Alabama Wolf Jah-Marien Latham Working in Multiple Defensive Roles

The veteran has been lining up at various different spots in camp.

Aug. 3, 2025; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Linebacker Jah-Marien Latham runs a drill during practice Sunday at the University of Alabama. | Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Sixth-year Alabama veteran Jah-Marien Latham has more or less seen it all. He's the last man standing from the 2020 national championship team. He moved to Wolf linebacker for this fall. Now, he's taking reps at various spots in camp.

"Defense is inherently reactionary. We want them to play with anticipation," defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said Wednesday. "Older guys naturally just have more experience, they have more knowledge, they have more understanding of the game... Zebbo [Latham] can do a lot of things."

Wommack estimated that Latham was playing three or four positions during the summer, adding that experience is "at a premium." In addition to his reps at Wolf, Latham has been practicing at nose guard in the defense's Cheetah package.

"With the wolf position, you'll play kinda like a stack-backer, so like you can play in the box, and I also play a little bit of Bandit also... Since I've been here, I've played defensive end, so going to outside linebacker was kinda just the opposite of what I used to do," Latham said on Wednesday.

He played live snaps at the Wolf position in the final three games of last season: Oklahoma, Auburn and Michigan. What he recalled about that was the experience gained with dropping into coverage and combining that with what he's already been doing to be versatile.

"[Experience] helps a lot," Latham said. "Understanding one side of the field on defense, and then also going to the other side of the defense. Just knowing that I can play a lot of positions and create some production for myself."

The Cheetah package's primary objective is quarterback pressure and finishing pressures with sacks. It consists of the defensive end and the different Wolf players rotating in, depending on what personnel the coaches decide to roll with. Latham also mentioned it as a way to get off the field on third downs.

"It's a different ball game to be on the edge. The interior linemen, they weigh a lot more," Latham said. "It's mainly just fundamentals, like getting your hands inside, being able to stay low and things like that."

Latham was asked which offensive lineman was toughest to work against in pass-rush scenarios. In keeping with his previous note about interior linemen weighing more, it was an interior player who got the hat tip.

"I gotta give it to [center] Parker [Brailsford]," Latham said. "It's a bigger body to get around."