How Alabama is dealing with its lack of depth at cornerback

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It shouldn’t take long for Alabama’s new defensive assistants to learn the Crimson Tide’s scholarship cornerbacks. At the moment, there are only five of them on the roster.

Alabama’s cornerback unit was hit hard by offseason departures as five players from the position group left the team over the past few months. Starters Terrion Arnold and Kool-Aid McKinstry made way for the NFL draft, while top backup Trey Amos transferred to Ole Miss. The Tide also lost a couple of depth pieces as Antonio Kite transferred to Auburn and Dezz Ricks left for Texas A&M.

After the dust settled, Jahlil Hurley was the lone returning player from last year’s unit. This year, the redshirt freshman will be joined by Southern California transfer Domani Jackson as well as a trio of Rivals100 freshmen in Jaylen Mbakwe, Zabien Brown and Zavier Mincey.

While those five offer plenty of talent, the unit still lacks depth and has even less when it comes to experience

Jackson is currently the only Alabama cornerback with a college snap to his name. The junior signed with USC as the No. 3 cornerback and No. 17 overall player in the 2022 class. After serving as a backup during his freshman season, he started 11 games for the Trojans last fall, recording 33 stops and three pass breakups.

“Domani has experience, and most of those things carry over from one university to another, one scheme to another,” first-year Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said following Wednesday’s practice. “But [he’s] also learning some of the cultural things that we’re doing here, and we’re all learning those things under Coach [Kaden] DeBoer. … He’s learning those things, but the experience level is certainly going to be able to help.”

While Hurley might be the most familiar with his surroundings in Tuscaloosa, he didn’t see the field during his first season with the team last year. The 6-foot-2, 170-pound Florence, Alabama native signed with the Tide as the No. 9 cornerback and No. 69 overall player in last year’s class.

“I’ve been so impressed with him through the Fourth Quarter Program and the things that he’s done,” Wommack said, “just to elevate himself into a position to go compete for a job.”

Mbakwe, Brown and Mincey are all top-five cornerbacks in this year’s recruiting class, but the trio will take some time to cut their teeth at the college level. That should make for an interesting spring camp as Alabama’s young crop of corners attempts to soak up a new defensive scheme while going up against first-year head coach Kalen DeBoer’s pass-heavy attack every day in practice.

“I think experience is finite, so those are things that you have to be able to learn and grow,” Wommack said. “I think our offensive system, we do a whole lot offensively. We're very dynamic. I've dealt with that over the years, you know I've worked with Kalen DeBoer, obviously worked with Nick Sheridan, I've seen this offense firsthand.

“I've seen that we're really aggressive in our installation. We put a lot of things in, show a lot of pictures so when you're a young player and you're getting all those things thrown at you early, those are a lot of reps that you're able to refer back upon as you get into the season. I can't imagine seeing anybody else in the country installs at a more aggressive rate than what our offense does, those things are going to pay dividends for some of those young defensive backs."

One difference in Wommack’s defense this year will be the introduction of “field” and “boundary” cornerbacks. In the past Alabama has lined up its cornerbacks exclusively on either the right or left side of the field. This year, the team will take a field-boundary approach that will see cornerbacks switch sides depending on where the ball is located. The boundary cornerback will play on the short side of the field, while the field cornerback will man the wide side of the field.

Typically the boundary role goes to the best coverage defender, as college quarterbacks tend to throw to the shorter side of the field. The field role requires an athletic defender, who can cover the extra space. However, that player is generally provided with more safety help.

According to first-year defensive backs coach Maurice Linguist, those roles will begin to take shape when the unit gets more settled. At the moment, Alabama is still operating in its old right-left format as its new cornerbacks continue to get their feet wet in the new system.

“What you do by beginning that way at least is you develop the depth without necessarily playing a backup for the guy at one of the roles,” Linguist said. “You’re trying to build the secondary like you build an O-line. Give me who’s No. 1, who’s No. 2, who’s No. 3, so we can get our best five on the field. And then you’re trying to get No. 6, 7 and 8 on the field as well.

“When you rep left and right, they get experience playing some field and some boundary. Ultimately, we’ll get them to a point where the job responsibilities start to shrink and we can get a little bit more specific with what a guy can do. But we’re exposing them to a lot right now. Spring is a time where we can experiment a little bit.”

Chances are Alabama will add to the cornerback position when the NCAA transfer portal opens back up from April 15-30. However, that won't come until after the conclusion of spring camp, meaning the Tide will have to work with its current numbers over the next few weeks.

Alabama will return to the practice field Friday for its third of 15 spring workouts. The Crimson Tide will wrap up its camp with the annual A-Day scrimmage on April 13.