The new Alabama Football defense should learn quickly from three offense-centric teams

To say Kane Wommack's new Alabama Football defense will see plenty of offensive variety early is an understatement. Western Kentucky and South Florida are offense-centric teams. Wisconsin with Air Raid disciple, Phil Longo, in his second season, also likes to play fast.

Last season Western Kentucky was No. 15 among FBS teams in Passing Yards at 296.4 yards per game. For the same stat, South Florida was No. 32 at 268.8 yards. The Badgers were No. 71 at 220.2 yards. In Overall Scoring Offense, Wisconsin was No. 92 at a meager 23.5 points per game. Wisconsin was not effective enough on offense last season for playing fast to be anything but self-defeating. Longo seeks balanced efficiency in his Air Raid schemes and does not ignore running the ball. Last season the pass-run mix for the Badgers was close to equal.

At Western Kentucky, Tyson Helton is going into his sixth head coaching season, all with the Hilltoppers. Helton was at Western Kentucky in the 2014 and 2015 seasons as OC/QB coach. He left to join his brother at USC as the Trojans Passing Game Coordinator and QB coach. Helton spent one season at Tennessee as OC/QB coach, before getting his first head coaching gig with the Hilltoppers.

Helton describes his offensive philosophy as a mixture of tempo-based Air Raid and West Coast. Helton credits Lincoln Riley for awareness the best offenses are multiple and should include an effective rushing attack.

At South Florida, Alex Golesh is no run-of-the-mill tempo guy. His offensive style has been described as 'Go-Go-Go' as in uber-fast. Golesh successfully ran Tennessee's offenses in the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The going fast idea has always been pretty simple. Golesh describes it as, "If you go fast offensively, the defense might be unprepared or confused. It could lead to fatigue, mistakes, blown assignments or mismatches." In week two of the season, Golesh and USF will try to do just that to the Alabama Crimson Tide secondary.

How will the Alabama Football Secondary hold up?

Against the Hilltoppers and the Bulls, and to an extent, against the Badgers, the new Crimson Tide secondary will face a trial. It will be one that some of the Tide's defensive backs have never encountered before. Some missed assignments can be expected; maybe even breakdowns that yield explosive touchdowns. Such miscues will not determine the outcomes of the three games. The Crimson Tide will win and importantly the Alabama defense will gain valuable experience.

Note: Team data provided by cfbstats.com