How Hard is it to Find the Best 11 Players on Defense?

There's a difference on a football field between finding the best 11 players on the field and finding the best group of 11 players on the field.

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Six of Alabama's defensive backs might be six of the best 11 players on the field, but logistically, it doesn't make sense for Alabama to play six defensive backs because it would hurt run fits. In addition to schematically, if Alabama suffers an injury, it would hurt the Crimson Tide not only in depth, but also in one of the best 11 players being injured.

So, how does Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack determine how Alabama puts its best 11 players on the field?

"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," Wommack said. "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."

You can watch Kane Wommack's full press conference here.

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.