Alabama forced to be ‘creative’ on defense ahead of Vanderbilt

Photo By Cedric Mason - Touchdown Alabama

Alabama football’s defense is dealing with multiple injuries at its Wolf linebacker position, with Jah-Marien Latham (out for the season) and Qua Russaw sidelined at the moment.

The Wolf position is a hybrid outside linebacker and edge rusher within Wommack’s 4-2-5 Swarm defense. The position is called upon to put pressure on the quarterback while rushing from the edge, be strong against the run and be able to drop back in coverage and defend underneath.

Wommack’s defense includes a lot of different alignments and players who play the Wolf linebacker position are heavily featured in a lot of them. There are some defensive looks where the Tide has two Wolf linebackers on the field at the same time. With injuries hitting the position, Wommack feels Alabama will have to be creative to fill the holes Latham and Russaw have left.

“We’re going to have to be creative in the way that we develop other people in certain packages to make sure that we have enough depth and that’s really the name of the game is how do you each week handle your personnel to be able to create as much depth as you can for the next week’s opponent,” Wommack said. “Certainly, when you lose two experienced players like we did, but that’s a challenge.”

One way Alabama will look to be creative in its alignments moving forward is with the way they will align Deontae Lawson in the future. Lawson is a starting inside linebacker for Alabama, but he has played snaps along the Tide’s defensive line at times this season, stunting up front to create pressure on quarterbacks. Wommack highlighted him as a player who has grown as a pass rusher this season while talking to reporters earlier this week.

“Deontae Lawson is doing a really good job as a pass rusher,” Wommack said. “We’re doing some things with him that we did with Jihaad Campbell a year ago, and he’s generating some pass rush.”

Lawson is excited about the opportunity to be more impactful on defense, and he is putting in work after practice to ensure he is ready for an expanded role.

“That’s something I’m still working on every day,” Lawson said. “Try to get with Jamey Moseley after practice every day, try to get a little bit in because I’ve always been like an interior rusher and been pretty good at it. But now I’m trying to wide my play a little bit and come off the edge a little bit if I need to. That’s just something I’m still working on, just ready for my opportunity.”

Yhonzae Pierre is expected to start at Wolf against Vanderbilt. Justin Hill and Noah Carter will be leaned on as depth pieces behind Pierre. Wommack is currently pleased with the play of the healthy players at the wolf linebacker position.

“Very proud of Yhonzae Pierre and Justin Hill,” Wommack said. “It’s a lot to ask for a true freshman to come in and compete, especially in a road SEC game where he (Hill) had been getting a lot of reps in practice, and certainly we didn’t anticipate him playing whatever it was, 23, 24 snaps in the game. And he did a really good job of going in, was very physical at the point of attack, making some huge block destruction plays on their tight ends, who I think Georgia has a very good receiving tight end core. So, please with him, please with Yhonzae Pierre. I talked about him in the offseason. He just keeps getting better and better. His ability to affect the run game, generate some pass rush for us has shown up so far this season. But we’re gonna have to be creative in the way that we develop other people in certain packages to make sure that we have enough depth.”

It will be interesting to see how players are aligned in different looks on Alabama’s defense against Vanderbilt.