Tag: Malachi Moore

Taking an early look at the top 15 CB prospects in the 2023 NFL Draft class

After the Eagles passed on adding defensive backs to the roster last weekend, we’re taking an early look at the top 15 CB prospects in the 2023 NFL Draft class

The 2022 NFL draft came and went with the Eagles passing on a cornerback and safety in all seven rounds, choosing to address the position via undrafted free agency.

Cornerback was deemed an urgent position of need with no established starter at the position opposite Pro Bowl corner Darius Slay.

It’s the third time in four years that Philadelphia has bypassed selecting a cornerback in the draft. It’s the fifth time in six years they haven’t selected a safety.

The Eagles really like the young cornerback already on the roster and add former Clemson All American cornerback Mario Goodrich via undrafted free agency as well.

If 2022 doesn’t produce a starter opposite Slay, the 2023 NFL draft offers an opportunity to find a successor and starter at both spots.

Here are the top 15 cover guys to watch heading into the next college football season.

5 defensive players Alabama fans need to watch during A-Day

5 defensive players Alabama fans need to watch during A-Day

Alabama’s annual A-Day game is set to kick off on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. CT inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.

There is plenty of talent both young and old to be excited about if you are a ‘Bama fan, and it will also be our first opportunity of the spring to see this year’s version of the Tide.

In his Thursday press conference leading up to A-Day, head coach Nick Saban said the format for the scrimmage would be the first-team offense against the first-team defense and the second-team offense against the second-team defense. With this format, fans will get to experience a more game-like scenario with good on good.

Leading up to the start of A-Day, I wanted to sit down and give fans a handful of players from each side of the ball that I believe could make an impact during the scrimmage. I want fans to keep in mind that these are players that fans have not seen make a tremendous impact yet for the Crimson Tide, but could on Saturday and during the 2022 season.

Yesterday we looked at the offensive players, today we will look at the defensive side of the ball.

Five defensive players for Alabama with something to prove in 2022

These 5 defenders have something to prove in the 2022 college football season.

The Alabama football team has completed a handful of practices so far this spring and fans are looking forward to the climax of spring training on April 16 when the Tide will host its annual “A-Day”.

With each new season, a new cast of characters will be thrust into the spotlight to try and help the Crimson Tide ascend to glory. Sometimes players can come right in and make an instant impact, but for others it takes time.

Over the next few days, we are going to look at a handful of players from each side of the ball that have something to prove in the 2022 season. Today we will look at the defensive side of the ball.

Let’s roll.

5 players to watch following Alabama’s BYE week

5 players to watch when Alabama returns from the BYE week

No. 3 Alabama is currently in the middle of its BYE week and most fans are still hungry for news on the Crimson Tide.

I thought we could take a few moments to look at a handful of players that fans should keep their eye on when Alabama returns to the action on November 6 against LSU.

Let’s take a look, shall we?

Alabama’s defensive stats heading into the BYE week

Here is a closer look at Alabama’s defensive stats as the Tide heads into the BYE week.

Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide currently sit ranked at No. 3 with a 7-1 overall record and a 4-1 record in the SEC.

Now that the Tide has entered into its BYE week, I thought it was a good time to take a closer look at some of the team and individual stats on both sides of the football.

Today we look at the defensive side of the football!

First …team stats…

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3 impact players in the Alabama vs. Mississippi State matchup

3 impact players for Alabama’s matchup with the Mississippi State Bulldogs!

The college football world will be watching the fifth-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide tonight to see if they can respond to last week’s tough loss.

The Tide is headed to Starkville to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs in an SEC matchup.

Before kickoff, I wanted to take a look at three players for the Tide who I believe could have the biggest impact in this particular contest.

Shall we get started?

First … an underperforming WR

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Grading Alabama’s defensive position groups at the halfway point

Let’s look at how the Alabama defensive position units have graded out at the halfway point of the season!

Unfortunately, we are already at the halfway point of the college football season. After last week’s loss to Texas A&M, Alabama sits at No. 5 in the country with a 5-1 record.

Since we have made it to the halfway point, it is time to give a midseason grade to each of the position groups. Yesterday we looked at the offensive position groups. Today we will look at the defensive position groups! Let’s get started!

Defensive Line B-

This group has been a little disappointing this season, but they have not been bad by any stretch of the imagination. Only one guy has been a consistent force on the defensive line for Alabama and that is Phidarian Mathis.

Mathis has racked up 3.5 sacks through the halfway point, which is a very solid number for an interior defensive lineman.

Some of the players such as Justin Eboigbe, DJ Dale, Byron Young, and even Tim Smith need to become more consistent players for the Tide.

Outside Linebackers A

Will Anderson has been an absolute animal for the Alabama defense. Anderon has three sacks on the season but is also third in the country in tackles for loss with 11.

Unfortunately, injuries have plagued the outside linebacker position opposite of Anderson. Christopher Allen’s season was cut short in the opener against Miami so Drew Sanders replaced the talented Allen. Then against Ole Miss, Sanders suffered a hand injury and is now week-to-week so to speak.

True freshman Dallas Turner has stepped up in the absence of Sanders and is doing a pretty good job.

The outside linebackers have been the most positive group along the defense this season.

Inside Linebackers C+

The lofty expectations for the Alabama defense heading into the 2021 season had a lot to do with the pair of inside linebackers that Alabama would have in Christian Harris and Henry To’oT’o.

Now that we are at the halfway point, it is safe to say those two players have not lived up to expectations. Now don’t get me wrong, they have flashed how great they can, but they both have also missed tackles and missed assignments. And they are both better than what they played so far.

Let’s see if they can turn this around in the second half of the season.

Cornerbacks B+

This group, much like the outside linebacker group, has really played pretty consistently all season. Josh Jobe has had the occasional penalty, but if we are being honest, in the pass and flag happy world in which college football is played, some penalties are to be expected.

Jalyn Armour-Davis has maybe been the surprise player of the season for the Tide. He is always in position and if he doesn’t make a play on the ball, he brings the receiver down quickly with no yards after the catch.

We have also seen the backups get a start this season in Kool-Aid McKinstry and Marcs Banks and they have proven to be valuable depth at the cornerback position.

Safeties / Stars C+

It is a common theme among the Alabama defense this season, the word inconsistent. Alabama returned plenty of experience in the back end of the defense and for whatever reason, they have simply not performed to their capabilities.

Jordan Battle isn’t an elite safety, he’s just steady. DeMarcco Hellams is constantly caught out of position and displays poor open-field tackling. Then you have Malachi Moore and Brian Branch who have yet to make a splash play from the star position.

The season is only half over, so that means there is plenty of time for each position group to correct its mistakes and get back to the Alabama defensive standard.

Stay tuned to Roll Tide Wire for all the latest on the Crimson Tide!

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Stacey Blackwood on Twitter @Blackwood89.

Is Pete Golding capable of running an SEC-level defense?

The Alabama defense didn’t play to potential against Texas A&M. Is defensive coordinator Pete Golding to blame?

Alabama entered Saturday’s contest against Texas A&M with a sizable advantage, all but poised to come out of the noisy Kyle Field with a win.

The Aggies (4-2) had no such plan, however, upsetting the No. 1 ranked Crimson Tide (5-1) by a final score of 41-38.

You might be asking yourself, what happened with the defense between last week against Ole Miss and now. The answer has a lot to do with general inconsistency. However, it does go much further than just that.

Since last year, Alabama loyalists have been wondering why defensive coordinator Pete Golding still has a position at the Capstone. The answer isn’t clear, but what needs to be done is clear: He has to go.

To expound, Golding has under-performed in all of his time as defensive coordinator for the Tide. This leads to many questions: Why is he still here? Is he even capable of improving? It remains to be seen, but the inconsistency has to be addressed.

Last week, Alabama held a high-octane offense in Ole Miss to just 21 points, many of those in garbage time well after the game was decided. On Saturday against a team in Texas A&M that’s missing several key pieces of their offense, they gave up 41 points.

Most of it was very bad play-calling. You can blame it on the injuries to Chris Harris and Drew Sanders, to an extent. Maybe even blame it a little on the early ejection of Malachi Moore. However, you can’t explain it all away with these outliers.

The schemes weren’t great, there were no disguises in coverage. Texas A&M QB Zach Calzada knew exactly what was lined up opposite of him on every single play. And this isn’t an experienced guy.

The defensive line provided little to no pressure on Calzada against an O-Line that’s missing a starter and only brought back one guy from last year.

At some point, the defense is going to have to force a turnover in must-have situations.

The defensive play-calling on the Aggies last drive was abysmal. When all you had to do was keep everything in front of you, Golding designed plays that seemed like they were meant to fail.

Saban had a few things to say, but none of them pertained to the performance of Golding.

“Hopefully we’ll learn a lot from this. We still can accomplish everything we want to accomplish in terms of — we got to do things better than we did tonight. We got to play better, we got to be more consistent. We got to finish drives. We got to get more turnovers on defense. We need to get more stops on defense. There’s a lot of things we need to fix.”

To answer the question in the headline, it doesn’t seem like Golding is capable of running an elite defense at the SEC-level. After two years, I haven’t seen anything to suggest otherwise. Maybe he has an unopened bag of tricks that we haven’t seen, yet, but I won’t hold my breath.

Winning out will be a huge challenge if the defense and it’s coordinator continue to perform like they did against Texas A&M.

Stay tuned to Roll Tide Wire for continued coverage of the Alabama Crimson Tide!

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Layne Gerbig on Twitter @LayneG_29

Malachi Moore ejected early on targeting call against Texas A&M

Alabama will be playing without one of their better DBs for the remainder of the contest against Texas A&M.

Alabama will be playing without one of their better DBs for the rest of this matchup against Texas A&M in a hostile environment.

105,000 rowdy fans are in attendance for Texas A&M’s huge matchup against the Tide. Coming into the game 3-2, A&M doesn’t have much of a chance making the playoff, but a win against Alabama would be huge for their confidence moving forward.

Crimson Tide DB Malachi Moore was called for targeting on Aggie QB Zach Calzada, well after the ball left his hands.

Sophomore Brian Branch will be his replacement for the remainder of the game.

 

Stay tuned to Roll Tide Wire for continued coverage of the Alabama/Texas A&M game!

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Layne Gerbig on Twitter @LayneG_29

Alabama football position preview: Defensive backs

Previewing the Alabama defensive backs

Last season saw Alabama returning just one starter in the back end of the defense in Patrick Surtain. This season the only spot open is the void that Surtain left after being a top ten pick in the NFL draft this spring.

Let’s take a look at some of the guys who are expected to see playing time this fall in the Alabama defensive backfield.

Projected Starters:

Name/Pos.: Josh Jobe, CB

Height/Weight: 6-foot-1, 194 pounds

Josh Jobe is entering his second full season as a starter at corner for the Tide. Jobe is coming off a season where he finished tied for third in the country with 11 passes defended. Jobe has played in the shadows of Patrick Surtain for the past couple of seasons but now looks to lead the cornerbacks in Tuscaloosa.

Name/Pos.: Jayln Armour-Davis, CB

Height/Weight: 6-foot-1, 192 pounds

Armour-David is a talented corner with great length and athleticism. He had a really good spring and has carried that over to fall camp. But will he be able to hold off future stars Kool-Aid McKinstry and Terrion Arnold? This is one of the most intriguing battles in fall camp.

Name/Pos.: Malachi Moore, STAR

Height/Weight: 6-foot-0, 190 pounds

Last season Moore was one of the breakout players for the Tide. He finished his true-freshman campaign with 3 interceptions and added another 6 passes defended. With a year of experience under his belt, Moore could become one of the best defensive backs in the entire country this season.

Name/Pos.: Jordan Battle, SS

Height/Weight: 6-foot-1, 210 pounds

Battle saw some action as a true freshman in the 2019 season and flashed his potential then. Last year he showed the continued development leading the backend of the Alabama defense. Battle is a physical player with great instincts and ball skills. If Battle can become more of a playmaker you could see his name rise up the ranks heading into the 2022 NFL draft.

Name/Pos.: DeMarcco Hellams, FS

Height/Weight: 6-foot-1, 208 pounds

Hellams is a play to become one of the breakout players for the Tide this fall. Last season Hellams slowly starting taking some reps from Daniel Wright at FS, and you started to see some of the potential that Hellams has. Hellams may be one of the hardest hitters on the entire Alabama team. If he can improve his coverage skills, Hellams will be one of the top defensive players in the SEC.

Name/Pos.: Brian Branch, MONEY

Height/Weight: 6-foot-0, 190 pounds

Branch came to Tuscaloosa last season as one of the top-rated defenders in the 2020 class. Branch battled Moore for the starting spot at STAR where Moore got the upper hand, but around the middle of the season, you started to see more of Branch in the MONEY packages. Branch is one of the best cover guys on the team and according to some sources, he has seen some reps at corner this fall. Branch could become the breakout player for Alabama this season on defense.

Stay tuned to Roll Tide Wire for all the latest on the Crimson Tide!

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion.