Alabama Football Position Breakdown: Linebackers
By Brett Hudson
Alabama head coach Nick Saban is known for coaching defensive backs with a borderline omnipotent microscope on every minor detail. With that, the case can be made that Saban has had better linebackers than defensive backs in his tenure at Alabama, with first-rounders like Rolando McClain and Dont’a Hightower, should-have-been first-rounders like Courtney Upshaw and potential future first-rounders in Nico Johnson and C.J. Mosley.
The linebacker position is a strength on this year’s team that could not be more pivotal in Saban’s incredibly complex 3-4 scheme. This year, the Tide will be anchored and led by middle linebacker Nico Johnson. Stepping into the Mike role, Johnson is the middle linebacker responsible for making most of the pre-snap checks and play changes.
Johnson is the type of linebacker that makes plays by knowing where the ball is going before everyone else does and finding the perfect hole to shoot, as opposed to being simply more physically gifted than his opponents. Johnson’s unbelievable football IQ makes him the perfect centerpiece for a linebacking corps that is relatively young but talent-laden, one that needs a player like Johnson to keep themselves in the right position.
Johnson may not lead the team in tackles every game (although it will probably happen at least once or twice), he will be the most important player in the front seven almost every week.
Next on the linebacker totem pole is C.J. Mosley, who is back at 100 percent after his grueling hip injury in the BCS National Championship game last season, and is ready to step into a bigger role on the team. Whether or not he gets that is the question of the preseason. Mosley and Johnson play the same position. There has been some conversation of Mosley making a slight shift to put the two on the field at the same time for most of games, but the coaching staff loves what Mosley can do in the Mike slot.
The depth chart release coming on Monday will eventually answer all questions, but one has to believe that the Tide is better with both Mosley and Johnson on the field at the same time. Their talents compliment each other, plus having a senior in Johnson and a junior in Mosley can only help when the rest of the linebacking corps is as young as it is.
The youth starts with sophomores Adrian Hubbard, Trey DePriest and Xzavier Dickson. Hubbard and DePriest likely come out pretty even when it comes to playing time. Hubbard has the nasty habit of living in the other team’s background, while DePriest was taken under the wing of Sal Sunseri while he was with the Tide. What does that mean for DePriest? That means he’s a mean, hard-hitting man that finds nothing greater in life than punishing running backs.
Dickson seems to be in a 5th man role for the linebacking corps. I don’t see a starting role for him in the 2012 season barring an injury, but the coaching staff likes what he can bring and he will most certainly get playing time to aid him when he is in his junior and senior season as a starter.
In the reserve department, Alabama gets even younger, as word has it that true freshmen Ryan Anderson, Reggie Ragland and Denzell Devall are within striking distance of non-special teams playing time as well. Of the three, Anderson is the most likely to see time at linebacker this season because he is the only one of the trio that enrolled early and was in Tuscaloosa for spring practice.
Let the record show that is no knock on Ragland or Devall, however. Devall made a strong case that he was the best linebacker in the state of Louisiana during his senior season. I was able to see Ragland play for Bob Jones High School in the first round of the playoffs last year against Tuscaloosa County High School. Let’s just say it was obvious that only one player on the field was up to Alabama’s standards.
Depth Chart Projections
Tough to say. Here are the two options I can most easily see the coaching staff going with, revolving around whether C.J. Mosley changes positions or not.
With the change in position: Nico Johnson, C.J. Mosley, Adrian Hubbard and Trey DePriest with Xzavier Dickson being the first off the sideline.
Without it: Johnson, Hubbard, DePriest and Dickson or Ryan Anderson, with Mosley being the 5th starter and Dickson seeing regular rotations.
Analysis
No matter what the depth chart reveals at the linebacker position, Alabama is stacked at the position. Johnson will be the brains of the operation, putting raw talent like Mosley and DePriest in the right position to make the explosive plays, and more importantly, the three-and-outs.
Position Breakdowns Index
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