Alabama pass rusher Will Anderson up to No. 2 on school sack list
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama linebacker Will Anderson Jr. has been one of the premier players in college football for almost two years now. Last year, the star pass rusher racked up 33.5 tackles for loss and 17.5 sacks en route to a fifth-place finish for the Heisman. Fast forward to 2022, and he’s still making game-changing plays on defense.
On Saturday night, Anderson added another 2.5 sacks to his season and career totals. For 2022, he’s now sitting at 4.5 sacks. Those, in addition to his 17.5 in 2021 and 7.0 in 2022, puts his total at 29 for his career. That combination moves him up to No. 2 on the school record, passing former Alabama defensive lineman Jonathan Allen (28.5).
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Derrick Thomas, who played linebacker for Alabama from 1985-88, still holds the record by a wide margin with 52. Does Anderson have a chance to break that number? Maybe if he were to come back for his senior year, but that doesn’t seem to be the expectation at this moment. Still, he can further cement his status at No. 2 with eight more regular season games, plus postseason play.
“Will’s a good player. You should be talking about him every week,” Saban said on Saturday when asked about the linebacker’s performance against Vanderbilt. “He makes a lot of plays. He makes sacks, plays hard, prepares well. He’s a great leader on the team. I can talk about him as long as you want to talk about him.
“The guy played that way last year. He plays that way this year. It’s important to him. He has passion for the game. He understands the game. He’s got power, he’s got speed, he’s got initial quickness. Turns speed to power in pass rush.
“A lot of people try to chip him, and we’re trying to move him around some so it’s harder for them to do that. Pete (Golding) has done a lot of things that have been helpful to our guys being able to get pressure up front, so we’re not just straight rushing and they can chip us all the time.”
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Some have felt that Anderson hasn’t been playing as well as he did last year.
As Saban pointed out, a lot of that actually has to do with the way opposing offenses have schemed to slow him and the rest of the Alabama pass rush down. Really, his play might be even more impressive considering he’s still averaging over a sack per game. Sure, he didn’t put forth his best performance against Texas, but that was mostly related to the mental errors and penalties.
Anderson is still considered one of — if not — the top draft-eligible players in the country. He’s one of the premier pass rushers in all of college football, but he’s also an effective, consistent run-stopper. There’s no reason to think that he won’t be a top-3 — maybe even No. 1 overall — pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
