If Alabama’s defense can put pressure on Iamaleava, it will certainly get him off his rhythm and force Tennessee’s gameplan to be centered around protecting him at all costs. Thus, that would make for one less player being involved in the passing attack. Heupel would be forced to make adjustments and shift personnel around to make things work. That would play out in Alabama’s favor.
One area that Alabama has struggled at from a consistency standpoint is applying pressure on the quarterback. I would look for Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack to change some things up, because it is crucial that Iamaleava sees different looks. It will also make things easier on Alabama’s secondary if the pass rush is able to get home.
It will be interesting to see if the Crimson Tide defense can execute the gameplan and make things difficult on Iamaleava and the Tennessee offense.
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