Defense New Enrolls and Recruits: Patrick Surtain Jr. 5-Star CB, Eyabi Anoma 5-Star DE, Jayln Armour-Davis 4-Star CB, Stephon Wynn Jr. 4-Star DE, Saivion Smith 4-Star CB, Jordan Davis 4-Star DE, Josh Jobe 4-Star CB, Cameron Latu 4-Star DE, Christian Barmore 4-Star DT, Eddie Smith 3-Star CB, Jaylen Moody 3-Star ILB, Vita Musika 3-Star DT.
Defensive Report: Well, that sure is a good defensive recruiting class, isn’t it? The Tide stacked up at Cornerback with Patrick Surtain Jr., Jalyn Armour-Davis and many others. Alabama already has a great defense, so adding these players will make them the best defense in the NCAA (again). Patrick Surtain Jr. was brought in to fill the gap at CB after Minkah Fitzpatrick left for the NFL Draft. By the way, I wrote an article on XFL prospects and I put Minkah Fitzpatrick in there. I think that Surtain Jr. and Trevon Diggs will be the 2 Corners and Jalyn Armour-Davis will end up playing at the Dime or Nickel position. Isaiah Buggs and Eyabi Anoma will probably be the 2 starters at Defensive End. Dylan Moses, a 5-Star recruit and backup last year, will probably be a starter this year at Middle Linebacker. As for Keith Holcombe, 1 of the Tide’s LBs and is playing baseball, I idon’t know if he will even play football this year. My prediction for who will be the starters on defense for Alabama is this:
LBs: Mack Wilson and Anfernee Jennings
3:4 MLB: Dylan Moses
4:3 MLBs: Dylan Moses and Terrel Lewis
DBs: Patrick Surtain Jr. (CB), Trevon Diggs (CB), Keaton Anderson (SS), Deionte Thompson (FS)
Dime DBs: Patrick Surtain Jr. (CB), Trevon Diggs (CB), Keaton Anderson (SS), Deionte Thompson (FS), Saivion Smith (CB), Jayln Armour-Davis (CB)
Nickel DBs: Patrick Surtain Jr. (CB), Trevon Diggs (CB), Keaton Anderson (SS), Deionte Thompson (FS), Jayln Armour-Davis (CB)
4:3 DLs: Isaiah Buggs (DE), Eyabi Anoma (DE), Johnny Dwight (DT)
3:4 DLs: Isaiah Buggs (DE), Eyabi Anoma (DE), Johnny Dwight (DT), Stephon Wynn Jr.
Before we go on to offense, I would like to talk a little bit about Nick Saban’s defensive stats and about the Tide’s defense last year.
Nick Saban was once a college Cornerback at Kent State, so it was natural that Saban recruited great Corners like Minkah Fitzpatrick, Patrick Surtain Jr., Jayln Armour-Davis and so on. But Nick Saban isn’t just good at recruiting CBs, he knows how to get together an entire defense. His statistics show it all.
The Crimson Tide held their opponents to less than 2 touchdowns per game in a season with Saban as coach in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2016. With Saban as Head Coach Alabama has lead the nation in scoring in 2011, 2012, and 2016. But the most important stat is, Saban won 6 National Championships. He won 1 with LSU and 5 with Alabama, only Paul “Bear” Bryant has that many championship victories. 2 of those National Championship wins were CFP Championship wins. The CFP (College Football Playoffs) system started 4 season ago and in the first year of the new system Saban lead Alabama to the #1 seed in the playoffs and lost in the first round to Ohio State, only 4 teams make the playoffs. In the second year of the College Football Playoffs, Saban ended the year at the #2 seed and won CFP Championship. In the third season of the CFP, Saban again ended the season as the #1 seed but lost this time in the CFP Championship game. In the 4th year of the CFP, last year, Saban led Alabama to the #4 seed and won the CFP Championship.
Now I will talk about last year’s championship victory. As most of us know, injuries plagued Alabama last year. Only 3 starters on the original lineup played every game that year, Cornerback Anthony Averett, Safety Ronnie Harrison, and Defensive Tackle Da’Ron Payne. In that season, a lot of people who weren’t originally going to play gained experience and needed skill. Players like Dylan Moses, who was a Freshman and a 5-Star recruit, were forced to grow up early and play as a starter. Players went down, one after another for the Tide, but that didn’t matter, they all had the same goal. Winning the CFP Championship. That was all the matter for the Crimson Tide’s defense. Rashaan Evans said “Everybody just kind of banded together. We had are backs against the wall and had to come together and have this great chemistry to be able to play as one. We have so many great talents on this defense, but also great guys. All these guys are wired the right way. They are able to fight through any type of adversity that they’re faced with. I know in my heart that a lot of guys on a lot of teams, if they had gone through the same things we went through, they wouldn’t have been able to hold up. I mean, just having to change your whole mindset, change schemes, change players, change the ways we had to use players in order for them to be successful. There were so many things we had to change each and every game.”
Offense New Enrolls and Recruits: Jaylen Waddle 4-Star WR, Xavier Williams 4-Star WR, Tommy Brown 4-Star OG, Michael Parker 3-Star TE, Slade Bolden 3-Star APB, Jerome Ford 4-Star APB, Emil Ekiyor 4-Star C.
Offensive Report: The offensive side of the recruiting class isn’t as good as the defensive side. However, The Tide already has a good offense, and there were not as many offenders that left for the draft as there were defenders that left. 1 player that shouldn’t be overlooked is Jerome Ford, an All Purpose Back. He could be the next Bo Scarbrough. The Tide’s offense is more run based when Jalen Hurts is on the field and a little bit more of a passing team when Tua Tagovailoa is on the field, that makes Jerome Ford the perfect fit for both. With a 2-QB system, an APB is what Alabama needs, and Jerome Ford makes a perfect All Purpose Back. Nick Saban may have more guys who are good at the ground game on the field when Jalen Hurts plays and more guys who are good at the passing game when Tua Tagovailoa plays. My prediction for who will be the starters on the Bama offense is this:
QB: Jalen Hurts/Tua Tagovailoa
I-Form RBs: Damien Harris and Jerome Ford
Single Back RB: Jerome Ford
Spread RB: Najee Harris
(With Tua Tagovailoa at QB) I-Form WRs: Devonta Smith and Henry Ruggs III
(With Jalen Hurts at QB) I-Form WRs: Devonta Smith and Jerry Jeudy
Spread WRs: Xavier Williams, Jerry Jeudy, Devonta Smith, and Jaylen Waddle
Single Back WRs: Jerry Jeudy, Devonta Smith, and Henry Ruggs III
(With Tua Tagovailoa) Single Back TE: Irv Smith Jr.
(With Jalen Hurts) Single Back TE: Ronnie Clark
I-Form TE: Ronnie Clark
O-Line: Lester Cotton Jr. (OG), Ross Pierschbacher (OG), Alex Leatherwood (OT/C), Jonah Williams (OT), Matt Womack (OT/C)
Note: I had a little trouble with the offensive line, especially with who should play what position, but I think I got it right.
Alabama’s offensive is always good, but I think this year they will be much better then in other years. I don’t have that much more to say about the Tide’s offense, so let’s jump right into my game by game prediction.
Note: All rankings are predicted rankings. Also, predicted rankings are for how the teams entered each week, not how they ended the season.
Week 1: #1 Alabama vs Louisville 52-3 W
Week 2: #1 Alabama vs Arkansas State 63-0 W
Week 3: #1 Alabama at Ole Miss 42-17 W
Week 4: #1 Alabama vs #25 Texas A&M 34-7 W
Week 5: #1 Alabama vs ULL 75-6 W
Week 6: #2 Alabama at #20 Arkansas 20-9 W
Week 7: #1 Alabama vs # 16 Missouri 50-10 W
Week 8: #1 Alabama at #7 Tennessee 17-14 OT W
Week 9: #1 Alabama at #12 LSU 24-19 W
Week 10: #1 Alabama vs #17 Mississippi State 45-13 W
Week 11: #1 Alabama vs Citadel 73-0 W
Week 12: #1 Alabama vs #2 Auburn 16-13 OT W
SEC Championship: #1 Alabama vs #6 Georgia 24-23 W
CFP Semifinals: #1 Alabama vs #4 Ohio State 30-9 W
CFP Championship: #1 Alabama vs #3 Clemson 27-24 W
Last Note: Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa are great Quarterbacks who could lead any team to the CFP Championship. Nick Saban’s not going to let Hurts or Tagovailoa walk away from Alabama.
Photo By: Phillip Hendon
