Report: Alabama hires Charlie Strong as defensive analyst

Charlie Strong is headed to Tuscaloosa as an Alabama defensive analyst, according to Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger. This will be Strong’s second stint with Crimson Tide, serving the same role in 2020.

Strong, a former Texas and Louisville head coach, has spent the previous two seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars as an assistant head coach before moving on to Miami as an assistant co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Miami this past season.

Overall, he’s coached college football in five different decades and returns to Alabama to help their defensive efforts during the Tide’s 2023 campaign.

Alabama will battle Strong’s former team, Texas during Week Two this upcoming season on Sept. 9 inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Will Anderson looks back on Alabama’s College Football Playoff hopes, reaction to being snubbed

When TCU and USC lost their respective conference championship games, the College Football Playoff was blown wide open. Somebody was going to have the opportunity to slide into the fourth and final spot despite not sporting a conference title. At the time, Alabama and Ohio State were the two main candidates.

Those in Tuscaloosa thought they would get the nod, especially Will Anderson. He said once TCU lost the Big 12 championship on Saturday morning, he and quarterback Bryce Young was ready to get to work. Then, the rankings came just over 24 hours later, seeing Alabama be the first team out.

“Honest to God, me and Bryce were texting back and forth, like ‘It’s our time, bro.’ We’re finna get the team together, have a meeting Sunday, get these guys going,” Anderson said. “Like, it’s our time. Then it came out and he was like, ‘… bro.’”

Two regular season losses ended up costing the Crimson Tide compared to Ohio State dropping just one. LSU and Tennessee were both able to get program-changing wins in the latter half of the season against Alabama.

Anderson did get to participate in two College Football Playoffs early in his career. He started off with a bang by winning the national championship as a true freshman. The following year was not as lucky, losing to Georgia when having the chance to go back-to-back.