With Kalen DeBoer replacing the dearly missed Nick Saban. Hope retirement treats him well. Suppose this is Transvaalabama now? The Tide do wish to control trade routes between the SEC via Atlanta.
Anyway, what a wild summer and important season this is. After losing countless large names like Caleb Downs. Recently extended and fellow former ex-Huskie GM Courtney Morgan and DeBoer have put together a pretty heavy #2 class for Alabama in 2025, locking down a number of key recruits, most notably Keon Russell who they were high on early and is poised to be a pretty big star in T-Town from 2026-27. This comes after lots of initial mocking that DeBoer couldn't recruit the South. If you come at the king, you best not miss. I thought they'd dip to around 10 by various services like 247, Rivals, On3. Far exceeded expectations there already if that's anything like the norm.
They notably play a 4-3 now with Kane Wommack's swarm defense. It's quite a bit different than Saban's 3-5-3 with LIZ/RIP, 77 BUZZ/cut varients, pattern match, etc. all without direct presnap shading. Simpler, most notably but I think that's an upside for the players, as they seemed especially locked in and just more aware of where they should be.
On the other side of the ball (not counting ST, where they picked up the Lou Groza winner!) quite a bit more of a wide offense. Expect also a lot more short passes: Penix his old QB from Washington, had 266 attempts of 0-5 yards, to Milroe's 119 in 2023. Furthermore, we (as observers) saw this a lot in goalline sets: Penix had seven TD passes within that range last season to Milroe's one.
One thing I'm looking for: Winning physically at the the line with offense. And not just with speed. Bunch sets see a ton of TE/slot close alignments, leading to a fair share of crossers that break zone through picks. The condensed sets are neat, because the point is to get the offensive formation tighter, hence the name. Eventually, your opposing defense box is smaller (by width, an important distinction) that you can start to play wide...and that's their game. Think of them like little sliders that eventually lead into jaw unhinging big burgers.
Mesh is great though. One of my favorites. From what I recall, they'll be doing a lot in 12. They did it 38.5% of the time in 2023, Washington 17%. Think it's closer to the former number simply because of what's here currently. We might see that decrease in the coming years--think that's less the case in 2024 specifically. So let's talk about 12 mesh specifically. In ace (2x2), even the RB is unknown--he can stay behind in pro OR get into the flat for a checkdown. X runs typically a shallow crosser over the middle. The Tua to Smitty, circa 2017-19. Z runs a crosser too but right to left, with the Y TE running Z's flip, with their shallow intersection forming the rub. H TE runs your mids like a curl or out if Y TE/Z WR are covered. The thought is you run this because it's going to be away from the existing MOF (middle of field) focus those two players have.
In a condensed 12, X typically runs deeper than normal--this gives you space underneath him. Y TE/Z WR create the natural rub again, and don't really change. H is there once again to uncover a soft spot in the aforementioned MOF zone. The deep stuff matters here. Milroe had 67 attempts of 15+ yards downfield last season to Penix's 117. PA is back on the menu as it was not during BOB's era--sorry BC fans reading this. Start there and find the one on one you like.
This little WR screen is great design too, and teacher core fundamentals. FOLLOW YOUR LEAD BLOCKERS. I say this every week in season in front of my TV. It's really cool design to fake the run. then you hit the guy in motion following his lead blockers to pile up some easy YAC. As you can see, this even works on big fronts like Oregon is in here, in bear.
In terms of RPO sets, think that gets to be a bit more modern. It was on display in a soft way against Western Kentucky, but I want to describe what I understand his pin-pull philosophy is here: First off, it's more of a wide gap scheme like a Shanahan for SF. Consider the heavy mesh concepts too from passing.
I think this warrants further points when your QB is wont to take off like Milroe. Pin and pull is an outside zone variant, always been a personal favorite. While it's the same point of attack for a back, the difference is the down blocks for OL for better angles--as opposed to reach, run for outside zone. And from there, in isolation, you can't say how that goes. Pin pull is based specifically on opposing formation defensively. If he were to have our offense succeed against our defense, or just a 4 down linemen set (so Texas A&M, for example)...on the run side, the OL and TE, in-line, block towards the defender's center, relative to the defense's inside shade, using tells to your edge in blocking, beyond following leads like Alabama has used frequently over the past few years.A lot of times, the design is a pull towards one side of the carrier, and then the pin the flip defender to the inside. Hence the name. Now I mentioned Milroe...a lot of times teams will bite on that. Doing that can delay run stoppers in back and front (side depending of rush) pursuit. Ideally, Milroe follows the pull with before but he'll get a bigger gap, and you'll see a crease created simply because your passer requires that type of additional attention. It's simple math at the core: Where one guy would be, but is somewhere else, he's not going to be at the original point.
Receiving wise Kendrick Law is a name to watch, #1 at X, Law hit 23.6 MPH in workouts. Benches 450. No biggie. Although Law has got Ryan Williams behind him. Williams is the gem of the 2024 class, 17 years old. 2 catches against WKU last week. 2 tuddies. Made some NIL merch bank with a money quote: 2 (his number) + 4 (Milroe's) = 6. BANG. The second one was an impossible tackle breaker that truly felt like the Alabama equal to the DID YOU SEE THAT CATCH COCO CRISP MADE?. Had to link it below. Bernard, #5, the Washington transfer who followed KDB down South is solid at Z, and the hope is that he's one of DeBoer's gems like Odunze, Polk, etc.
I am not at all convinced the Tide know their offensive playbook terribly well right now which is understandable because this is a new coach who runs a varient different philosophy of what I think is more along the lines of old vs. new money. What was shown exemplifies this. Of the 22 types of plays the offense played, 20 of the overall 65 snaps were inside zone reads. From there, no pass concept was called more than 5x: Rub routes (5), floods (3), and four/all verts (3).
South Florida awaits Saturday. This can't be much worse than last time where they basically were sleeping through the game since Milroe got benched. It is where LANK came from though: Let a Naysayer Know, the team's rallying cry internally. Should be another pummeling after the 63-0 win to begin the year.
This is somewhat of a release thread for me but like...I love answering questions about my boys. Ask me anything seriously. This to me is the peak of the fall into winter. When it's not baseball, it's football. Saturdays are a special place to me as much with a lot of fun. I always make a themed meal around where the opponent plays to devour their soul beforehand. If Alabama can make it to the National Championship, I have an in with tickets to be there in January.
Anyway, what a wild summer and important season this is. After losing countless large names like Caleb Downs. Recently extended and fellow former ex-Huskie GM Courtney Morgan and DeBoer have put together a pretty heavy #2 class for Alabama in 2025, locking down a number of key recruits, most notably Keon Russell who they were high on early and is poised to be a pretty big star in T-Town from 2026-27. This comes after lots of initial mocking that DeBoer couldn't recruit the South. If you come at the king, you best not miss. I thought they'd dip to around 10 by various services like 247, Rivals, On3. Far exceeded expectations there already if that's anything like the norm.
They notably play a 4-3 now with Kane Wommack's swarm defense. It's quite a bit different than Saban's 3-5-3 with LIZ/RIP, 77 BUZZ/cut varients, pattern match, etc. all without direct presnap shading. Simpler, most notably but I think that's an upside for the players, as they seemed especially locked in and just more aware of where they should be.
On the other side of the ball (not counting ST, where they picked up the Lou Groza winner!) quite a bit more of a wide offense. Expect also a lot more short passes: Penix his old QB from Washington, had 266 attempts of 0-5 yards, to Milroe's 119 in 2023. Furthermore, we (as observers) saw this a lot in goalline sets: Penix had seven TD passes within that range last season to Milroe's one.
One thing I'm looking for: Winning physically at the the line with offense. And not just with speed. Bunch sets see a ton of TE/slot close alignments, leading to a fair share of crossers that break zone through picks. The condensed sets are neat, because the point is to get the offensive formation tighter, hence the name. Eventually, your opposing defense box is smaller (by width, an important distinction) that you can start to play wide...and that's their game. Think of them like little sliders that eventually lead into jaw unhinging big burgers.
Mesh is great though. One of my favorites. From what I recall, they'll be doing a lot in 12. They did it 38.5% of the time in 2023, Washington 17%. Think it's closer to the former number simply because of what's here currently. We might see that decrease in the coming years--think that's less the case in 2024 specifically. So let's talk about 12 mesh specifically. In ace (2x2), even the RB is unknown--he can stay behind in pro OR get into the flat for a checkdown. X runs typically a shallow crosser over the middle. The Tua to Smitty, circa 2017-19. Z runs a crosser too but right to left, with the Y TE running Z's flip, with their shallow intersection forming the rub. H TE runs your mids like a curl or out if Y TE/Z WR are covered. The thought is you run this because it's going to be away from the existing MOF (middle of field) focus those two players have.
In a condensed 12, X typically runs deeper than normal--this gives you space underneath him. Y TE/Z WR create the natural rub again, and don't really change. H is there once again to uncover a soft spot in the aforementioned MOF zone. The deep stuff matters here. Milroe had 67 attempts of 15+ yards downfield last season to Penix's 117. PA is back on the menu as it was not during BOB's era--sorry BC fans reading this. Start there and find the one on one you like.
This little WR screen is great design too, and teacher core fundamentals. FOLLOW YOUR LEAD BLOCKERS. I say this every week in season in front of my TV. It's really cool design to fake the run. then you hit the guy in motion following his lead blockers to pile up some easy YAC. As you can see, this even works on big fronts like Oregon is in here, in bear.
In terms of RPO sets, think that gets to be a bit more modern. It was on display in a soft way against Western Kentucky, but I want to describe what I understand his pin-pull philosophy is here: First off, it's more of a wide gap scheme like a Shanahan for SF. Consider the heavy mesh concepts too from passing.
I think this warrants further points when your QB is wont to take off like Milroe. Pin and pull is an outside zone variant, always been a personal favorite. While it's the same point of attack for a back, the difference is the down blocks for OL for better angles--as opposed to reach, run for outside zone. And from there, in isolation, you can't say how that goes. Pin pull is based specifically on opposing formation defensively. If he were to have our offense succeed against our defense, or just a 4 down linemen set (so Texas A&M, for example)...on the run side, the OL and TE, in-line, block towards the defender's center, relative to the defense's inside shade, using tells to your edge in blocking, beyond following leads like Alabama has used frequently over the past few years.A lot of times, the design is a pull towards one side of the carrier, and then the pin the flip defender to the inside. Hence the name. Now I mentioned Milroe...a lot of times teams will bite on that. Doing that can delay run stoppers in back and front (side depending of rush) pursuit. Ideally, Milroe follows the pull with before but he'll get a bigger gap, and you'll see a crease created simply because your passer requires that type of additional attention. It's simple math at the core: Where one guy would be, but is somewhere else, he's not going to be at the original point.
Receiving wise Kendrick Law is a name to watch, #1 at X, Law hit 23.6 MPH in workouts. Benches 450. No biggie. Although Law has got Ryan Williams behind him. Williams is the gem of the 2024 class, 17 years old. 2 catches against WKU last week. 2 tuddies. Made some NIL merch bank with a money quote: 2 (his number) + 4 (Milroe's) = 6. BANG. The second one was an impossible tackle breaker that truly felt like the Alabama equal to the DID YOU SEE THAT CATCH COCO CRISP MADE?. Had to link it below. Bernard, #5, the Washington transfer who followed KDB down South is solid at Z, and the hope is that he's one of DeBoer's gems like Odunze, Polk, etc.
I am not at all convinced the Tide know their offensive playbook terribly well right now which is understandable because this is a new coach who runs a varient different philosophy of what I think is more along the lines of old vs. new money. What was shown exemplifies this. Of the 22 types of plays the offense played, 20 of the overall 65 snaps were inside zone reads. From there, no pass concept was called more than 5x: Rub routes (5), floods (3), and four/all verts (3).
South Florida awaits Saturday. This can't be much worse than last time where they basically were sleeping through the game since Milroe got benched. It is where LANK came from though: Let a Naysayer Know, the team's rallying cry internally. Should be another pummeling after the 63-0 win to begin the year.
This is somewhat of a release thread for me but like...I love answering questions about my boys. Ask me anything seriously. This to me is the peak of the fall into winter. When it's not baseball, it's football. Saturdays are a special place to me as much with a lot of fun. I always make a themed meal around where the opponent plays to devour their soul beforehand. If Alabama can make it to the National Championship, I have an in with tickets to be there in January.
