What Kane Wommack feels the Tide defense has not ‘done consistently well’

Alabama football has taken what Kane Wommack feels is a step in the right direction towards affecting opposing quarterbacks more.

The Crimson Tide’s defense got to Tennessee’s Joey Aguilar four times for sacks in Alabama’s latest win over the Tennessee Vols. Yhonzae Pierre had a breakout game for the Tide with an impressive three-sack performance. While Alabama was able to put pressure on Tennessee’s quarterback, Wommack wants the Tide to be able to get quarterbacks on the ground more effectively late in games in the future.

“I think we took some steps in the right direction in terms of affecting the quarterback and yet at the same time, we’ve had a number of two-minute situations that have come up the last few games, and we have not been able to get a quarterback on the ground,” Wommack said. “So, that’s something that we have to find a way to affect a quarterback at the end of games in particular, and that’s something that we certainly will continue to look at and figure out how to put our players in the best position to go put people away at the end of games that we have not done consistently well enough.”

South Carolina’s starting quarterback LaNorris Sellers is a true dual-threat quarterback. He is a player who has been described as hard to tackle this week by the coaching staffs at South Carolina and Alabama. If the Tide’s upcoming game against the Gamecocks is tight late, getting Sellers on the ground will likely be something Alabama has to do well to pull it out.

Alabama’s run defense has also struggled throughout the season. Wommack talked about those issues on Monday as well.

“I think some of the things when we are giving up explosives, particularly in the run game, there are fundamental issues; not leveraging the ball properly, finishing plays, tackling, and there were some things that we got exposed on there that we got to make sure that we’re striving to become better fundamentally,” Wommack said. “And then, ultimately, nobody stays the same. Everybody’s got to find a way to keep getting better, find wrinkles schematically, find things, fundamentally that we can keep improving and play with the edge that we have developed and that we’ve earned as a football team.”

Alabama will look to have a strong defensive performance against a talented South Carolina team on Saturday.