Former Alabama player feels Tide’s defense is the ‘real deal’

Alabama football’s former quarterback Greg McElroy left Kentucky impressed with the Crimson Tide’s defense after calling Alabama’s win over Kentucky on ABC.

The Tide’s defense shined throughout the Tide’s 45-17 win over Kentucky. The unit only gave up 10 points during the game and kept Kentucky scoreless in the second half.

McElroy gave his thoughts on the Alabama defense on ESPN’s “Always College Football.”

“This Alabama defense is the real deal, guys,” McElroy said. “Alabama trailed 17-13 at halftime, scored 32 unanswered points, the largest Alabama win after trailing at the half since the SEC expanded in 1992, and it was Kalen DeBoer’s first win at Alabama. After trailing at the break, he had been 0-for-7. In the second half, Kentucky had zero points, three first downs, and 62 total yards. Two of those yards came on the ground. Alabama’s run defense has allowed 65 rushing yards total through two games. Alabama has seven sacks through two games. Pretty impressive to see where they’re heading. If you listen to DeBoer himself, they forced them to throw a bit more, and the pass rush got home. That’s the identity. They have not allowed anybody to run the football. They have a pass rush that is real, that is clearly improved from a year ago, and a defense that continues to create points every single week. I think this Alabama team, especially on that side of the ball, very, very real.”

Kalen DeBoer expressed confidence in the Alabama defense after the game.

“I thought our defense, there’s always gonna be calls, and you save some for the second half, and I think our defense did a good job of continuing to evolve throughout the game, but I think we had a pretty good plan and a pretty good handle on things from the get-go,” DeBoer said.

Alabama’s defense will have another opportunity to show up Saturday when they take on Florida State.