Alabama Football: Expect a sophomore surge from Will Anderson

Will Anderson has more in store for Alabama football

Every athlete has a different path through college. While some Alabama football players have to wait their turn, others start as freshmen. One player with early success is Will Anderson. He was a 5-star out of high school and a top-20 player in his class.

Despite upperclassmen having experience in Tuscaloosa, Anderson started in his first game of the 2020 season. The production was not there early in the year, but he turned things around at the end of the season.

After a successful freshman year, there are two paths for the rest of Anderson’s career with Alabama football. He can either continue to succeed or have a sophomore slump. While anything can happen, here’s why fans should expect a sophomore surge.

There are some things that only come with time in a program. Believe it or not, Will Anderson will get stronger as he becomes an upperclassman. He had a shortened offseason, so his raw strength should skyrocket this summer.

The surge of production later in the season proves that Anderson has what it takes to succeed once he gets comfortable. Despite not having a sack before the Iron Bowl, he ended the year second on the team in total sacks for the season. That type of growth isn’t normal, but there is no reason to believe that he will stop growing.

When you look specifically at Anderson’s second year with Alabama football, he will be in a position to thrive once again. Chris Allen will return as the other outside linebacker, and there is depth along the interior of the defensive line. Even without Christian Barmore, the pressure won’t be on Anderson to be the only guy to get to the quarterback. Anderson might see more double-teams, but don’t expect his workload to get much worse as a sophomore.

Now that Alabama knows that they can trust Anderson to make a play, he will see more wrinkles in the defense. He might drop into coverage some, but he will also be a part of exotic blitzes in 2021.

Alabama football fans know how good Anderson was last year, but he is only going to improve.