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Alabama’s Tim Williams made a big announcement on Wednesday: He said he was coming back to Tuscaloosa for another season.
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When Williams says Bama can “win this thing again,” he isn’t merely being a braggadocious college student, though he certainly is that. Williams, after all, is one of the factors that differentiated this Alabama team from teams in previous seasons.
The logic here is relatively simple: Nick Saban and Kirby Smart typically favor attacking a quarterback with only its front three or front four on passing downs, trusting that they will provide enough pressure to fluster a passer who is throwing against seven or eight in coverage.
In recent seasons, the weakness of this approach has been apparent — quarterbacks like Johnny Manziel, Nick Marshall, Bo Wallace and Chad Kelly have all taken advantage of the extra time in the pocket to attack Alabama’s secondary. Even the best secondaries can’t cover college caliber receivers forever, and if Bama can’t pressure the passer, those DBs are bound to turn someone loose eventually.
Which is where Williams and company come in. The junior from Baton Rouge, along with teammates like Ryan Anderson and Rashaan Evans, played a major role in a renewed Tide pass rush for 2015 — Nick Saban’s charges went from tied for 41st overall in the nation in total sacks 2014, to first in 2015.
Williams was the leader of that unit, with 10.5 sacks for the season, and four additional QB hurries. He did all this in spite of relatively limited use — Alabama only employed him as a “situational” pass rusher for most of the season, and didn’t use him at all for the first three games.
The question for the 2016 offseason, then, is whether Williams can mold himself into an every-down football player. He and Ryan Anderson — also a big factor in the pass rush — will be expected to fill voids left by departing Denzel Devall, as well as Dillon Lee.
Bama fans should also get to know Evans, a rising junior from Auburn who had three tackles and two sacks in the national championship game.
Alabama can indeed “win this thing again” in 2016. It will definitely have the pieces. It’s up to Williams and company to make those pieces fall into place.
Will Heath is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football.
