Alabama's Third and Long Defense on The Joe Gaither Show

Let's fire up a Tuesday episode of "The Joe Gaither Show on BamaCentral" with Theo Fernandez as we are just three days away from kicking of the 2026 season. The program spends its time on the defensive side of the ball, discussing depth concern and how the Crimson Tide will look in third-and-long situations.

The program opens on the defensive side of the ball as we look for flaws in the Crimson Tide. Gaither expresses confidence in the depth in the defensive back and linebacker rooms, but has concern that the defensive line doesn't have enough second-level contributors. Fernandez and Gaither talk about the trenches for the Crimson Tide and decide how problematic an injury could be.

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The show stays on defense and brainstorms a third-and-long situation by talking about who defensive coordinator Kane Wommack wants to put on the field. Gaither surprises Fernandez by predicting Jah-Marien Latham getting involved on third-and-long, due to his positional versatility. Then the pair highlight freshmen Xavier Griffin and Jireh Edwards as players who have a role in third-and-long situations.

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We transition away from the defense and talk about former Alabama shot putter and current WWE superstar Oba Femi visiting the Crimson Tide football program on Tuesday. Gaither is a wrestling fan, but he asks Fernandez if Femi is popular enough for the team to get excited about in order to mitigate his own biases.

The final Alabama topic centers around Ryan Coleman-Williams and his decision to not wear gloves this offseason in order to improve his hand-eye coordinaton. Will this adjustment fix all of Coleman-Williams' drop issues?

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