Will Alabama football try dime defense vs. Tennessee?

After several years of Josh Heupel-led Tennessee offenses torching SEC defenses, the Volunteers have slowed down a bit for the 2024 season. In addition to UT presenting a more run-focused attack, over the past few weeks, Arkansas and Florida have seemingly figured out how to avoid giving up the explosive plays Tennessee has thrived on for years.

Before beating the Volunteers, Arkansas installed a 3-2-6 dime defense that flummoxed the UT downfield passing attack. On Monday, Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack was asked if the Crimson Tide might break out a dime look of its own.

“I think for us, you know, you don’t want to get too far away from home base — who you are and what you do,” Wommack said. “But from a personnel package standpoint, we’re always going to look at, you know, whatever we think is the optimal scheme and personnel to get get our players in the right position.”

Wommack pointed out that Tennessee is more run-oriented in 2024. Volunteer running back Dylan Sampson has rushed for 699 yards on 118 carries so far this season, averaging 5.9 yards per carry so far.

The ability to run the ball opens other things up around the field for superstar freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava.

“This is a run football team,” Wommack said They are spreading you out with their receiver splits, so that they can establish one on ones in the run game, and that they can basically say, you know, they’re going to separate the pass coverage from the box responsibility and who’s leveraging those play.

“So for us, based off of the different personnel groupings they have, and based off the formations that they’re going to come out in, you know, we’re going to have to be able to defend the lateral space and the vertical space on the outside, but also make sure that we’re leveraging the box. Because this is a run football team, they want to establish a run, and then they set that up to take shots downfield.”

Alabama and Tennessee are scheduled to kick off at 2:45 p.m. CT Saturday at Neyland Stadium. The game will be aired on ABC.