The Alabama Defender Who is 'Playing Some of His Best Football Right Now'

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green has seen a big increase in production over the past few weeks.

The offseason Colorado transfer addition is up to fourth on the Crimson Tide in total tackles this season with 39, including a fourth-place spot in solo tackles with 24. He logged seven tackles against Missouri and South Carolina and six, including two for loss, in the win over Tennessee.

Hill-Green registered five tackles, including one for loss, during the victory over LSU on Saturday night, and he also recovered his own forced fumble. Simply put, the graduate has truly been on a tear lately.

"I thought Nikhai Hill-Green probably played his best game of the season so far. ... He’s playing some of his best football right now," Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said on Monday. "The players joke, they call him ‘Unc.’ I think he’s the oldest guy in our defense, 24-years-old.

"He’s just so solid and so steady and he knows where his eye progression is supposed to be, where he’s supposed to be from a landmark standpoint. Alignments pre-snap. He does all the things right before he has to make the play, so he gives himself the best opportunity to make the play.

"He’ll tell you, he’s not the fastest guy out there, he’s not the most athletic guy out there, but he’s athletic enough. His elite trait is his ability to diagnose before he has to go make the play, and he’s doing that at an elite level right now."

Alabama's inside linebackers struggled a bit with missed tackles and stopping the run in the first handful of games this season, but they've really turned it around lately. As previously stated, Hill-Green is fourth on the Tide in tackles, but fellow inside linebackers Justin Jefferson (60 tackles) and Deontae Lawson (56) rank first and second.

This trio of linebackers is making things difficult for opposing running backs to go beyond the second level of the field, and Wommack is well aware and pleased with the progress that they've made in the past few weeks.

"Those guys are trending in the right direction and certainly that's what you want," Wommack said. "Good teams get better, good defenses get better. And we've just challenged our guys to take, you know, little steps in terms of improving their game as we're going along. I think that group is doing that.

"I mean, you look at Deontae, he's just coming back from where he was a year ago, and he's just gotten better and better coming off of that injury from last season. I think he's playing some of his best football right now, which is really encouraging. He's playing fast, he's playing aggressive.

"And then just the leadership that he brings to the table and the in the peace of mind, I think that the rest of the team has when he's out there on the field from a communication standpoint, getting everybody on the same page — a large part of good defense right now is not losing games by errors and mistakes and MA’s."

Alabama's defense has seen a ton of rotation throughout the season on the defensive line and secondary. But this core of linebackers has maintained a heavy majority of the snaps, and that will likely continue during this final month of the regular season.

Read More: