TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama wasn’t good enough at creating negative plays in 2024. Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack will be the first to tell you that, which is why getting that deficiency corrected has been such an emphasis for the Crimson Tide heading into a second season under head coach Kalen DeBoer.

Last year, Alabama’s defense only generated 71 tackles for loss and 25 sacks, which tied for No. 61 and No. 64, respectively. Not only that, but the top two sack producers, Jihaad Campbell (5) and Que Robinson (4), are no longer on the roster. That’s over a third of the production gone from just those two players, who are now trying to make their marks in the NFL.

Tim Keenan III, a 6-foot-2, 320-pound nose tackle, is Alabama’s returning sack leader with just 2.5. But for anyone who watched the games a season ago, LT Overton was easily considered the most disruptive player on the roster. Yes, he only mustered up two sacks in 13 games, but his 39 pressures were far-and-away the most on the team (Campbell had the second-most with 20).

For him, it’s about learning how to finish, but Alabama needs more disruptors.

• LT Overton (39 pressures)
• Jihaad Campbell (20)
• Que Robinson (19)
• Tim Keenan III (14)
• Qua Russaw (13)
• Jah-Marien Latham (13)

According to Pro Football Focus, Alabama totaled 199 pressures in 2024. That’s an average of 15.3 per game. The year prior, the Tide had 254 in 14 games, which comes out to 18.1. One season before that, it was 254 in 13 games for an average of 19.5. Here’s what the top five individual performers did in each of those seasons:

2023

• Chris Braswell (56)
• Dallas Turner (55)
• Justin Eboigbe (30)
• Deontae Lawson (21)
• Tim Keenan III (19)

2022

• Will Anderson Jr. (65 pressures)
• Dallas Turner (37)
• Chris Braswell (30)
• Byron Young (28)
• Multiple players (T-14)

So Alabama had at least one break 55 pressures with at least three having 30 or more. In 2024, no one broke 40 and only one had more than 21. Now, that’s partly due to injuries and random departures (Keanu Koht), but that can’t happen again in 2025. The Tide must get a more effective and consistent pass rush, and once again, Wommack knows that.

“So that was one thing that, if you point to some of the areas that we had to improve upon from last year, being able to create negative plays in the backfield, being able to affect the quarterback,” Wommack told reporters on Wednesday after practice. “Certainly from the standpoint of creating more sacks defensively, it was something that we needed to look at.”

What did the staff do exactly to remedy the situation? Well, it was a combination of things, including making some fundamental and schematic tweaks.

“Fundamentally, we tweaked some things, and schematically, just created some more variance in some of the things that we’re doing on passing downs,” Wommack said. “I think we’re in a good spot right now. I think that’s an ever flowing, OK, what does this team do this week? How elusive is their quarterback? How do we want to contain him, and also force pressure and those things?

“Week to week, those things are gonna change, but if you build a catalog of defense in the offseason, those are things you can kinda go to week-to-week to create variance in what you’re doing.”

That last part is key. Creating variance is important, and Alabama didn’t do enough of that at times last season. Part of that could’ve been where the defense was at as far as the transition from longtime head coach Nick Saban to Wommack. There was also some youth or inexperience in places, including with new starters such as Russaw.

Those issues should be close to (if not completely) corrected. And if they aren’t, Wommack and company have to figure out a way to compensate. The pass rush can’t find itself in another situation like it was a year ago. Health and guys being consistently available will help, as should other factors. Overton finishing plays more will help the sack numbers, but the complementary pressure will have to come from others.