DT Williams emerges as face of Alabama defense
If anybody had doubts about Alabama’s defense not being quite up to previous Nick Saban’s standards, the Tide offered a 29-0 shutout of LSU into evidence last Saturday.
The Tide, replacing nine defensive starters and the defensive coordinator (new Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt) from last season’s national-championship winning team, has, as it always does, reloaded.
Much of that has to do with the emergence of redshirt sophomore Quinnen Williams. Despite facing LSU double-teams last week, Williams continued his dominating season with a team-high 10 tackles, including seven solo stops, 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.
Williams and the top-ranked Crimson Tide will have their hands full with visiting No. 18 Mississippi State on Saturday, as the Bulldogs feature senior dual-threat quarterback Nick Fitzgerald and a run game that is tied for 20th nationally at 230.8 yards per game.
With the shutout of LSU, Alabama moved to seventh nationally in scoring defense at 14.1 points per game.
Williams backed-up defensive Da’Ron Payne — the 13th pick in the draft last season — and could end up being an even higher selection if he decides to leave early after this season.
Williams last week ranked No. 5 last week on the Big Board of NFLDraftScout.com senior analyst Rob Rang.
He wrote after the LSU game: “(Williams) possesses an almost unfair combination of initial quickness, agility, power and even straight-line speed, as he showed multiple times Saturday night in pursuing passionately to the sideline and downfield, throttling LSU’s offense.”
Williams (6-4, 295) is one of 20 semifinalists for the Chuck Bednarik Award, given to the nation’s top defender. He is likely to make the cut to be a finalist, as he leads all Alabama linemen with 43 tackles, has a team-high 12 tackles for loss, including four sacks. He also ranks second on the team with nine quarterback hurries.
“I think Q is a great example of a guy that really has really good work ethic, really wants to be a good player,” Saban said Monday.
“He’s bright. He’s worked really hard to get bigger and stronger. He’s got really good quickness. His athleticism is good. But probably plays with as much intelligence as anyone that we have on our defensive team in terms of understanding how people are trying to block him.”
