Everything Alabama Defensive Coordinator Kane Wommack Said After Florida State Loss

TUSCALOOSA, Ala - The Alabama coaching staff spent time with the media on Monday in the Naylor Stone Media room inside the Mal Moore Athletic Facility as the team puts the debacle in Tallahassee behind them.

Crimson Tide defensive coordinator Kane Wommack discussed his units lack of effort, stopping the run and what he plans to do to get the team back on track.

Full Transcript below

Kane Wommack's Opening Comments

Highly disappointed in the way we played the game the other day. I thought in the midst of adversity, we played hesitant. Which is not the identity of this defense. I think we've got a group of young men that take a lot of pride in the way they play, the effort they play with, and I thought we played too much on our heels on the road. With adversity as a coaching staff, we have to do a better job on the road of creating a sideline environment of making sure our guys are ready to go respond. That starts with me and our coaches and making sure our players know how to respond in a moment of adversity. I have great confidence in our players. I think the level of ownership I've seen from our guys has been really strong the last 48 hours here. I think we're ready to go put a product together on the field on Saturday that our fans, this university can be very proud of. Look forward to doing that this week.

How will Alabama's lack of physicality be addressed?

"One of our keys to victory was, when you're playing a team that moves laterally in the one-plus quarterback system, there has to be elements of being patient to let the ball declare. Once the ball declares, one of our keys to victory was to finish with violence and aggressiveness on the ball. I thought we let some of the things they did put us on our heels. We didn't respond well enough when adversity hit. Those things, you can tell them. Sometimes you have to be shown. Once our players were shown, I think they're ready to respond."

How was FSU so effective at running on the perimeter?

"Ours was, they were leveraging issues in terms of our guys being decisive and getting off of blocks. I thought we were timid in getting off of blocks. So we allowed people to get the edge on us too often. I thought our block destruction has been something we have really emphasized and done a good job in the offseason. That wasn't really the standard. Really excited to get that fixed this week."

What did you think about the effort from the linebackers and safeties?

"I thought we played timid. I thought we let adversity put us on our heels. We played hesitant at times because of that. That was striking for all of us because that's not the identity of our defense. That's never been who we are. That's not who these players are. I think they're very much looking forward to showing that next Saturday. "

On playing 23 different players on defense

"There's going to be moments. We did have some bangs and bruises, right? But we did have some guys that we felt like had earned an opportunity to get go out there on the field. Game one, you want to make sure you give people opportunities to do that, and then based off of the body of work and what they do on the field on game day will reflect some of the rep base that you see moving forward. I don't think you have to make big, sweeping changes. There was enough blame to go around, even from some of our best players. So you want to give people an opportunity to get things corrected. But certainly, the body of work on the field will dictate right rep base moving forward in the season."

On how much of what FSU did showed up in preparation, and how the defense responded with surprises?

"No, we were not surprised by anything. We were prepared for a number of things that they were doing, including some of the trick plays and a number of their run game things. We did not, we did not play to the level that we are capable of as a defense. And so we've got to own that as a coaching staff. We got to own that as players, which I think we are. But I have great confidence in our guys that they will get that corrected, and quickly."

How does the team generate more of a pass rush?

"Well, I think, there's times when in the second half I tried to call more pressure to generate a little bit more pressure on the quarterback. We were able to do that a little bit more effectively. But one time on a third down, we had a free runner, we let the quarterback out of the pocket, and then we had a late hit out of bounds as he was going out on a critical third and five where we had a chance to get off the field. And then another time we were getting ready, we had put ourselves in position to get him to a third and 11 and then we had a late hit on the quarterback as well. And so you want to affect the quarterback, but you have to know when and you got to have the maturity and understanding of when to do that and when not to do that. I think both those guys took ownership of it, and I think they'll get those things corrected moving forward. But certainly a from a pressure standpoint, that's something that I've got to make sure that we can affect quarterbacks better than what we did Saturday."

What's the plan to stop mobile QBs

"Yeah, I think there’s a pattern right now of when teams are moving laterally in the one-plus quarterback system. We saw it against Vanderbilt last year, we saw it in the first half against Oklahoma and then it showed up this week. I thought those are things that you have to look at and you’ve got to we had a good week of preparation, but we weren’t able to execute well enough on game day, so schematically what do I need to do to make sure I give our players the best chance to be successful based upon the body of work that we’ve put on the field. So we’re looking to address those issues."

Do you think everything is fixable?

"100% those things will get fixed and looking forward to seeing our guys do it on Saturday."

What would you attribute the hesitancy to?

"I think that goes into the pattern of us on the road as a football team. I think about the two games and a half that we, defensively, has played timid and on our heels and those are situations where on the road we’ve got to make sure that we protect our sideline. I talk about it all the time, the sideline is a living, breathing organism that you’ve got to make sure you’re doing your job to feed that the right way. Even as a coaching staff we’ve got to make sure that we’re challenging ourselves, there’s so many things now with the ipads, that you’re making checks and adjustments and corrections, but lets make sure that we keep the main thing, the main thing as a coaching staff, that we are making sure our coaches are ready to physically, mentally go out of the field and go play in an attacking mindset and that’s something that we didn’t do a good enough job as a coaching staff."

Who has stepped up and led the ownership charge on the defensive side of the ball?

"Every player on our defense right now."

How much are you evaluating the effort in the game and would you take a player out? How healthy is Keon Sabb and Deontae Lawson?

"I think some of those things, we have guys that play with great effort. They play with great enthusiasm and energy and that didn’t show up on Saturday. We’re going to allow our players to get it fixed. Certainly, there was enough blame to go around. You can point to every position on the field, right? That had issues in terms of not executing at the level they’re capable of and not playing with the passion, energy and effort that we have established here already. Those are things we’re going to allow guys to get fixed, but certainly a body of work as you look into the season a rep base based upon what you do on the field from an execution standpoint. I don’t think there’s a guy on our defense that doesn’t take ownership over what happened. That starts with me, it ends with our players and I think everybody’s ready to go establish that and the defense we’re capable of playing moving forward."