Alabama football
defensive coordinator Kane Wommack is drawing from the Marvel movie 'Black Panther' for a rally word to inspire the Crimson Tide's
red zone defense. Yibambe, an African Bantu word meaning "hold fast the line" that Wommack picked up from the 2018 film, can be heard from sideline to field any time an opposing team ventures inside Alabama's 20-yard line
.
"I thought, what a fitting chant for a red zone defense, right? To hold the line," said Wommack, an admitted fan of the Marvel movie series. "So we talk about that, doesn't matter how they get down in the red zone, whether we've turned the ball over or whether they've gone on a 16-play drive and it's first-and-goal from the five-yard line, everyone has to Yibambe, we have to hold fast the line."
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Time will tell if Yibambe works.
In last week's 42-16 Alabama
win over South Florida
, the Bulls ventured into the Alabama red zone four times and came away with one touchdown. That will suit Wommack just fine, even though USF did manage field goals on its other three red-zone chances, as the touchdown percentage is what matters most when it comes to red-zone defense. Through two games, South Florida's red-zone touchdown is the only one Alabama has allowed in six chances ( Western Kentucky
failed to score on two of them) for a red-zone TD percentage of 16.67 that ranks tied for 13th-best in the nation.
"We have to do our 1/11th to be able to hold the line in that situation. And I think that's something that our players have leaned into over the years, and we've been successful at a number of places in the red zone and I think we're taking steps in the right direction here as well," Wommack added.
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.
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This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News:
Yibambe: Alabama DC Kane Wommack explains red-zone defense rally word
