Alabama DC Kevin Steele Focused on the 'Little Things,' Forcing Turnovers

Steele is back with the Crimson Tide after two different stints from 2007-08 and 2013-14.

Austin Hannon | Aug 4, 2023

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Alabama Crimson Tide

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama football is known for its defense.

The Crimson Tide allowed 52 points to Tennessee, 32 points to LSU and 27 points to an Auburn team that was not the definition of good on that side of the ball.

Head coach Nick Saban decided it was time to go back to the basics after former defensive coordinator Pete Golding left for Ole Miss — bringing in Kevin Steele to run the defense for the first time since 2008.

Steele has been all over the SEC. He played at Tennessee and coached the Volunteers on several occasions. He has coached at LSU, he has coached at Auburn — and of course he's also been with Saban at Alabama twice.

After one season at Miami, he's back in Tuscaloosa — and attempting to return the Crimson Tide's defense to a feared unit.

With him is new inside linebackers coach Robert Bala.

"They came in, two high-energy guys," linebacker Deontae Lawson said. "[Bala has] great energy, [he's a] great coach — he's very smart. Kevin Steele — everybody knows Kevin Steele. He's a great guy, hard-worker, good coach — he's just trying to make the little things right. [...] It's all about the little things."

"I think the biggest thing he's been instilling is knowing the fundamentals, knowing your job and just preaching about doing everything to the best of your ability — really getting back to what 'Bama' is all about," defensive lineman Justin Eboigbe said.

What are those little things?

"Penalties. Really, penalties is the main thing we've been focusing on," Lawson said. "Just making sure everybody is doing their job and no mental errors — that leads to points. [...] The way he coaches, the way he goes about the little things — you can just tell that it's going to be a tough defense. And we want to force turnovers."

Eboigbe said that the jump from Golding to Steele hasn't been too difficult because of Saban's involvement on the defensive end.

"It really hasn't been that big of a difference because the defense is going to stay the same," Eboigbe said. "Coach Saban is elite and he's always in those meetings, he's always the spearhead of things. Everybody has their different ideologies and stuff like that but the best thing is that Coach Steele has been here before. He's a guy that's been there, knows how Coach Saban likes things."

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