Everything Kane Wommack said after Alabama's 17th preseason practice

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama held its 17th preseason practice on Wednesday morning, and after the August 20 workout, defensive coordinator Kane Wommack spoke to reporters inside the Hank Crisp Indoor Practice Facility. Below is everything Wommack said after Practice 17.

Wommack on Dijon Lee…

“I think Dijon’s had a fantastic camp. Obviously, Domani’s been kind of coming back from offseason where he didn’t go through spring, he was very limited in the summertime. We just tried to kinda get him back the right way and then put him on a pitch count a little bit through fall camp. But he’s handled it well. He’s done a nice job, but it’s allowed Dijon in the spring, summer and fall camp, to get tons of reps and reps with the ones.

“To me, with two very experienced corners that we have on this roster, we feel like Dijon can go right in. Credit to him and the way that he’s playing right now. I see him as a starter in our defense. So, really impressive. That’s two years in a row, right, we’ve had a young freshman that Mo Linguist has done a tremendous job of developing that guy into being a starter-level player for us. Excited for Dijon and what that does for our defense.”

Wommack on Zabien Brown getting reps at Husky…

“I think there’s times, right, there’s a time and a place to get your best cover people on the field. So, certainly, I don’t know from a practice standpoint what you saw, whether we were just kinda working a guy or not, but we try to get certain coverage aspects and all those things, things that we’re gonna try to explore as best we can. I don’t know how soon we’ll get to them in the season, you know what I mean, but certainly that’s something that we want to be mindful of if we’re ready to do that.”

Wommack on Jeremiah Beaman’s trajectory…

“Beaman has done, you know, you talk about where Beaman was from where he was as a freshman at the beginning of last year, to the role that he played in the bowl game, I thought he took huge strides in the spring, and he’s done a great job in fall camp. Consistent, doing his job at a high level, the challenge of those interior D-linemen is always creating production, wreaking havoc in the backfield, and I think he’s taken steps in the right direction to do that.”

Wommack on Cam Calhoun’s role…

“Cam’s done a really nice job. He’d been doing both things for us, both at the nickel position and the corner position. Did a nice job of working those things and handling those things. You go back and you look, okay, what’s the best option to get the best two-deep across the board. How do we get the best players on the field. Cam’s certainly gonna be a part of that equation, probably in multiple areas. So, really proud of him and the work that he’s done in a year’s time to be able to contribute.”

Wommack on James Smith’s status…

“James is doing a really nice job. Was dinged up there for a couple of days and has come back nicely, has kinda hit all of the markers he needed to hit. We got him back out on the field the other day, and he looked fresh. Fresh legs, and he’s such a havoc-style player. He can create and generate a lot of havoc in the backfield, which is something I’m excited about and how we’re gonna utilize him in that role.”

Wommack on preparing for a Florida State OL with four transfer starters…

“Well, I mean, there’s give and take to that, right? There’s things that we gotta figure out. There’s things that they gotta figure out. And so that’s ultimately, you kind of go back and you look at these guys, what they’ve done in the past. You try to mold that with what Gus has done, with what Mike has done in the past at Florida State. And so you’re kind of trying to anticipate a little bit of everything that they do.

“And knowing that ultimately, you’re gonna see something that you didn’t work in practice. And so certainly we’ll carry a relatively heavy game plan, right, to be able to, if they wanna go this way or that way, we’ll be ready for it. But at the end of the day, right, you get 11 bodies on the field and you get ready to adjust. To me, that’s the job of a defensive coordinator and defensive staff, is to find ways to adjust as the game goes. And that’s something that we’ve always taken great pride in, our ability to do that at a high level defensively.”

Wommack on how close to form is Deontae Lawson…

“I think that’s a great assessment because, to me, he looks a little bit more like the 2023 Deontae Lawson from a weight standpoint. I don’t know if he got too heavy last season, necessarily. He carried a lot of bulk on and moved really well. But obviously, from an injury standpoint, he had to come back from that. And his body is just in a position to where he’s moving really fast. He looks good, he’s playing with great anticipation. His level of leadership is taken to another level. I mean, he’s playing his best football right now, which is pretty impressive to say nine, eight, nine months coming off of a leg injury. So really impressed with him, proud of him.”

Wommack on what Keon Keeley can be for this defense…

“Keon is obviously just a frame, right, that is athletic and can move around. He’s gotta become more and more consistent in the things that he’s doing. He’s taken some strides, but there’s a little bit of back and forth on some of those things as well in fall camp. And so as we push these guys, he’s gotta show a little bit more consistency to continue to move up the depth chart. But the skill level is there, the want-to is there. It’s just gonna be about continuing to kind of take that next step.”

Wommack on what it takes for a freshman to earn his trust and start Week 1…

“Wt doesn’t happen very often. And I come from a background of, my dad coached Pat Surtain Sr. And Pat was one of the only freshmen back in the day — this was the mid 90s, right — that he started as a true freshman. That didn’t happen 25 years ago. You didn’t have that. Guys played. They redshirted. That was pretty much a non-negotiable. Then they played on special teams their redshirt freshman year. And by the redshirt sophomore year, they were ready to contribute.

“And so, the standard and expectation hasn’t changed, just the level of play for a freshman to get on the field has. And when you get guys like Zabien Brown or Dijon Lee, it’s impressive to me the level of discipline and commitment through their upbringing, to whenever they started playing sports — my guess is probably five, six years old — to the level of urgency and detail that those guys carry.

“What’s so impressive to me with those guys is when they make a mistake, they can fix it. They sustain the correction, meaning that they can hold that same correction throughout a long period of time and not get hit on it in Practice 6, 7, 10, 12, 13. And so that to me, guys that are consistent, guys that can make plays, they’re the ones that are gonna play. And if they happen to be a freshman, that’s awesome.”

Wommack on the benefit of fifth-, sixth-year players…

“Well, I mean, one, there’s a level of just experience you have in the game of football, right? You line up to a formation regardless of what defense is called, and you play with anticipation. And we take a lot of energy and effort to get these guys to play with great offensive recognition. Defense is inherently reactionary; we want them to play with anticipation. And so older guys naturally just have more experience, they have more knowledge, they have more understanding of the game. And on top of it, right, they’re in year two of this defense, right? 

“So structurally, they know what the concepts are and how the concepts are applied to the situation. And then when they can play with offensive recognition, now they’re making plays on the ball. (Jah-Marien Latham) can do a lot of things for us; he can play multiple positions for us. In fact, we’ve got him playing, gosh, I mean, three, four positions on the defense, which is really impressive. (DaShawn Jones) can do multiple things for us as well. He’s done a great job at the Husky position and all the different variations that we ask those guys to do. But certainly experience is, it’s finite, it’s at a premium, you know what I mean? Everybody wants it, and certainly those guys bring that to the table for us.”

Wommack on Kelby Collins…

“Yeah, Kelby’s doing a nice job just continuing to work and put himself in position. He’s another one that just from a consistency piece, he’s gotta continue to raise the standard day in and day out of his level of consistent execution. But he’s trying, he’s working, and I think he’s in position, you know what I mean, to kind of fight and battle there.”

Wommack on balancing best players/best group on the field…

“I think that’s a great question. Like, that’s the thing I ask myself all the time, because on one end, you wanna have, you wanna create as much depth as you can, and you also wanna get the right people on the field at the right time. And so whether it be situationally, getting the right personnel on the field, being mindful of how the offense operates, are they gonna go tempo, are they gonna allow you to sub and get the right people on the field? So maybe you gotta be able to do that in a more creative way on first and second down, but ultimately, I think the job is to get the best 11 people on the field, but not at the expense of losing depth across the board, right? 

“This is a long season, right? I think Ohio State won the national championship. They played 17 games, I believe, right? That’s an NFL season. That’s an unprecedented amount of games that a college team has to play. And so those are things that we have to be able to get geared up for. So get the best people on the field when it matters most, situational football, but also create enough depth for us to be able to last and play our best ball when it matters most at the end of the season.”

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