That new Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer would unveil his vaunted offensive system with a promising pile of points against Western Kentucky Saturday was never really in doubt. The Hilltoppers ' defensive front was overwhelmed by the Crimson Tide 's beefy offensive line, and the WKU secondary could not stay with UA's receivers when quarterback Jalen Milroe stayed in the pocket, much less when he scrambled for extra time to throw.
In a 63-0 home win to begin the DeBoer era , the 63 was impressive but not unexpected.
The zero points allowed, on the other hand, was the package Alabama fans couldn't be quite as sure of what would be unwrapped. But what came out of the box was the most encouraging aspect of the Crimson Tide 's performance. It was Alabama's first shutout since recording a pair of them in 2022.
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With an SEC-seasoned transfer quarterback in TJ Finley taking snaps for WKU, and the Alabama defensive backfield being green with transfers and inexperience, the UA defense figured to be where the coaching staff would find most of the necessary clean-up in film review.
Clean-up? Try cleaned clocks.
The Alabama defense looked significantly better than could have been expected, given its personnel losses from last season. The run-stopping was nasty. The pass rush was better than its one sack would indicate; just ask Finley, who had to get rid of a lot of balls too soon for pass routes to develop.
The obligatory caveat that Western Kentucky is no Georgia needs no qualifier. Wherever the holes are in this Alabama defense, the Bulldogs will find them.
But for an opener against a weaker opponent, this was a resounding show of defensive force.
Safety Keon Sabb recorded a pair of interceptions in the first half, and the Alabama run defense was stifling.
There was a ton of substituting, and not all in the second half. There's nothing unusual about that on the defensive line, but rotations at linebacker and several spots in the secondary were on display, as well. Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack clearly wanted to get his second-teamers more than just a few snaps in game action, and he'll have plenty of players to grade on Sunday.
The Wolf linebacker position that rushes the passer off the edge in Wommack's scheme featured a rotation of Alabama's most experienced returner (Que Robinson) and a promising redshirt freshman in Qua Russaw. The duo stifled WKU's opening drive with a tackle for loss (Russaw) and a sack (Robinson) on back-to-back snaps and spent plenty of time in the Hilltoppers ' backfield thereafter. Ongoing effectiveness for that pair will be crucial to a secondary that started a true freshman at cornerback (Zabien Brown) and will rely on several transfers as well.
So out of sorts was the Hilltoppers offense, Finley was taken out of the lineup before the game even reached halftime. With UA holding a comfortable lead, that was an early wave of the white flag and a clear sign the Hilltoppers coaching staff realized it had no answers.
We don't yet have a real answer on Alabama's defense, either.
But so far, the questions are hard to find, too.
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 defense, full of new faces, shines in DeBoer debut
