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The Tuscaloosa News
Alabama football has reloaded a defense it can count on in 2025 | Goodbread
- Story byThe Tuscaloosa News
- Alabama football has reloaded a defense it can count on in 2025 | Goodbread
A foundation for the 2025 Alabama football team has largely been forged in the nine days since the Crimson Tide's ReliaQuest Bowl loss to Michigan , even if it's still missing a building block or two.
Regardless, it's exactly the start to the offseason that second-year coach Kalen DeBoer needed.
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Linebacker and team captain Deontae Lawson , LB Justin Jefferson , DE LT Overton, DE Jah-Marien Latham, DB Keon Sabb, CB Domani Jackson and DT Tim Keenan all announced they'll be back in 2025, giving the Crimson Tide a core of returners that should combine for the makings of a very reliable defense, if not a dominant one. The arrows on three more young defenders − DT James Smith, LB Qua Russaw and CB Zabien Brown − are all pointing up.
Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack, all things considered, did a hell of a job with the players he inherited last year. Was it on par with the nastiest defenses of the Saban era? Not even close. Those defenses inspired fear in opposing offenses. They were insanely talented, downright vicious in disposition, and had virtually no weaknesses. But Wommack's defense was good enough that it's worth building on rather than tearing down, and that's what Alabama has done with player retention over the last couple weeks.
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Alabama's 2024 defense ranked among the top 20 in the nation in a slew of categories: interceptions (7th), scoring defense (10th), third-down conversion percentage (12th), pass efficiency defense (11th), fumble recoveries (11th) and passing yards allowed (19th). Alabama opponents also scored touchdowns on only 45% of their red-zone chances; only six defenses in the country, three of which are still alive in the College Football Playoff, allowed fewer red-zone touchdowns.
Most impressively amid all that, Wommack's defense only gave up 17 points per game despite being hamstrung by Alabama's 21 offensive turnovers. Points allowed is the bottom line, and it's pretty remarkable that Alabama's scoring defense was 10th best in the nation, yet the offense's 21 turnovers ranked 96th worst among 133 FBS teams. Overcoming turnovers, by the way, was something Saban's best defenses didn't have to deal with often.
It's going to take more than bringing back veterans for Alabama's defense to take a big step forward, however. Its defense against the run (137 yards per game) must improve. It must set a harder edge on the perimeter, where too many of those rushing yards came easily. And perhaps most of all, Wommack must develop a superior pass rusher.
Alabama had a pass rush "by committee" last year, and like most committees, that's usually code for "not very effective." A good pass rush needs a singular dominant force, like a Will Anderson or a Courtney Upshaw , who can alter game plans and command enough double-teaming to open up rush lanes for others. A great pass rush has one fearsome talent on the edge and another one inside, like the Crimson Tide once enjoyed with the duo of Tim Williams and Jonathan Allen .
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A star on the edge is hard to find, and finding a great pass rusher on the interior is even harder.
But if such a pass rusher emerges for the Crimson Tide in 2025, its defense should be a lot tougher deal with.
Meanwhile, most of Alabama's offseason upheaval is plainly on the offensive side of the ball. The Crimson Tide will surround a new, inexperienced quarterback with an offensive line that needs improvement, a lot of new faces catching passes, and an offensive system that will further transform from what DeBoer had to do in 2024, based on inherited personnel, into more of what he wants to do in 2025.
Expect continued growing pains on offense.
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On defense, expect just pain.
Tuscaloosa News sport columnist Chase Goodbread.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama football has reloaded a defense it can count on in 2025
