Alabama Secondary to Face Toughest Test of Season in Tigers Receiving Corps

The Alabama defensive backs must come ready to play against two future NFL draft picks to help get the season back on track.

Sep 21, 2024; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers wide receiver Luther Burden III (3) catches a touchdown pass during overtime against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images / Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The No. 15 Alabama football team enters Saturday's contest against the Missouri Tigers looking for its first complete performance of the season as the Crimson Tide tries to salvage the season.

Alabama's offense has its hands full already, dealing with the nation's No. 7 ranked defense, putting the pressure on the Crimson Tide defense to play well to give the offense plenty of opportunities to find their footing. The defense took a positive step forward in the loss to Tennessee, forcing three turnovers, three sacks and holding Volunteer quarterback Nico Iamaleava to 51-percent completions.

The sacks and turnovers must continue this week as the defense faces one of the most talented receiving corps in the country in wide receivers Luther Burden and Theo Wease and Mookie Cooper and tight end Brett Norfleet.

Burden is expected to be one of the first few wide receivers taken in next spring's NFL draft and was a favorite for this season's Biletnikoff Award, given to college football's best wide receiver. He's hauled in 37 receptions for 447 yards and four touchdowns. He also helps in the running game with five carries for 90 yards and two more scores this year.

"If you look at Luther Burden, I think he's going to end up being a high draft pick, very good in the intermediate throw game," Alabama defensive backs coach Maurice Linguist said. "He runs your whips, your pivots, your option-routes. He has the speed on the GPS and on the film to take it over the top and create separation. He's a friendly target for the quarterback and they find ways to get him the ball and they find ways to get him his targets and touches. From a deployment standpoint, they do a good job of moving him around and putting him in all positions. He's at the field one, boundary one, he's at both slot positions, he's the move guy on jet-sweeps.

"So they do a good job, a very smart coaching staff, a very smart football player to be able to align in all those places and still be able to operate and function and they have enough right pieces around him where you start focusing on Luther too much, the other guys can go win as well. So, definitely a challenge. We know how dynamic and explosive they can be and how much they've shown on offense and we're going to get ourselves ready to go."

Burden's versatility makes him a bit of a Swiss Army Knife in the Missouri offense as he's the most reliable weapon the Tigers have. However, despite being the team's biggest playmaker and leading the offense in receptions, he's been outpaced by Wease in the yards department largely due to his utilization. The Tigers believe the star receiver is more valuable to them as an offensive gadget to keep the chains moving, instead of a traditional deep threat impacting the game sporadically on the outside.

The Missouri Tigers have one of the best WR corp in the country but haven't really had a lot of success going vertical this season.

With Brady Cook looking like he'll miss this week it'll be even more important for Alabama to tackle soundly & prevent small gains from going big pic.twitter.com/6EbOLA5ZrQ

— Joe Gaither (@JoeGaither6) October 24, 2024

Wease has hauled in 35 receptions for 463 yards and a touchdown this season. The former Oklahoma transfer was a former 5-star prospect who started all 13 games last season securing 49 catches for 682 yards and six scores. His skillsets make things think twice before double-teaming Burden as Wease is a future NFL receiver as well.

To complicate the pass coverage issue even further the Tigers deploy the 6-foot-6 Norfleet from his tight end role into pass patterns. The sophomore was named SEC All-Freshman last season after recording 18 receptions for 197 yards and three touchdowns in 12 games and has already nearly matched the production in seven this season with 13 receptions for 106 yards and one touchdown.

The Crimson Tide got good news on Wednesday as Linguist said he expects starting cornerback Zabien Brown to return to action for Saturday's game. Alabama was already down starting safety Keon Sabb, so getting Brown back gives the coaching staff more options when considering how best to deal with these receivers.

Another potential positive for Alabama was announced on Wednesday as Pete Thamel of ESPN reported that Missouri starting quarterback Brady Cook would be unlikely to play due to an ankle injury and while running back Nate Noel hasn't been a potent threat in the passing game, his reported absence will hurt the Tigers offense in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Sources: Missouri quarterback Brady Cook is considered doubtful for the game at Alabama this week with an ankle injury. He’s been “extremely limited” in practice so far this week. He still may try and ramp up later in the week to attempt to play, but the outlook is pessimistic. pic.twitter.com/tNZa3Wcmk2

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) October 23, 2024

The Tigers' goal will be the same whether Missouri turns to Cook or to backup quarterback Drew Pine to start on Saturday, get the ball to Burden, stay on schedule and don't turn the football over. Cook's only thrown one interception this season as the Tigers are tied for 28th nationally in turnover margin with a +4.

Despite Cook's experience with Burden, Wease and Norfleet the Tigers have struggled to connect consistently on deep passes this year, something the Crimson Tide has been susceptible to in 2024. However, Missouri has still scored on big plays, despite the few deep completions this season.

The Tigers had a touchdown reception of 63 yards against UMASS and hit a 78-yard pass last week against Auburn to tight end Joshua Manning and wide receiver Mookie Cooper respectively. Neither pass went far as Manning leaked into the flat and Cooper ran a 15-yard dig route, but both players broke tackles and outran defenders into the end zone.

Alabama's struggled this season with tackling in space, allowing Georgia's Dillion Bell to make a big catch and run late in Week 5 for a touchdown and multiple Vanderbilt runners gained extra yards due to poor tackling.

The Tigers could be playing right into Alabama's hands on Saturday with Missouri unlikely to play Cook and its trend of opting not to push the ball down the field. If Pine is under center the Tigers will likely to look to increase Burden's role even more, utilizing him on underneath routes to keep the chains moving.

The Alabama defense will have to step up if the Alabama offense is having a hard time moving the ball on the Tigers' defense in Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday. The defense needs to focus on its fundamentals in coverage, tackling the ball carriers in open space and identifying where Burden's lined up on every play. The Crimson Tide faithful will leave Tuscaloosa happy if the Bama defense can get back to the basics and accomplish those goals.