Alabama Football: What Christian Barmore’s return means for Tide

Alabama football’s Christian Barmore will see his season debut.

There are plenty of reasons to be scared of Alabama football’s defense in 2020. The return of Dylan Moses brings leadership and continuity. True freshman Will Anderson has already shown sparks after just one game. The entire defense as a whole played well against Missouri. However, the scariest part of the Crimson Tide was that they weren’t fully healthy against the Tigers.

Christian Barmore missed the Tide’s season opener, but he is expected to be available in the upcoming game against the Texas A&M Aggies. While he may not start, Alabama will rotate defensive linemen consistently. What is a realistic expectation for Barmore in his return?

I think that Barmore will be on the second team behind Justin Eboigbe, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t receive the majority of the reps this Saturday. If he is healthy and ready to go, he will be too talented to leave on the sideline.

In terms of production, there’s only so much a defensive end can do by himself. He might get a sack or two, but his impact will go beyond the stat sheet. One of Kellen Mond’s greatest weaknesses is decision-making, and Barmore could force Mond into some bad decisions. To be fair, you wouldn’t be level-headed if you had Christian Barmore running through the offensive line in pursuit of you.

Barmore won’t be accredited with any turnovers unless it’s a strip-sack, but he could easily force Mond out of the pocket and into an ill-advised throw. That would be an excellent play by him without ever showing up on a traditional stat sheet.

In the running game, Barmore will only be average. He can sometimes overshoot his responsibilities in hopes of making the game-wrecking play. In clear-running situations, Alabama football will likely leave Barmore on the sideline. However, he is capable of holding his own.

There’s only so much that Texas A&M’s offensive line can do. They can’t expect to stop Will Anderson, LaBryan Ray, and Christian Barmore all game. Even if Barmore takes up some double teams, the players around him will be able to take advantage.

This is more of a luxury addition for Alabama football. Barmore is talented, but the Tide proved against Missouri that they are a good team without him. With him back, they will only be better.