BamaCentral 22 for '22: Which New Alabama Assistant will have the Toughest Job this Season?
After falling one win short of adding a 19th national title last season, Alabama will look to rebound and take the next step this year. The Crimson Tide returns a loaded roster, including reigning Heisman winner Bryce Young and a rebuilt offense as well as one of the most talented defenses in the Nick Saban era.
Alabama will open its season on Sept. 3 when it hosts Utah State inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. To help pass the time, BamaCentral’s Joey Blackwell, Tony Tsoukalas and Katie Windham will discuss 22 topics and questions concerning the 2022 season.
Today we continue our series by asking which one of Alabama’s new assistant coaches will have the toughest job this season.
Alabama Athletics
Blackwell's take
The 2020 season brought about one of the most dominant offensive lines in recent memory for Alabama football. Winning the Joe Moore Award, the fearsome five players in Alex Leatherwood, Deonte Brown, Landon Dickerson, Emil Ekiyor Jr. and Evan Neal all pitched in to protect quarterback Mac Jones and lead the team to its 18th national title.
In 2022, however, all but one of those players are gone.
Ekiyor is the lone remnant of that storied 2020 season, but new starters on the offensive line aren’t going to be the only fresh faces to Alabama fans. With offensive line coach Doug Marrone departing Tuscaloosa to serve the same position in the NFL with the New Orleans Saints, Eric Wolford has joined Alabama to serve as his replacement.
Like Marrone, Wolford brings both college and NFL experience with him to Alabama. With over 25 years of coaching experience at both the pro and college level, he brings a wealth of knowledge with him as well as proven ability as a solid recruiter.
In 2021, the offensive line was one of the Crimson Tide’s biggest shortcomings. An issue that plagued the team all season, Wolford is now tasked with fixing the problems that the team faced in 2021. That being said, it’s not going to be an easy task given the personnel that he’s dealing with.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe Wolford will do a fine job at Alabama and I expect this year’s offensive line to show a stark improvement over last season. The players that he has at his disposal certainly have the talent to get the job done; they just need to be developed. With that being Wolford’s primary task, it’s going to be no easy job at getting the offensive line in a more cohesive state in 2022.
He'll be able to get it done, but it’s certainly going to be a tough job.
247Sports
Tsoukalas' take
My initial instinct is to go with Eric Wolford given Alabama’s struggles on the offensive line this spring. However, I think the emergence of Vanderbilt transfer Tyler Steen along with a healthy Emil Ekiyor Jr. and Darrian Dalcourt will help the Crimson Tide reverse its fortunes quickly this fall.
While I like Alabama’s depth in the secondary, it will need to replace both of its starting cornerbacks from last year in Jalyn Armour-Davis and Josh Jobe. Following the A-Day game in April, Nick Saban named Kool-Aid McKinstry, Khyree Jackson and LSU transfer Eli Ricks as the three likeliest replacements for those two roles.
Each member of the trio has first-team experience as Ricks started a combined 13 games at LSU over the past two seasons while McKinstry made six starts during his debut year at Alabama and Jackson made his lone start against Georgia in the national championship game last season. Still, the Crimson Tide runs the risk of some early growing pains as its new cornerback pairing looks to gel with the rest of the secondary. That could spell trouble during trips to Texas and Arkansas where Alabama will face potentially explosive offenses over the first five games of the season.
Fortunately for the Crimson Tide, it brought in an experienced assistant in Travaris Robinson to head up the transition. The first-year assistant has 16 years of college coaching experience, including five seasons as the defensive coordinator at South Carolina from 2016-19. He’s also played a part in developing several top defensive backs, including first-round picks Jaycee Horn (No. 8 overall, 2001), Hargreaves (No. 11 overall, 2016) and Matt Elam (No. 32 overall, 2013).
Robinson might have the most pressure on him early in the season, especially with Saban watching the cornerback position over his shoulder during practice. However, by the end of the year, I expect the first-year assistant to produce a solid unit.
Kevin Lytle/The Coloradoan via Imagn Content Services, LLC
Windham's take
For the first time in Nick Saban’s tenure with the Crimson Tide, Alabama has an assistant coach dedicated specifically to the tight ends. In the past, that role has been split, usually with the special teams coordinator.
But with the evolution of the tight end position, and Coleman Hutzler being hired on as special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach, Saban felt it was important enough to hire Joe Cox solely as the tight ends coach.
“I do think it’s a position now that requires a little bit more attention because a tight end used to be a guy that lined up beside the tackle and put his hand in the dirt, and that’s where he played from,” Saban said. “Now the guy plays off the ball. He’s playing like a fullback. He plays on the ball, he’s playing like an old-fashioned tight end. He flexes out, he’s playing like a wide receiver. SO I think that for those guys to get a little bit more focused attention is probably really important, and I think Joe Cox is one of the bright young guys. I’ve been very impressed with his knowledge, and I think he’s going to help us.”
Cox comes into a tight end room that’s severely lacking in experience. Cameron Latu is the only returning tight end with a catch. Alabama brings in three freshmen and a junior college transfer at the position. I don’t think there will be a ton of eyes on Cox this fall, but he will have his hands full trying to build up depth at an inexperience position.
