Why Alabama is More Familiar With Missouri's Defensive Scheme

From 2021-23, Missouri defensive coordinator Corey Batoon held the same position at South Alabama under then-Jaguars head coach and current Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack.

9/3/24 MFB USF Practice week Alabama Football Assistant Coach (Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers) Kane Wommack Photo by Kent Gidley / Photo by Crimson Tide Photos / UA Athletics

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— The Missouri Tigers were among the most surprising football programs last season, as they had their best season since 2014, which culminated with the No. 8 spot in the AP Poll after a Cotton Bowl victory over Ohio State.

Between 2015-22, the Tigers compiled a 47-44 record and didn't win any bowl games (0-4) throughout that span. There were many reasons for Mizzou's massive turnaround, including the efforts of SEC Coach of the Year Eli Drinkwitz, the rapid rise of First Team All-SEC wide receiver Luther Burden III, six Tigers being selected in the NFL Draft and more factors.

The Tigers' stout defense was another reason for their extreme success last season, as then-defensive coordinator Blake Baker led the unit. However, Baker took the same position at LSU in early January.

Nevertheless, Mizzou's defense hasn't lost a step this season as its 15.6 points allowed per game ranks 10th in all of college football. This is partly due to the efforts of Tigers new defensive coordinator Corey Batoon, whose previous stint under the same position was with the South Alabama Jaguars.

That's right, Batoon shared the Jaguars' sideline with current Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack, who was South Alabama's head coach from 2021-23. Batoon was also there from 2021-23.

No. 15 Alabama will host No. 21 Missouri on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT on ABC. In a recent Alabama press conference, Wommack addressed the upcoming reunion, but he explained that this wasn't the only one between the two parties.

"Certainly a lot of familiar faces and I guess familiar schemes," Wommack said. "[Mizzou head coach] Eli Drinkwitz, we've known each other for a long time, both grew up in Northwest Arkansas. Defensive coordinator Corey Batoon was my defensive coordinator at South Alabama for the last three years. (He) worked for my dad for a number of years so obviously system, scheme-wise there's a lot of similarities."

Like Wommack, Batoon has often utilized a 4-2-5 defensive formation at Mizzou throughout the first half of the season, and based on the aforementioned points allowed, it seems to be working very well. Batoon's defensive style locked down opponents while at South Alabama as well, as the Jaguars finished 15th nationally in total defense (313.2 yards per game) and tied for 26th with 22 takeaways, a mark which would have led the Southeastern Conference in 2023.

"Our intent from the start of this search was to identify a leader for our death row defense who has proven success as a coordinator, and equally as important, is aligned with the philosophy of our defense," Drinkwitz said in a press release after Batoon was officially hired. "Corey has been a part of championship-level teams at every stop along his path. He's a veteran coach who's battle-tested, and has an ability to break things down and teach the game at a high level. I'm excited to see him bring those skills and experience to fit with our defensive approach."

Of course, Batoon isn't necessarily Wommack's problem ahead of Saturday's SEC showdown, as their defensive units obviously won't be on the field at the same time. That said, Alabama offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan will have the tough task of catching Batoon, who has been coaching the same amount of years as Sheridan's been alive (32), off guard.

“Certainly any type of crossover experiences or relationships that you have amongst staff you always have questions," Sheridan said in a recent press conference. "I would say what great coaches and coach Batoon is the same is you try to adjust what you do based on the personnel that you have. And so there’s always core fundamentals and principles that both Kane and coach Batoon share but each group is a little bit different, each year is a little bit different."

"I think the way that they play, I think the effort, the toughness, the physicality, the disruption of the football, I think those are the things that you see aside from maybe some similarities schematically because I think great coaches like the ones we’re going against this week, they just adjust to who they have and what their players do best," Sheridan said. "And so year to year that may look different. But I think the style of play and how they play, those are things that show up with coach Wommack and coach Batoon.”

In addition to Sheridan having to worry about Missouri's defense, the Crimson Tide offensive players have been preparing for it as well. On Tuesday, Alabama tight end CJ Dippre opened up about facing the familiar scheme and how his offensive teammates have used the experience to learn more during practice.

"It's definitely a lot of the same scheme," Dippre said. "They definitely do things a little bit different than what we do. We scribe on a little different areas than they do. I think they play more off, more bail, and we're a man team. In general, the same thing, different players. So just watching our guys, learning from them and asking them some questions. The safety position is a big one, so maybe asking Malachi [Moore] 'What are you guys doing here? What do you see in this formation?' They're probably being taught the same stuff, so just relate right back."

Dippre also said that playing against this scheme every day in practice long before this upcoming game has the preparation for it "definitely easier."

"When you get into the season you work against the scout team, so we've been doing that the last few weeks. But since January and all the way up to August we've been going against our defense—ones on ones and twos on twos—We've seen that defense for such a long time, we're going to be able to just relate back to it and understand what we first learned about it.

With just a few days before the Homecoming kickoff, Dippre briefly previewed the Tigers, as he's looking forward to getting Alabama back on track following a road loss to now-No.7 Tennessee.

"I think they have a good defensive front," Dippre said. "They have a defensive end that's pretty good. But we've played two really good defenses the past two weeks in South Carolina and Tennessee, so personally I'm not super worried about it. We just have to make sure we take care of business, know what we have to do and just really study film."