Everything Kane Wommack Said Before Alabama's Game Against Florida State

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack spoke to reporters in Tuscaloosa on Monday morning prior to the Crimson Tide's season opener at Florida State on Saturday afternoon. A full transcript of Wommack's comments is below.

Opening Statement:

"Obviously, exciting time for us, our players, our coaches, our fan base, everybody involved with our football program, as you kinda make that transition from fall camp to first opponent, first week. It's been a really good transition. Year two, our players know what to expect. We understand the standard better, so that transition kinda into game-prep mode has been really good. Looking forward to our opponent in Florida State. Have tremendous respect for Gus Malzahn, who I've known for a very long time. Known Mike Norvell since I was a senior in college. In fact, I met him at a coaches' convention through Gus back in 2009 and think the world of him too, and he's done a tremendous job wherever he's gone. Certainly, for us, very proud of our players and coaches and the work that they've put in the offseason and put us in position to go compete at a high level this season. Ready to hit the ground running this week. We've got a lot of work to do still, but we're moving in a position to go execute on Saturday."

On Roydell Williams and the Florida State run game:

"Obviously, I don't know Roydell personally. The players know him and think highly of him, as well as you look at a number of their running backs that I think they're excited about, they've got a number of guys that have had experience, be it there or at other places that came via the transfer portal. Young guy, I think that they're pretty excited about out of the backfield as well. Really, they present a number of challenges. Gus always has, Mike always has, in their offensive schemes. They present a number of challenges to you formationally. Motions, quarterback run, one-plus element and then their ability to go tempo with their run game presents a number of challenges for us. Those are things that we've been working and preparing for. Looking forward to putting the ball down and letting our guys go play."

On challenges of turning pressures into sacks against quarterbacks who can run:

"When you look at their quarterback and his body of work over the years, he's hard to bring, he's hard to get down. Very shifty player, he can run, he's elusive in the pocket, he's got really good pocket awareness. His escapability is kinda all over the place. Kinda hard to pin down in that regard. Those are, I would say we'll have our work cut out for us. It'll be as challenging, probably, as we have had from a standpoint of creating negative plays on the quarterback in the backfield. Something that we're challenging our players, we work tackling year-round, we're in a good position right now tackling as a defense, but until you put the ball down against another opponent, you don't know for sure."

On James Smith:

"Really excited about James and what he's done. James is such an explosive player. He creates havoc. You saw that, even, in the bowl game when he was able to generate a lot of negative plays and I think he's done that here in fall camp. So, excited. He was tweaked up just a little bit early on in fall camp and has been good the last two weeks here and is in a really good position going into game week. Excited about him, excited for the opportunity. It's fun, I've mentioned this to you guys before, but it's fun watching some of these younger players that I've been here with over the last 18 months mature into young men that are accountable, that are detailed, that have habits that are more in line with what a young professional, right, a young player that does things at a high, professional level. I think James has just been really enjoyable, watching him grow and mature as a young man."

On Squirrel White:

"Obviously, we've watched Squirrel a good bit in his time in Tennessee. And, you know, shifty player, has some real speed, can do a number of things. And I think, looking at Gus and his system and Mike and what they have done with players kind of in that same personnel mold, I would imagine there's a number of things that they could do with him and some other guys that we anticipate on the field. And so, to me, you're trying to anticipate based upon a body of work from Gus and Mike and what these players have done from a personnel standpoint, be it wherever they came from, and try to get a feel for what they're going to do. But certainly, I just think his athleticism and speed and quickness are going to allow them to be able to do multiple things with him."

On experience opening season with a true road game:

"Like anything, you put the ball down and you prepare your guys to go execute, regardless of environment. And that's what we talk quite a bit about. It's not the noise, it's not home, it's not the road, it's not all the different variables. It's just about the work. It's about the execution. It's about doing your job at such a high level that all the external variables are removed and you just do your job for that one play like it's the most important snap of the game. And then, can you do that consistently over and over and over again? Those are the things that I think our coaches have done a really good job. I think Kalen does a tremendous job of just keeping the main thing, the main thing for our players so that they can execute when it matters most. I think that's what you know we're preparing them to do."

On confidence in defense and being in second season at Alabama:

"Well, I know a lot more of the variables. I know our coaches better. We understand each other better, right? There's a gel that has to take place in a coaching staff, and I feel like we're in as great of a place as I've been. I think we're a close knit group on defense as a coaching staff, I think our players see that, and I think that's reflected in the work and the energy that you see and feel at practice defensively. I think understanding our players better gives us as a defensive staff the best opportunity to put them in the right positions. And so we understand ourselves better. We understand our players better, and then, certainly, from an opponent standpoint, if you look at the majority of the season, there's a lot of common opponents, this one, not necessarily so, but I think there's similarities in some of the things that we feel like we're going to see throughout the year that, just a better understanding and grasp of what we're doing. So those are the fun things about going into year two and being prepared and kinda having that gel and understanding. You feel that team chemistry right now, defensively."

On Wolf linebackers:

“We’ve got a number of guys, as we’ve talked about before, that can go in and play for us. Obviously, you’ve got experienced players in Qua Russaw and [Jah-Marien] Latham, Yhonzae Pierre has done some tremendous things; I’ve seen a lot of growth and maturity from him. And some younger players like Justin Hill and Noah Carter are doing some great things. It’s about building more consistency in their game. They flash, but how consistent can they become that you feel confident that they can go out on any given play, any given down, and go execute at a high level, and those are the things that they’ll continue to push in that regard. But I would say those guys are on the right trajectory right now.”

On differences in the experience that come with a live game setting:

“We talk to the players about this all the time. Game day is different, always is, always has been, always will be. And that’s exciting, what makes the game so special. Ball gets put down in front of a group of fans home, on the road, all the work that you’ve done, playing each other, preparing, walk throughs, scout teams, and then ultimately, you’ve got to go execute in the moment. I’m excited to see how our players will handle that. We have some players that have tremendous experience in terms of playing in big environments and crowds. You’ve got other guys that have limited experience. And you're gonna have some guys that have none from a college standpoint that are going to play in the game for us, and so how they handle the environment, how they handle the opportunity at hand is something I’m looking forward to seeing. And from a defensive standpoint early in the season you want to see how well you tackle, especially when you're looking at a running offense with a quarterback that can create and generate explosive plays with his feet, and he can extend plays with his feet. That’s something that ultimately, we've gotta put the ball down and go play."

On depth and personnel groupings:

“When you look at the experience that we have and some of the things we feel like we can put ourselves in the best chance personnel-wise to get the right people on the field at the right time, year two allows you to be able do more things, certainly. There's some things we will have geared up and prepared for, not necessarily maybe anything new that we didn’t show last season, just being able to expand off of those packages, is probably the biggest advantage you have in year two than you had in year one.”