Alabama expects to see new wrinkles in rematch against Ashton Daniels, Florida State

Alabama football faced Ashton Daniels and Florida State last year, but Daniels was not a Seminole when he rushed for 108 yards and threw for 259 yards against the Tide last season.

Daniels led Auburn against Alabama in 2025, and he had a solid performance despite the Tide defeating the Tigers 27-20. Alabama’s defensive coordinator Kane Wommack was asked about Daniels on Monday.

“I think when you watch him, he is a big, strong, physical runner,” Wommack told reporters. “He is just a physically strong guy, difficult to bring down. He’s played a lot of football, and experience is finite, and that’s something that when you look at it, he’s been in different systems but ultimately just feeling comfortable playing in big environments; that’s something that he is obviously proven that he can do and has done it at multiple places. I think there’s still, from a schematic standpoint, right, he’s learning their offense and has done a nice job. I thought there’s some improvements that I’ve even saw from game one to game two that he’s making. Then when you have a bye week to get ready and prepared, I would imagine we’re gonna see new wrinkles. There’s gonna be things that they are stressing and working  and so we will get their absolute best on Saturday.”

Facing a quarterback for a second time comes with an advantage of knowing what he brings to the table firsthand. Wommack feels this is valuable experience, but he expects to see some different wrinkles from the Florida State offense on Saturday with them coming off a BYE week.

“You have an understanding of this is what this quarterback’s skill set is,” Wommack said. “Here are the things that we saw live that he did against us, and obviously in the Iron Bowl, I thought he did a really nice job of utilizing his feet, scrambling, extending plays and hit us on a couple there in the second half by extending some of those plays and keeping the game in a tighter position than we would’ve wanted it to be.”

Alabama and Florida State will get after it Saturday in Tuscaloosa. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CST.