Everything Kane Wommack Said Rolling Into Alabama's Bye Week

The Alabama defensive coordinator spoke to the media on Monday.

Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack /

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Alabama football defensive coordinator Kane Wommack spoke to the media Monday afternoon after the Crimson Tide's 42-10 road victory at Wisconsin and heading into the bye week.

Here's everything Wommack had to say:

Full Transcript

Opening Statement:

"Looking back on last week, I thought we played a fairly complimentary style of football. One of the things I've been pleased with as a team is, when we create takeaways on defense, we're turning around and turning those into scores. I think that's really tremendous. That means we're taking advantage of the momentum that takeaways give you as a defense. I think our players are continuing to focus on creating takeaways as a defense. I thought we took a huge step forward this past week. It showed up in some way, we were able to create two forced fumble (turnovers) in the game. But we had what we call 13 takeaway opportunities, or takeaway attempts, where we got hands on the ball, whether it's a pass breakup, breaking on a potential interception that we just didn't come up with, or getting to the quarterback in the backfield and having an opportunity to create sacks and sack fumbles. We had four forced fumbles in the game, just the ball only bounced our way twice. Twice the ball went directly to one of their guys. We harp on those things during the week and it showed up on game day, that they are attempting to take the ball away from people, so I'm very proud of our guys in that regard. From a situational standpoint, on third down, the numbers look like we were dominant. I didn't think we were as dominant as we're capable of from a third-down standpoint. I think we gave too many yards to them that allowed them to feel like they were put into, from an analytics standpoint, what we call go-scenarios, where they were able to go for it on fourth down. They were able to convert three of four fourth-down attempts, and we had some mistakes from a fundamental standpoint, or from a schematic standpoint. We did not execute well enough on those fourth-down scenarios. We got one fourth down stop early, which was really good. But I thought we missed some opportunities as a third-down defense, and (that's) something we've got to work to improve on. We're certainly aggressive on the outside in coverage right now. I think our guys are doing a really good job. In the last two games, we've had over 100 snaps of man coverage, and on the outside in man coverage, our corners have only given up two catches for 24 yards. So really pleased by the consistency we're seeing from some of those young players on the outside. I think we've been fairly sticky in coverage. I think we're denying some of the easy-access throws, and at the same time, we've been able to limit some of the explosive plays downfield. Last week, we were able to create 12 (explosive plays) as an offense, and we gave up four overall, so we won the explosive play battle, and we won the turnover margin, certainly pleased with that. I still think there's some things we're not doing well enough in the run game right now. I think we've got to continue to work in cleaning up some of our fundamentals and techniques. I also think schematically, when we call some of our pressures, we have not executed those things well enough up front. So those are things we've got to continue to work (on) and preach. This bye week is really critical to get some of those things honed in, because we need to continue to move in a direction to where we can be a dominant run-stopping defense, and I do not think we are there yet as a team. Plenty of work to do, a lot of things to correct, a lot of young guys with experience they will learn from as we carry into SEC play and take advantage of this bye week."

On Bye Week Approach:

"I think each bye week can be self-serving in its own way depending on what your team needs. I think bye weeks early on in the season can be handled a little different than bye weeks later on in the season. For us, we still have a number of young players, we're still very early in the season, there's a lot of things fundamentally we have to get better at. There are things from a schematic standpoint that we've got to become more consistent with some of our blitz techniques and blitz patterns. We've got to become more consistent in those things, so we'll get a ton of reps off those things we want to do moving into SEC play. Unfortunately for us, we've probably shown a small volume of defense over the first three weeks here, and that's a good thing. We carried a lot more defense going into each of those three games, and once we realized we didn't have to show certain things, we chose not to do that. So we'll get a ton of great reps at some of those things schematically that we need to make sure we get extra reps as we move into SEC play as well. For us, you want to get a jump on your next opponent from a schematic standpoint. From a coaching standpoint we'll get some of those things prepared. But also, if there are things we're going to see in the next few weeks that we do not see in practice or we have not seen yet this season, we may use a walk through or a scout team period to probably get a jump on some of those things as well, based off the schematics we'll see from our opponents the next three to four weeks. There's a number of different layers to how you handle a bye week."

On showing Alabama players tape from the NFL and if he has any favorites:

"I don't know if I would say any one specific player. What we try to do is give examples of great execution. We are very much an NFL driven system. From a schematic standpoint if you look at the top really three coverages in the NFL in 2023 and you look at what we're doing primarily, those things match up. So there's a lot of us being able to say 'same as' Fred Warner from the 49ers  plays this zone coverage-- this is what it looks like, and this is how we do it."

"So we try to show those guys great examples of fundamentals or schematics, or what we call Bama fundamentals which or us is effort,  finish, hard shoulder tackling, violent hands and creating takeaways. So I will give them examples of Bama fundamentals through the NFL week in and week out, and we'll show them great examples of wherever we find it whether it be in college, or the NFL. Or if I need to pull out some of my old tapes, you know what I mean, just show them how it's really supposed to look. I can do that too. I haven't done that yet, though."

On how Que Robinson is making an impact in the pass rush:

"I mean that's, that's a stat right there (one sack every 10 pass rush attempts). To be able to create production for our defense and to be able to create some havoc, Que has really stepped up in some big moments in games. I think people that can take the ball away, from a defensive standpoint, if you look at anybody in major college football, you look at anybody in the NFL-- we had (Denver Broncos defensive coordinator) Vance Joseph come in and speak to to in our coaching clinic back in the springtime, and we brought him in and talked to him. They put such a premium and value within their organization on defensive players that can take the ball away. So for (Robinson) to be able to do that at the level that he's done over the first three games is certainly impressive. His level of commitment to this team, to his teammates, to working for the standard every single day, it's great to see people that do things at such a high level and meet the standard day in and day out at practice be rewarded on game day. So very proud of him."

On balancing how he calls games in the early part of the season and conserving some looks:

"There's a little bit of a challenge to that, right? You certainly want to make sure that you have everything prepared and the bullets that you're going to need in order to execute at a high level in the game. And yet, at the same time, you have to recognize that the season is long. You want to have wrinkles that you can that you can reveal at different points in the season. I think that's something that we've always done a good job of schematically over the years. My dad always did a really good job of that, of showing wrinkles that would based off of be it a game plan, or be it things that we just didn't want to show, the evolution of how we maneuver through a season defensively. And so for me, I think it's understanding what we need to do primarily to take things away from access throws."

"If teams are trying to get easy access perimeter throws and you give them those things all day long, that can be an extension of their run game. So you want to, essentially, find ways to establish stopping the run. Well, the run is also the RPO perimeter throw as well nowadays, so finding ways to do those things. And then what compliments can we give? Be it we want to protect our corners a little bit-- we don't want them to be in man coverage so we're going to play a little cover two, we're going to play a little cover three, we're going to do some things to mix those things up. And then you certainly have your situational change ups: third down, red zone, some things from a different perspective. But I can't say there's an exact science to it, there's a bit of an art to it. But it's conversations that we have series by series as a defense, based off of what we want to run and what we want to be able to show going into that next series of plays."

On LT Overton:

"I think when you go back and you watch the tape, it's impressive to see how dominant LT was in that game. He continues to show up. He's a tremendous on-body rusher as I talked about. First and second down transition pass rush, does a really great job in that regard-- very physical at the point of attack. There was a play where (Wisconsin) tried to run a power concept when they were kind of backed up in their territory. They ran power at him, and he really was dominating on two different blocks. He, at the point of attack off of a tight end, and then somebody coming back across to be able to kick him out. He kind of knocks that guy out too, and then makes the play in the backfield. So he just continues to show up from a level of physicality. He plays with a tremendous high motor, and he is very efficient and effective in terms of what we're schematically right now. So very pleased with LT and excited to see what he will continue to grow and produce in our defense."

On uptick in turnovers:

“I think good coaches get what they emphasize in practice. If you have your players’ ear, if you’re able to communicate in a way that they can grasp and latch on to what you’re saying, those things should show up in practice, and those practice habits show up on game day. And I think our players did a really tremendous job. It’s something that the players needed to understand that’s not acceptable to not create takeaways, to not get the ball out. That’s who we are as a defense. That’s what we preach. It’s one of our ’Bama fundamentals. It’s an identity of who we are as a Swarm D, so I thought they did a really tremendous job of taking ownership of that.

“One of the jobs as a coach is you cast vision for your players, but then your players have to accept some portion of that vision, and then you reinforce it day in and day out with relentless detail until they can actualize the vision for themselves. And what is happening on our team right now is your seeing some of our older leaders that are helping these younger players actualize the vision by holding them accountable to those details, and then it’s showing up in games. Very pleased with a step in the right direction in terms of attempting to take the ball off of people.”

On what it takes to get ready for the jump up to SEC … being mindful, being demure, being cutesy  

“I think for us, players have to continue to stay and work at their process. For us — I talked about this at the beginning of the season and in fall camp — our younger players who are going to come out — experience is finite, and there’s a number of players on a team who lack some of that experience because they just got here, they’re freshmen. So to take some of the experiences they’ve had from Western Kentucky or South Florida or Wisconsin and apply that to some of the things that they’re going to see in the SEC is certainly critical that they fix the mistakes of the past and that they sustain that correction throughout the season. Because whatever you put on tape teams are going to schematically and from a talent perspective find ways to match up personnel to be able to expose those things you put on tape."

“So we’ve got to a great job of being mindful of the things that we did not do well enough. As older players, as younger players, and then be very focused throughout this bye week and then each week make sure we continue to remind our players and show them the things that hurt us so they don’t hurt us again."

“That’s something I spend a lot of time during week of preparation on what we call self-scouting were we scout ourself, our own look, what hurt us, what did we get hit on. What are teams going to be able to see so that I can anticipate how I’m going to be attacked from one week opponent to another week opponent. That’s very indiffering [he meant differing] in the SEC from one week to another, but that’s part of what a coordinator does. You find find ways to anticipate based off of your self-scout and who they are as an offense to protect your players so they can execute at a high level. We certainly have to do that.”

On LT Overton’s fit in Alabama’s system and not providing an NFL comparison:

“The field defensive end is a very critical position for us. When you play a 3-4 nickel, 4-2-5 scheme, runs to the field, it’s important that you have somebody who’s a presence when they want to build a three-man service, meaning that they want to have a tight end blocking scheme to the side. Being able to really dominate those one-on-one matchups on the tight end to make it run in that C-gap area to the field as well."

“And then their ability to transition pass rush. You have to have guys that are physical enough in the run, but on first and second down, before we can get maybe another personnel or rush personnel group out there on the field, that can transition pass rush."

“That’s why I talk about LT being such a great on-body rusher. He does a really great job of transitioning from a run-fit to a pass responsibility. [He made an example with his hands]. I don’t know if you saw how I did that right there but doesn’t look as good as LT. Just to be able to transition pass rush and his ability to create havoc in the backfield on first and second down I think is really important for us as a defense structurally. But even when you look at teams in the NFL, it’s really the same matchup. And there’s fine line of playing the run-fit and then stopping the run on the way to the pass. I think we’re doing a really good job with both LT and Jah-Marien Latham from that field position.”