Sacks Steal the Show as Alabama's Defense Dominates A-Day

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Defenders aren’t allowed to hit the quarterback on A-Day. If they were, Alabama’s passers would likely be spending their Easter Sunday in the training room.

The Crimson Tide’s defense combined to record 15 sacks on Saturday, as its pass rushers set up residence in the backfield. The White Team, led by the first-team defense, tallied 10 of those quarterback tap downs while the Crimson Team, featuring the second-team defense, managed five.

Reigning Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner Will Anderson Jr. looked every bit as unguardable as he was last season, recording a pair of early sacks while pouncing on a bad snap during the opening drive of the game. After his early dominance, Alabama elected to rest him for the second half.

“Somebody asked me the other day, ‘What’s Will’s weakness?’” Nick Saban said following the scrimmage. “I said, ‘Well, he’s got to learn more about pass coverage because he plays a position where every now and then he’s supposed to drop.

“But you all are gurus of the game. Should we spend a lot of time on him dropping or let him rush? So his weakness is pass coverage, but he helps the pass coverage when he sacks the quarterback.”

Dallas Turner led the first-team defense with three sacks while fellow five-star pass rusher Chris Braswell and defensive tackle Jamil Burroughs both had a pair and inside linebacker Jaylen Moody had one. Early enrolees Jaheim Oatis and Jeremiah Alexander both had sacks for the second-team defense. So did outside linebacker Demouy Kennedy and defensive tackles Jah-Marian Latham and Tim Keenan III.

Alabama’s offensive line is currently in a state of flux after losing starting tackles Evan Neal and Chris Owens this offseason. The Crimson Tide is also without starting right guard Emil Ekiyor Jr. and starting center Darrian Dalcourt, who are both nursing shoulder injuries.

Regardless, the Crimson Tide’s pass rush looked pretty impressive on the afternoon.

"I think this year is gonna be something special,” Anderson said. “You guys talk about the 2016 defense's pass rush, I feel like you guys are definitely getting ready to see that again because we have a lot of talented young guys on the edge and the D-line room."

A three-way battle at cornerback

Saban believes he has three starting cornerbacks. His only problem at the moment is there are only two first-team slots to put them at.

Saturday Kool-Aid McKinstry and Khyree Jackson worked with the first-team defense while LSU transfer Eli Ricks played with the second-team unit. However, following the scrimmage, Saban expressed confidence in each member of the trio.

“Those guys are all competing,” Saban said. “They’re all learning. They’re becoming more consistent players, and I think that’s important. I think all three corners are competing for starting positions. We just had to put somebody on second team today so they’d get reps, so we didn’t just rotate them the whole time.”

McKinstry has the most experience working in Alabama's defense, starting six games over 14 appearances during his freshman season last year. Saturday, he recorded one pass breakup to go with a solo tackle.

Jackson, who started the national championship game against Georgia, appeared in 12 games last season after joining the team as a JUCO transfer last offseason. He shined during Saturday’s scrimmage, recording a pair of pass deflections along with five stops.

“Khyree is showing a lot more maturity in his consistency in performance,” Saban said. “He’s playing with a little better technique and understanding what he has to do to be successful at his position.”

Ricks, who transferred to Alabama from LSU in December, started six games for the Tigers last season before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound defensive back earned Freshman All-SEC honors in 2020, leading LSU with four interceptions, two of which he returned for touchdowns. Saturday, he capped off a solid spring with five tackles during the scrimmage.

“The biggest thing for Eli is learning the system,” Saban said. “He’s like a guy who just got here. For him to be able to learn the system — and sometimes it's even more difficult for guys who played in a system, so they knew a system and now they’ve got to sort of enturbulate some of the things that they did to some of the things that we’re doing, and we call it something different. So you’ve got to work through some of that learning curve with them.

"He’s a very conscientious guy and works hard at it, takes coaching well, wants to please.”

Strong competition at Will linebacker

One of the biggest battles heading into the day was at the Will linebacker position where Moody and Deontae Lawson are vying for the starting spot vacated by Christian Harris this offseason.

Both contenders shined Saturday afternoon.

Moody got the start with the first-team defense and led all defenders with nine tackles, including his sack. Lawson worked with the second-team defense, recording six tackles to go with a quarterback hurry and a pass breakup. His quarterback hurry proved crucial as it forced an overthrow from backup Jalen Milroe that was picked off by redshirt sophomore safety Kristian Story in the first quarter.

Earlier this week, Saban commented on the Will linebacker position, stating that the most important quality he looks for is the ability to be instinctive as a player.

“You’re seeing multiple, probably, four or five things,” Saban said Thursday. “So being able to respond and react to those things quickly and get in the right position relative to the run fit or the pass defense or blitz that we’re playing. So I think being instinctive is really, really important, and you’ve gotta be able to take on blocks, you’ve gotta be a good tackler and you’ve gotta be able to play in space, which means you’ve gotta be a pretty good athlete, change direction.

“And when you do play pass defense, be able to make tackles in space. So I would think those are probably some of the critical factors that we always look for.”

Both Moody and Lawson demonstrated those traits this weekend, which should lead to a continued battle for the starting spot this fall.

Other defensive notes

— Alabama's defense combined for three turnovers on the day. Along with Anderson's fumble recovery and Story's interception, safety Jordan Battle picked off an overthrown pass from Bryce Young.

— The battle for the starting Star position could be interesting as Brian Branch and Malachi Moore compete for the role. Branch recorded two pass deflections and five stops while working at Star with the first-team defense Saturday. Moore had a pass deflection and six stops but was beaten deep on a 52-yard touchdown pass from Milroe to Christian Leary.

— Alabama's defense excelled on third downs, limiting the offense to a combined 7 of 27 conversion rate.