Everything Kane Wommack Said Before Alabama Faces South Carolina

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack met with the media Monday morning to discuss his unit's performance in the win over Tennessee and preview the matchup with South Carolina's offense this Saturday.

Here's everything he had to say:

Full Transcript

Opening statement

"There was a good bit of resiliency from our team that we're seeing, a lot of fight from our guys. A lot of lot of resiliency in our players. I thought that's one thing that our guys have done a great job of developing, and Coach DeBoer has done a tremendous job of developing a grit and toughness in our team and and it's showing up on game day.

"We were able to affect the quarterback the other night. We were able to limit some of the shots. This is a team that had really created a lot of shots downfield, had capitalized on those shots and explosive plays, and we were able to limit some of those things in the passing game. Obviously four sacks and eight TFLs, that helps. I think we took some steps in the right direction in terms of affecting the quarterback, and yet at the same time, we've had a number of two minute situations that have come up the last few games, and we have not been able to get a quarterback on the ground. So that's something that we have to find-- a way to affect the quarterback at the end of games in particular, and that's something that we certainly will continue to look at and figure out how to put our players in the best position to go put people away at the end of games that we have not done consistently well enough.

"Probably the stat of the game is they were two of five in the red zone, really great fight from our guys. We talk about it all the time, Coach DeBoer talks about it all the time-- just make them snap the ball one more time. And kind of that 'Yibambe' mentality that our players, we talk about that all the time, the quote from the movie The Black Panther: "Just hold the line. Hold fast the line." Do your 1/11 and do your job and good things can happen. So that was certainly a positive there twice they got inside the three yard line and came away with minus seven points. So really a great job by our guys. Certainly Zabien making that play right before half was tremendous momentum for a football team

"Fundamentally, we have to keep improving. Good teams are going to find ways to improve as the season goes on. I think some of the things when we are giving up explosives, particularly in the run game, there are fundamental issues-- not leveraging the ball properly, finishing plays, tackling. And there were some things that we got exposed on there that we've got to make sure that we're striving to become better fundamentally.Then ultimately, nobody stays the same. Everybody's got to find a way to keep getting better, find wrinkles, schematically, find things fundamentally that we can keep improving and play with the edge that we have developed and that we've earned as a football team. When you look at South Carolina, this is a fantastic game day environment. It's a hard place to go and play. I've been at multiple games when my dad coached there for a couple of years, and I've watched them take the momentum from games and their fans do a tremendous job in the environment that they create. This is obviously a very dangerous quarterback in Lanorris Sellers. (He) does some great things in the passing game, very hard to tackle. Almost never gets tackled and brought down by the first guy, anybody that can create and extend plays with his feet is certainly going to present challenges.

"When you look at their team, I know they've had some struggles, but this was a team that won five of their last six in 2024. They had a very similar schedule going into our game, and then rattled off a number of wins. Winning does not get easier. We talked to our players about that. It only gets harder because the target that's going to be painted on your chest. We're always going to get teams best, but there's an earned confidence that our player need to continue to play with as we start transitioning in the back half of our season and SEC play. So looking forward to the week of work, looking forward to finding a way to get our players better and play with an edge as we get into Saturday in Columbia."

Do you know South Carolina OC Mike Shula? How has their offense changed under him?

"No, I don't know Coach Shula. I know he was here, I guess, when my dad was the defensive coordinator at Arkansas. So there was some crossover there. But don't know him in particular. Think highly of their staff. I know Dowell Loggans, their former offensive coordinator, very well. I know they've kept the same system. You think about Shane and his offensive background. They're very good offensive minds. They've got a very dynamic passing game, good compliments in the run game. You know, they run the quarterback enough as well that makes things challenging to defend with the one-plus quarterback system. And so they present a number of challenges and anytime you have an athletic quarterback like that that has the arm talent to make all the throws on the field, they're going to make you defend the width and vertical stretch of the field. So it will be a good challenge for us."

How do you maintain success and focus against a struggling South Carolina team?

"That was obviously a pretty tremendous stretch there, and felt like every team I would come in and look at the stat line and somehow they were always the number one in the SEC in scoring offense and half the numbers and all those things. You're going to have teams that maybe on paper look a certain way, but when you turn on the tape, this is a very dangerous football team. And I think our players have the maturity enough to be able to see those things. And I think we have the maturity, or we have developed the maturity, to learn from our past adversity. And that's something that I think this team has an edge right now, in large part, because we have learned from the mistakes of the past, and we haven't forgotten about those things and those are things that we need to make sure that we carry throughout the rest of the season. Success, if handled properly and not allowing complacency — which complacency will creep into any area that you allow it. It's like rodents getting into your house, right? Once they're in, right, it's hard to get them out. Complacency is exactly the same way. You have to find ways to shore up any area for us as a football team to make sure complacency isn't there. And I think Coach DeBoer has done a tremendous job with that with our players, and I think our players have the maturity to make sure that those things don't happen."

On DB Red Morgan's progress...

"It's been fun for me to watch Red's development and growth. You know, he had to do so many things. We asked a lot out of him a year ago as a true freshman to go in and play in some high level games and execute, and he took his lumps, and he also did some really great things. I think, fundamentally, he has improved so much. His consistency on the field has improved so much. And it was really great to see him be rewarded with the way that he's playing right now. He's got twitch. He can make space tackles. He can take the air out of the ball, meaning that he can cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time. And when you're dealing with teams, for example, like Tennessee that stretch you laterally in the RPO perimeter passing game, [it's] really good to have a guy that not only can close space but can also finish on the ball carrier. I thought he did a tremendous job at that the other night."

On Zabien Brown's awareness on pick-six against Tennessee...

"That was a tremendous play that Zabien made. I think one of the things that's so impressive about Zabien is, whatever you emphasize, whatever you work, it shows up on game day. That’s a lesson all of our players on defense can learn from Zabien. The consistency he brings. That situation in particular, we came out in a different personnel grouping the play before, then we'd asked for a timeout so we could see what they were going to be in. We brought the guys to the sideline and talked about 'Hey listen, this is probably going to be some type of power pass situation, right? And have your eyes in the right place, do you job, do your one-eleventh of the defense. And Zabien was just all over it. In the moment, one, his eyes were in the right place, he knows what to expect, he does his job, we'd built like a Cover 2 concept over there. He goes and makes the play. Then we talk all the time, and we haven't done it nearly enough, in fact we've only had two defensive touchdowns since I've been here. Both of them were Zabien. But when you get the ball, we're trying to score We're trying to make sure the next unit that goes on the field is our (PAT) unit. And really a tremendous job by him. He put the ball in his outside arm, tucked it away, secured it and was off to the races. He did a really great job there."

Where have you seen growth in pass rush?

"We're still inconsistent. Very proud of Yhonzae Pierre and some of the things he did. I think you look at the plays he affected the quarterback, he did his job. He did his job at a high level. And when you do your job consistently, good things happen. That's something we've continued to stress with him and a number of our players. Just doing your job at a more consistent, high level, and production will come from that. But at the same time, we've got to find a way to affect the quarterback better. When you get into two-minute situations at the end of games and you're four-man rushing and you don't really want to play man and you don't necessarily want to pressure, you've got to still affect the quarterback. We've had a number of situations where they've moved the ball right down the field and we haven't touched the quarterback. And that's something we've got to find a way to get better at. Or I've got to do some things differently from a schematic standpoint so we can stifle some of their two-minute offense. On the flipside, when they did get down to the red zone, a tremendous job of our guys to fight and find a way to keep them out of the end zone, particularly in the fourth quarter."

What can he point to in Yhonzae Pierre's success in pass rush?

"One of the most effective areas of pass rush is physicality. Everybody thinks it's a finesse game. You go watch the NFL right now, the vast majority of the sacks come from speed to power. They're not running around people. They're running through people. And our ability to do that, that's something we've really worked at. Not running around people and giving up vertical lanes in the passing game. But working a speed to power, crush-style rush. Condensing the pocket and then falling back in, countering back inside on the quarterback. I think we're taking some steps in the right direction, but we're still inconsistent. That's something we've got to improve upon."

On DL James Smith...

"James flashes. He's a very athletic player. He does some really good things. Needs to become more consistent. A number of our guys are the same way, I'm not necessarily singling him out, but there were some plays he particularly left out on the field, a number of our guys left out on the field, and so that's exciting from a number of ways, because he very productive on a number of plays. But there were also opportunities that we left out there on the field. Those are the things I'd like to continue to see from him and a number of guys on our defense."

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