Kane Wommack’s Game Plan Provides Another Stout Evening for Alabama Defense

Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban showed love to both sides of the ball throughout his 17-year tenure with the Crimson Tide, but it often seemed that defense was slightly closer to his heart. This is mainly due to his experience playing defensive back many many years ago, while also serving as a defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator for several collegiate and NFL teams over the course of 20 years.

The legendary head coach, who won six National Championships at Alabama, earned perhaps the greatest honor in the sports world on Saturday evening as the Crimson Tide’s mecca of a gridiron received a new name: Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

In an entire day honoring Saban, his somewhat preferred phase of the sport also gave him flowers that night, as Alabama’s defense was stout against South Florida’s offense from practically start to finish as the Crimson Tide won 42-16.

Wommack’s Swarm D, which shut out Western Kentucky last Saturday, proved its worth once again, and the players seem to enjoy it. Wommack refers to his 4-2-5 defensive scheme as the “Swarm D.” It’s a physical, fast, aggressive style he wants his defenses to be marked by.

Wommack spent the past three seasons as the head coach at South Alabama and said earlier in the week that one of the things he had missed most and was most looking forward to was calling the defense for Alabama this season. He’s gotten off to a strong start in the first two Saturdays of the season.

South Florida quarterback Byrum Brown gave Alabama’s run defense hell for most of the first half as logged 88 rushing yards on 12 attempts. But some Wommack adjustments and motivation lowered Brown’s pace rapidly declined in the second half as he ran for just 20 yards on 11 carries.

Unlike the run game for Brown, it was all quiet on the passing front in both halves on Saturday night, as the Crimson Tide allowed Brown to complete 15-of-35 attempts (43 percent) for just 103 yards (6.9 yards per completion).

Alabama defensive lineman Tim Keenan III had one of the best games of his Crimson Tide career as he recorded nine tackles, including 2.5 for loss, and 1.5 sacks (the latter two numbers were team-highs). Keenan who hit Brown more than anyone else opened up about the quarterback’s difference between halves.

“We [had to] get hands on that guy,” Keenan said of Brown, one of the better athletes outside the Power Four and one of the best running quarterbacks in college football period. “Kudos to him. He’s a great player, a great athlete… We did what we had to do. We got the best of him.”

Alabama led South Florida 14-13 entering the fourth quarter. Truly eye-popping. While the Tide defense was stout all night, Keenan and his unit wanted to take it to another level.

“[We had] just the mindset of, don’t get stopped, I gotta get home,” Keenan said. “Pressure makes diamonds… I love moments like that, because everybody looking for somebody to be the play, and it’s like, why not me? So, just being able to have that mindset, I’m gonna make something happen, I’m gonna make a play.”

Linebacker Que Robinson was one of those players making diamonds as he flew around the middle of the field and also USF’s backfield on plenty of occasions, despite his stat sheet not being other-worldly: seven tackles, a sack and a tackle for loss. Robinson attributed the game plan and coaching to his performance as well as the rest of the team’s.

“Credit goes to the staff and defensive coordinator coach Wommack,” Robinson said after the game. “He just calls plays to give us an opportunity. He puts me and my teammates in a situation where we can just go out there and play. We don’t have to think too much and we were able to execute.”

Nevertheless, although Robinson was pleased with his team’s performance in Wommack’s system on Saturday, he explained that it was far from perfect.

“We’re nowhere near where we need to be,” Robinson said. We’ve got to create more turnovers. Effort is a huge part of the game and we’ve got to give more effort. Doing our assignments, being fundamentally sound, getting to those gaps and getting the quarterback off his spot.”

Perhaps the word Robinson used most in the interview, in both a good and bad connotation was “effort.” Robinson said multiple times that he needs to do better and mentioned that “multiple guys were out there were screaming, yelling, telling guys to stay focused and locked in.”

But the main positive that he associated with effort was the defense’s performance on third down. Alabama held Western Kentucky to 3-of-18 on third-down attempts and a somehow even more impressive 2-of-18 against South Florida. Truly remarkable and something to keep in mind for the Crimson Tide defense for the next few weeks.

Many of these third-down stops involved Keenan’s efforts trenches. Robinson detailed that Keenan’s personal-top-tier performance from Saturday was a reflection of the entire team, and it’s been that way for quite some time.

“If Tim’s hype, everybody’s hype,” Robinson said. “He’s that person we feed off of. When he’s out there creating plays it makes everyone else hungry.”

Good coaching, leadership, accountability, effort, high standards, in-game improvement…what else could Saban enjoy in a Wommack-led defense on the day the field is named after him?