BR - College Football 2011: Alabama's Secondary Is Not the Tide's Weakest Link

[ssmith general]

The 2010 Crimson Tide secondary was the big question mark going into the season. 

Their 2009 predecessors were a force in their own right.  All three starting cornerbacks made it into the NFL;  Kareem Jackson went in the first round to the Texans, Javier Arenas went in the second round to the Chiefs and Marquis Johnson went in the seventh round to the Rams.

In addition, free safety Justin Woodall was a possible late-round NFL pick. After going undrafted, the phenomenal athlete was picked up by MLB's Tampa Bay Rays. 

Needless to say, the '09 secondary was stacked, leaving some very big shoes to fill.

The 2010 squad performed better than expected by finishing 13th in the nation in passing defense and allowing less than 180 yards per game, but not good enough to repeat as national champions. 

The 2011 season will see the return of all starters from last year's secondary, including Alabama's prodigal son Robby Green.  With a season of trial by fire in the SEC, will the Crimson Tide fare better this coming season?

Slide show Here

[2Stater]

I find the downplaying of Robby Green interesting.

[ricky023]

I think Robby will be a great influence on the field along with Robert Lester. RTR!

[che boludo]

I don't think our secondary was the weak link last year.  They definitely were an area of concern coming into the season due to the lack of depth and experience that injury, early departures, and some injuries caused.  But, they played great throughout the season.  Yes, they were caught on some blown coverages at times that led to critical big plays or TDs against us, but even some of those could have been addressed had we gotten better contributions on a consistent basis from our front 7 to keep QBs from having all day to throw at times.  That was the real weak spot last year (IMO).

We couldn't get consistent pressure on the qb and were around 50th or worse nationally in both sacks and TFL. Bama fell from 14th in the nation to 59th in TFL and from 29th to 49th in sacks from 2009 to 2010.

Meanwhile, the secondary played lights out all things considered as they only fell 3 spots nationally (10th to 13th) in total pass defense. 

The Defensive problems (and true weak spots) last year were two-fold IMO: first, and most importantly was the lack of team leaders to step up and do their part to get the team motivated to play consistently for 60 minutes.  No one in the front 7 filled that team leader role to direct traffic and make guys take ownership of their roles and responsibilities.  Second, the front 7 lost its push and ability to implement many of the more complicated pressures because we lacked a true 3-4 NT around which everything else is based in CNS's defense. We did not have the guy to clog up the middle of the field and draw double teams all game long to allow for the rest of the D to make first contact behind the LOS with ball carriers and bring a multitude of pressures on the QB from all different angles.

Jesse Williams will fix part of the problem.  We definitely need him to live up to expectations and stay healthy. We still need the leaders to step-up in all phases of prep and execution (on and off the field).

I am very excited about the talent and EXPERIENCE that is returning in the secondary and think our front 7 will see a big improvement in spite of some key losses to individual personnel.  Very excited for the fall.

[ssmith general]

Good post #, and good to see you Che.

[ricky023]

Oh yea, Che I am so excited for the year. I think improvements will be all over the field eespecially on the return team with our new speedster Shinn. RTR!

[SUPERCOACH]

Another great post Che.  You are bringing it this morning.  I think your posts are better than the actual article and I'm going to put them on the front page.

[2Stater]

You're like butter, Che, you're on a roll. When my # recharges, I'll zap you again.

[SUPERCOACH]

By the way... this is EXACTLY the kind of post I had in mind when I wrote the code that allows us to take any post and put it on the blog.  The blog let's us showcase the best original content we have from within the forum.

[2Stater]

By the way... this is EXACTLY the kind of post I had in mind when I wrote the code that allows us to take any post and put it on the blog.  The blog let's us showcase the best original content we have from within the forum.

#

[SUPERCOACH]

You're like butter, Che, you're on a roll. When my # recharges, I'll zap you again.

Indeed.  The software gave him +5 for each article I moved to the front page, then I came back and gave him another +5 bonus for pulling the double.

Nice job Che.

[pmull]

Che you are da man. Another great post post.

[SUPERCOACH]

Correction, it's a triple now.  He has 3 on the front page.

[che boludo]

Thanks guys, but you're going to make me pull a Costanza if you keep it up.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpUyb37CFT4" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpUyb37CFT4</a>

Showmanship is about leaving on a high note.

[SUPERCOACH]

Well I hope you don't pull a Costanza on us.  In fact, I would like to give you the ability to put your own posts on the front page without waiting for a mod to do it.  No pressure to come up with something daily or anything like that, just whenever you feel compelled to write a post like this.  Let me know if you are interested in this and I will set it up.

Thanks.

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