On3's Andy Staples revealed his list of Top 10 defensive coordinators in college football on Thursday. Alabama's Kane Wommack was ranked No. 10, a number that brought ridicule from rivals and Alabama fans alike who don't believe he's deserving of a ranking that high.
The reality is that Staples is wrong. Just not in the way many think. Wommack is actually underrated and does not get enough credit for the job he did with a young Alabama defense last year. People just assume that because the name is "Alabama", Wommack was working with a full deck and failed to coach them to their potential.
That would be a convenient ignoring of reality, however. Alabama lost a lot of talented players from the 2023 defense to the draft, and then more to the Transfer Portal following Nick Saban's shocking retirement in January of 2024.
Alabama lost two starters on the DL, its top two edge rushers, and TEN (10!) defensive backs from the 2023 team going into 2024. I don't care how well you recruit; hemorrhaging that much talent from one position group is tough to overcome.
And yet, what looked like a massive weakness turned into a strength by season's end, and now looks like perhaps the best secondary in the country heading into 2025.
Kane Wommack had one bad game last season that people cannot let go of
The first thing brought up to disparage Wommack by Tide fans or just folks hoping to whistle by the imagined cemetery is the defensive performance against Vanderbilt. Diego Pavia and the Commodores had a field day, and Alabama lost to Vanderbilt for the first time in 40 years.
That performance certainly was not up to the standard, but it wasn't as bad as it looked, particularly in the second half. Alabama made good adjustments in the second half and held the 'Dores under three yards per rushing attempt.
Had Alabama escaped with the win in Nashville, that game would have ultimately been forgotten. And according to Bill Connelly, Alabama's post-game win expectancy was 98.2%. It was the most shocking result of the college football season, not just in name-value but because of the story the stats told.
Fans will also point out Alabama's struggles to stop the run against Oklahoma in Norman last November. The Sooners eclipsed 200 rushing yards, a rare feat against Tide defenses of old. But the reality of that game is that Alabama's defense played well enough to win. They only allowed 325 total yards, but a complete failure of execution by the offense made it an impossible feat. Alabama scored three points in that game, and some dared to criticize the defense.
In spite of those perceived struggles, Wommack's Alabama defense was a Top 10 unit in the country last year. Alabama finished 8th in stop rate, 9th in yards per play, and 10th in scoring defense. Alabama got better all year on that side of the ball, and the young players developed nicely.
And Wommack did that with only one player who was drafted in the first three rounds of the 2025 NFL Draft. That speaks to the talent, but also the youth that Wommack was working with in year one.
But the youth last season is now experienced depth this season. And Alabama has the potential to jump from a Top 10 unit to perhaps the best overall defense in the country this season. It's not too late to jump on the bandwagon now and avoid the "I told you so" coming later.