Leading up to Week 8 against 11th-ranked Tennessee, there was a whole lot of eye opening comments that came from Alabama coaches on Monday.
The Crimson Tide came away with a close 27-24 win against Missouri, but it could’ve been a game that Alabama should’ve pulled away from.
That said, a win is a win, and the only thing to do is to build from it.
Alabama’s coaches kick off every week with a Monday press conference, and we started off with offensive coordinator, Ryan Grubb.
On the Offense
Grubb was partially happy with what he saw, but he wanted to be careful.
One of the first questions that he was asked was if he and the offense “left money on the table” against Mizzou.
He paused, and then proceeded to say “I want to temper my response there.”
After thinking about it for a second, he followed up, “Yes, I think that’s an understatement. Most importantly, the guys know that. We got to film session on Monday and when we went through it, a good team like Missouri will present some problems for you…
“Then there’s plays that you feel really good about, that you practiced… and for a multitude of reasons, those didn’t happen the way we wanted to at times and that was frustrating.”
He then was asked about the right tackle position. If you remember from our ‘Takeaways’ piece from Saturday, you’d remember that one of the takeaways was regarding current starting tackle, Wilkin Formby.
Formby, a former five-star recruit has struggled for the most part since coming into college, but has played a tad better than before. However, freshman Michael Carroll has played his way into the rotation and it’s seeming likely that Carroll takes Formby’s spot.
In Grubb’s words: “He’s very close to being an every-down guy.”
On the Defense
Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack has had some growing pains since coming to an SEC school, but it looks like he’s starting to get his feet under him.
Wommack has been as accountable as it gets and he addressed that he’s responsible for the defense’s mistakes, but that the players are also accountable for what they show on tape.
Most notably, it was regarding senior cornerback Domani Jackson, who has had an incredibly rough few outings, and how freshman Dijon Lee has slowly begun taking more snaps from him.
“Domani has done great things here and played good football, but doing it at a consistent level, playing in and playing out, and doing your job is ultimately what we’re all measured by…”
He continued, “You are accountable for what you put on tape, you have to answer for those things. Myself as a coordinator, schematically, the way our guys play, effort, finish – I’m accountable for those things.
“Our players – doing their job when we put you in position to go make plays, you gotta do those things and at a consistent level. That’s what, not just Domani, but a number of players has to continue to improve if we want to get to where we want to go.”
From Coach DeBoer
We’ve mentioned it on RoundtableBama before, but Week 1 turned coach Kalen DeBoer into a new man.
You see it, I see it, and his players see it.
It’s a big game coming up this week. It’s the third Saturday of October, and anytime the Tennessee Volunteers come to town, it’s a different vibe around T-Town, especially now that there’s a win streak at stake.
For DeBoer, he prefers to just handle business like it’s just another game, and keep the intensity at a high.
“…there's a rivalry piece to this game, but there's also now just, there's a confidence that we've built through some things, but we also gotta go back to, how did this all start? This all started with us just really being intentional on the work that we're doing. We prefer to just shut up, show up and do the work.”
There’s that word again – intentional.
It’s the only way this program is going to succeed. Be intentional with your work, and the results will come.