Kane Wommack Talks Young Pass Rushers

The injuries Alabama has suffered along the defensive front have forced the Crimson Tide to play younger players earlier than they may have expected.

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Tim Keenan III and Jeremiah Beaman's injuries forced London Simmons to play early and often for the Crimson Tide; James Smith's ejection on Saturday forced Edric Hill to play against Georgia, and the injuries to Jah-Marien Latham and Qua Russaw forced Yhonzae Pierre and Justin Hill to step up in a big way against the Bulldogs on Saturday.

When starters go down, it forces players who may not be at the same level into playing time. One of two things can happen at that point: The play on the field is diminished and the defense gets worse, or the opportunity to play helps the player elevate his game, and there is little to no drop off with the on-field production.

Alabama's defense saw good reps from Edric Hill, Yhonzae Pierre, and Justin Hill on Saturday. What did defensive coordinator Kane Wommack think of the young defenders getting meaningful snaps on the big stage?

"Well, I think, you know, I’m very proud of Pierre and Hill," Wommack said. "It’s a lot to ask for a true freshman to come in and compete, especially in a road SEC game. If you had been getting a lot of reps in practice, but certainly we did not anticipate him playing 23 or 24 snaps in the game, and he did a really good job there going in. He was very physical at the point of attack, made some huge block-destruction plays on their tight ends, who I think Georgia has a very good tight end corps. And so, I’m pleased with him, pleased with Pierre. I talked about him in the off-season. He just keeps getting better and better; his ability to affect the run game and generate some pass rush for us has shown up so far this season.

“But we’re going to have to be creative in the way we develop other people in certain packages to make sure we have enough depth. That’s certainly the name of the game, right? Having you each week handle your personnel to be able to create as much depth as you can for the next week opponent. Certainly, when you lose two experienced like we have, certainly that’s a challenge.”

Wommack also talked about Edric Hill, who had three tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and 0.5 sacks against Georgia.

"Edric played, he played physical and played hard in the game, which I think really has been a marker of all of our guys. We played timid and on our heels in Week one, and to this point, we have identified that and kind of rectified that a little bit in terms of the effort we are playing with. Particularly when you are an interior D-lineman, it’s natural, when the ball’s on the perimeter and thrown downfield, not to naturally burst to the ball. And I think Edric’s doing a great job of that, along with a bunch of our interior defensive linemen. You know, some of that youthful interior D-line is critical. It was an area of concern going into the season, right, that we had youthful players on the interior that were going to have to step up for us. But then, all of a sudden, you lose Tim Keenan. And Jeremiah Beaman goes down, which makes for a very difficult situation. And I think the guys have done a really great job of straining in the week of practice to prepare themselves to give an opportunity on game day. And I think Edric played well the other night."

Alabama takes on Vanderbilt on Saturday, October 4, at 2:30 p.m. CT.

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_.