TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Pete Golding doesn’t care how anyone describes the way Alabama’s front seven lines up this season. He just wants to make sure the Crimson Tide’s potentially historic pass rush lives up to its lofty expectations this season.
Alabama brings back the majority of a pass-rushing unit that led the nation with 57 sacks last season.
Will Anderson Jr. headlines the list of returners after leading the nation in sacks (17.5) and tackles for a loss (33.5) last season. The reigning Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner will once again line up opposite of fellow five-star edge rusher Dallas Turner who is coming off a breakout freshman season. Things get even more interesting when considering the emergence of another five-star talent in Chris Braswell, who figures to be a big part of the plans following a solid offseaosn.
“If you have one elite pass rusher, people can plan for him and chip him and do certain things. When you have two, I think that’s an exciting thing,” Golding explained. “I think most importantly, you have to be able to stop the run on base downs to get them in obvious passing downs to let these guys rush and do what they do best. But I think the depth at that position is what’s unique.
“You talk about Will and you talk about Dallas, which Will had a great year and Dallas toward the end of the year really started coming on, but Chris Braswell has been very strong. Heavy-handed, good pass rusher. We have a lot of depth at that position to where we have to do a lot as coaches to get our best players on the field and what package allows those players to stay on the field regardless of the down and distance and regardless of the personnel you’re going against. I think it’s going to be critical for those guys to be on the field for us to be at our best.”
Golding’s comment confirms reports from sources that Alabama will work to get its five-star trio of Anderson, Braswell and Turner onto the field at the same time. How that might look remains a mystery as the Crimson Tide kept the package under wraps this spring and isn’t allowing any media at practice this fall.
Taking an educated guess at the setup, Alabama will likely line up with one true defensive tackle while two of the three edge rushers line up at traditional defensive end spots. From there the third edge rusher will supply an additional pass rush from the second level along with one or two inside linebackers, depending on how many defensive backs are on the field.
Depending on how you classify the edge rushers at the line of scrimmage, the setup could be referred to as a 1-4-6 or 3-2-6 formation. Frankly, Golding doesn’t care as long as it gets the job done.
“I don’t give a shit if you call him outside linebackers or d-line or inside linebackers,” Golding said. “Let’s get the best four guys to rush and put them where you need to put them and that’s what we’re going to have to do.”
The three-headed monster of Anderson, Braswell and Turner might be what is keeping opposing offensive coordinators up at night right now, but Golding believes Alabama will also be able to get to the quarterback in other ways.
Last year, defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis finished second on the team with nine sacks, providing a deadly interior pressure to complement Anderson and Turner’s work on the edge.
While Mathis made way to the NFL this offseason, the Crimson Tide returns three seniors on the offensive line in D.J. Dale, Justin Eboigbe and Byron Young, who have a combined 60 starts to their names. The Crimson Tide also has several capable breakout players in the trenches, including juniors Jamil Burroughs and Tim Smith as well as redshirt sophomore Jah-Marien Latham. Golding also signaled out freshman defensive tackle Jaheim Oatis who underwent a dramatic transformation, dropping down from 416 pounds in high school to a lean 342 pounds at Alabama.
“Jamil Burroughs, I think he has some twitch in there,” Golding said. “Byron (Young) obviously. We need DJ (Dale) in there. DJ has been an every-down player for us right now. Knows what to do and gives great effort. Believe it or not, I think Jahiem (Oatis) has got a lot more wiggle than you guys think he’s got. So he’s a guy internally that if you leave one guy on him, good luck. But we’ll package that. Jah-Marien Latham, we have a lot of guys who would normally be five-techniques in a 4-2 system that when you get to third down, you bump them inside to the three-techniques and get those guys one on one.”
Following the A-Day game, Anderson likened Alabama’s current pass rush to that of the 2016 unit which is arguably the best Saban has put together during his time with the Crimson Tide. Sunday, Golding backed off that praise a bit, stating this year’s defense still had to prove itself on the field.
After all, he’s not interested in how Alabama’s front seven is described as long as it continues to create pressure.
“We're fortunate to have some good players,” Golding said. “They've still got to prepare the right way, practice their butt off, so we can get it on Saturday. But we've had great players here in the past, so it's buying in, doing the right thing, competing every day, pulling people with you, and let's see what happens.”
