Alabama spent the offseason trying to change the look of its defensive front, and Kane Wommack says the work is showing up in a big way.
The Crimson Tide’s defensive coordinator said Friday after practice that the staff pushed hard to get bigger and more physical up front after feeling the unit lacked enough size over the last two seasons. Alabama addressed that through the transfer portal, adding Devan Thompkins from USC, Terrance Green from Oregon and Kedrick Bingley Jones, while also putting the roster through a demanding offseason program that helped several defensive linemen trim fat and add double-digit pounds of lean muscle.
"I think we have improved our physicality up front," Wommack said after Friday's practice. "I think we’ve improved in our consistency as a defensive line unit.
And we’ve gotten bigger. The last two years here we’ve been 14th in the SEC in D-line frames up front.
I think this year, we’re fourth or fifth. We’ve worked really hard to get ourselves back in a position where we can be a big, physical defensive line.”
That size jump was not accidental. Alabama studied the weight and length of defensive linemen across the SEC and found its own group near the bottom of the league. Wommack said it took a couple of years to get the room where he wanted it.
"Big bodies matter. Mass kicks ass," Wommack said.
"When you have big frames that have length and being able to strike people, but also when they’re getting a double team, just sheer mass matters. The truth is, we got moved around some the last two years here."
The numbers back up the makeover. Alabama now lists six defensive linemen at 300 pounds or more: Thompkins, Green, Bingley-Jones, sophomore London Simmons, junior Steve Bolo Mbouma and junior Jeremiah Beaman. The Tide also has 12 linemen who stand 6-foot-4 or taller.
That added bulk comes at a time when Alabama is getting ready for the first season of a nine-game SEC schedule, making depth and power in the trenches even more important.
"We’ve done some good things defensively here," Wommack said. "At times, I think we’ve been really good, but to be a dominant defense, you have to have guys up front that can make a difference."
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