Kane Wommack: Alabama's 2026 Defense in 'Pretty Good Place' Entering Summer

The Crimson Tide defensive coordinator shares his initial thoughts on his unit with less than 130 days before kickoff.

Dec 6, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide defensive coordinator Kane Wommack looks on before the game against the Georgia Bulldogs during the 2025 SEC Championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Alabama's offense has some unforgettable moments during the 2025 season, but it's hard to dispute that the Crimson Tide defense didn't steal the show.

Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack's unit allowed 19.2 points per game, which ranked 20th in the nation. It kept the offense in a good chunk of games and played a major role in the Crimson Tide reaching the College Football Playoff quarterfinal in Year 2 under head coach Kalen DeBoer.

But the page has been turned to the 2026 campaign for quite some time. Wommack shared his initial thoughts on the Tide's defense on Monday at the Senior Bowl Charity Golf Classic.

"It's just nice when you go into Year 3, and there's a lot of continuity," Wommack told AL.com's Creg Stephenson. We've got a lot of returning starters on our backend, a lot of young guys that are pushing some of those guys as well, which is really great.

"We've kind of got the defensive line into a position where we've got more mass, there's some older guys, the transfer portal has been really good to us. So having some of those guys in, coupled with our backend, I think there's a lot of continuity.

"There's a lot of excitement within the group and confidence in each other. It's fun to kind of go through spring with that group of guys that know the expectation and sets the tone early and often."

Alabama's secondary returned four key starters: cornerbacks Zabien Brown and Dijon Lee, plus safeties Keon Sabb and Bray Hubbard. Sabb said in March that the Tide could have the best secondary in the nation, and there are numerous depth options who stepped up during the spring, including Red Morgan, Ivan Taylor and Dre Kirkpatrick Jr.

The inside linebackers will look completely different. 2025 sack and tackles for loss leader Yhonzae Pierre will retain his Wolf position and mostly blitz off the edge, but Deontae Lawson, Justin Jefferson and Nikhai Hill-Green each exhausted their collegiate eligibility. All signs point to Virginia Tech transfer Caleb Woodson taking one of the starting spots but there are numerous candidates for the two others to fill: QB Reese, Cayden Jones, Luke Metz, Duke Johnson II and more.

Similar to the linebackers, the defensive line won't be similar to last year's. Six members of the unit transferred out and LT Overton and Tim Keenan III were selected in the NFL Draft. However, five defensive linemen transferred in and there's a ton of moving pieces up front, including returners London Simmons, Jeremiah Beaman and Edric Hill, transfers Desmond Umeozulu, Devan Thompkins, Terrance Green and more.

So, what do the next couple of months look like for Wommack, as the spring transfer portal has been eliminated?

"This is obviously a different time and phase than what it was a year ago," Wommack said. "There were so many variables coming out of spring football, trying to retain your roster, trying to add pieces that you needed.

"We're really in a pretty good place as a defense, and so to just have the comfort in knowing that you're going to be able to develop these players and retain all of these players coming out of spring is great. And so now our attention gets to really focus in on some of this high school class and get the best young high school players in the country, which has always been the recipe for success."

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