Why Alabama's Final Preseason Scrimmage was 'Most Physical' Yet

The coaches and players described the intense nature of Saturday's scrimmage as the Crimson Tide gets closer to the season opener.

8/17/24 MFB Fall Camp scrimmage 2: Alabama Offensive Lineman Wilkin Formby (75) Alabama Offensive Lineman Jaeden Roberts (77) Alabama Offensive Lineman Parker Brailsford (72) / Alabama Athletics

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Kalen DeBoer called Saturday's preseason scrimmage "definitely the most physical" since he'd been at Alabama. Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack and defenders Tim Smith and DeVonta Smith backed up their coach's thought after Tuesday's practice.

"I definitely feel like it was the most physical scrimmage we had," DeVonta said. "Why? It’s because it was the point of emphasis leading up for the whole week was being physical, being physical. I don’t think us as a team or a defense specifically showed the physicality to our coaches. We knew we had it. We just had to go out there and prove it, which we did. So very proud of our defense for doing that.”

The team and defense responded to the coaches' challenge. Wommack said he saw another gear and level of intensity from the players that had been missing through the first four scrimmages in spring and early fall.

"I don't think you come to Alabama unless you're a true competitor, unless you want to be in one of those big moments, right?" Wommack said. "We talk about this all the time, I like guys that love to win and hate to lose. Or excuse me, love to work and hate to lose. Guys that love to go about the work, that are focused on doing the next right thing, always striving to be the best versions of themselves and don't mind putting in the work. But guys that hate to lose, as opposed to guys that just enjoy winning, do whatever it takes to get something fixed when adversity hits.

"Our offense has created tons of challenges for us and what we have to defend, so our guys have responded really well to that adversity. I didn't think in scrimmages, particularly early on in the springtime or in Fall Scrimmage 1, and really look at us last year we were the same way, we didn't start fast enough. I think our guys are really taking that challenge upon themselves."

The scrimmage was not open to the media, but Alabama posted highlight videos and some pictures on social media that showed some of the big hits in the game. DeVonta confirmed that he had a big hit on freshman wide receiver Rico Scott.

Iron sharpens Iron ⚔️😤#RollTide pic.twitter.com/jD6KNXL6N6

— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) August 17, 2024

Tim Smith has been with the program since 2020 under Nick Saban, so he couldn't definitively say it was the most intense scrimmage since he'd been at Alabama, but he confirmed that it was since DeBoer and Wommack got to Tuscaloosa.

"A lot of young guys out there laying the boom, actually reading their reads, going through their keys," Tim said. "So that was exciting for us to see. A lot of us feed off of that. The offense may feed off of that as, ‘I don’t want to get hit by these guys.’ And defense like, ‘Hey, we’ve got to go get us one. He got him one, so we’ve got to go get us a hard hit.’”

As the last week of camp winds down, and the team is now less than two weeks from the season opener against Western Kentucky, the intensity continues to ramp up for the Crimson Tide.

See also:

Alabama Football Fall Camp Practice Report: Practice 16