Nick Saban discusses three starting linebackers in mind for 2022 Alabama season
Despite the loss of starting linebacker Christian Harris to the NFL Draft, the Alabama Crimson Tide already has one of the meanest-looking units returning for 2022. Nick Saban shared the scoop on three outside linebackers he has in mind for the starting lineup in the fall after the spring game on Saturday.
The Alabama head coach name-dropped three linebackers as he discussed his defensive front-seven standouts.
“Chris Braswell has made a lot of an impact, I look at him, Dallas (Turner), Will (Anderson), all the starters at their positions,” Saban said.
Will Anderson comes into the 2022 season as the one defensive player that’s a clear Heisman candidate after finishing fifth in the voting in 2021.
Sophomore Chris Braswell is looking for a breakout season after getting into 12 games last year with 13 total tackles. Dallas Turner, a 2021 signee, already turned heads with his true freshman performance with 30 tackles.
The Alabama defense is in good hands under the leadership of Henry To’oTo’o who returns as the Tide’s top tackler from last season. The former Volunteer is the glue of the defense at the mike position.
The Crimson Tide starts the 2022 season with a home opener versus Utah State on Sept. 3. Alabama’s other non-conference opponents this season are Texas, ULM and Austin Peay.
Saban talks cornerbacks after spring game
On Saturday, Nick Saban revealed that the cornerbacks’ competition will continue into the fall. He discussed the open competition between LSU transfer Eli Ricks, Khyree Jackson and Kool-Aid McKinstry.
“Those guys are all competing, they’re learning and they are getting better,” the Crimson Tide frontman said .”I think all three corners are competing for starting positions. We just had to put somebody on second team today so they would get reps. So we didn’t just rotate them the whole time. And I wanted to see them play a lot, I thought they needed to play a lot and they are capable guys.”
Even though Ricks was considered one of the top corners in the country during his time at LSU before hitting the transfer portal, Saban still admitted there has been an adjustment period for him.
“The biggest thing for Eli is learning the system,” Saban said. “He’s like a guy that just got here. So for him to be able to learn the system, and sometimes it’s even more difficult for guys that have played in a system, alright, because they knew a system and now they have to sort of intercalate some of the things they were doing with some of the things we are doing. They might have been told something different, so you have to work through that learning curve with them. But, he’s a very conscious guy and works hard at it, he takes coaching well and wants to please.”
On3’s Sean Labar contributed to this report.