A few high-scoring games have gotten a lot of attention, but the Tide secondary really could use a boost. There's a good chance it happens.
Alabama has received a lot of press in recent years for being unable to stop spread offenses. Oklahoma lit up the Tide in the Sugar Bowl, Gus Malzahn's Auburn offense has given Alabama plenty of trouble, and Ohio State took down the Tide on the way to a national championship.
In truth, Alabama's defense is still elite. Last year, the Tide ranked No. 1 against the run and No. 17 against the pass en route to yet another top defense.
It does struggle a bit more with spread up-tempo attacks because it cannot play as many situational matchups. From Ian Boyd's look at the overhauling Tide:
'Being an old NFL guy, the way you play defense in the NFL is you play a lot of specialty defense because everything is based on situations,' Nick Saban, long a critic of rules that allow offenses to snap quickly, said this summer. 'What pace of play has done to the college game does not allow to you do that. So you have to basically play the same players in every situation because, if you do play situation defense and you're allowed to sub in that particular situation, you can't get the players out of the game.
'[Up-tempo offense] affects how you recruit [defenders]. You can't recruit as many specialty players,' Saban said.
But the lack of an opportunity to substitute is only part of the issue. By some measures, Alabama has not had the best cornerbacks in recent years. After having a handful drafted from 2008 to 2013, including first-rounders like Dre Kirkpatrick and Dee Milliner, the Tide have come up empty at cornerback in the last two drafts.
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It's a good thing, then, that Alabama has a load of versatile former blue-chip cornerbacks in Preseason All-SEC First-Team Cyrus Jones, plus Minkah Fitzpatrick and Marlon Humphrey. All can stay on the field in just about any situation, backed by yet another five-star in Tony Brown.
On top of that, Alabama has nine other former four-star recruits in the secondary. Elite recruits turn into elite college players more often than their lesser-rated counterparts, so the chances are good Alabama will return to having elite corners. That recent Tide cornerbacks haven't panned out as well as expected seems like a fluke, especially considering Saban's background as a DBs coach.
Inexperience is an issue at the top (although there's plenty of it throughout), with only Jones and Brown having played in actual games. But one sign of Saban's faith in the freshmen is that the Tide moved former cornerback Eddie Jackson to safety. Most college fans have not heard of the young players, but recruiting fans have known about them for years as they tore up the prep circuits.
The foursome has some great skills. The length is there, as three of the four are 6' or taller, and there's plenty of elite speed, as Brown and Humphrey are both DI-level track athletes.
If the Tide's young corners can play to their talent level, Alabama's defense should be college football's best defense, as it already has the nation's most promising front seven.
Between Ryan Anderson and Tim Williams (who made 1.5 sacks and just 2 non-sacks last year), the new jack backer will likely approach Dickson's nine sacks, and the rest of the front seven is just loaded. Ends A'Shawn Robinson and Jonathan Allen were dominant against the run, and Reggie Ragland is faster than a 250-pound OLB should be. And the requisite load of blue-chip underclassmen are waiting for an opportunity.
This unit is going to be too big, too strong, and too fast for a vast majority of opponents.
What's more, the secondary will have time to gel. In the first six weeks of the season, Alabama faces offenses like Wisconsin, Ole Miss, Georgia, and Arkansas. Only Ole Miss presents a potentially scary passing attack. The Tide should have roughly a month and a half to get the pass defense in gear before more difficult throwing games, like trips to Texas A&M and Auburn, as well as any potential postseason games.