Alabama's Defensive Backs Making Strides, Showing Notable Improvement from 2014

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Even though the game was a turning point in the career of Cyrus Jones, it was a rough afternoon for the University of Alabama cornerback.

Two years ago at Texas A&M, Jones was thrown into the fire, which in this case is an accurate description because of the brutal heat on Sept. 14 and Aggies wide receiver Mike Evans.

After he and Johnny Manziel started to light up the Crimson Tide secondary, Jones was inserted, and then he and cornerback Deion Belue swapped spots to try to slow them down.

Alabama won, 49-42, but gave up a program-record 628 total yards, while Manziel and Evans set Texas A&M records with 464 passing yards and 279 receiving. 

“I grew up a lot that day, let's just put it that way,” Jones said. “It was just a great game, back and forth. That was my first time really being out there in that type of atmosphere. It was definitely a learning experience.”

Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

It should also be noted that Jones also made the play of the game when he reacted to Manziel’s overthrow of a fade into the end zone for a crucial interception. Even Nick Saban called it a “huge play” after saying that Evans “had his way with our corners pretty much all day.”

“That was cool,” Jones said of the pick. Granted, he’s now considered a shutdown cornerback in the Southeastern Conference, but Alabama's use of a converted wide receiver and a junior college transfer at cornerback was reflective of the problems it had at the position.

Alabama had been known for its corners, with Kareem Jackson (2010), Dee Kirkpatrick (2012) and Dee Milliner (2013) all first-round draft selections after leaving early. It still had Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and Landon Collins at safety, but it’s really only now that the secondary is getting back to its high standard of play.

Thanks to a recruiting bonanza that was sparked by 5-star recruits Tony Brown and Marlon Humphrey, whom 247Sports rated as two of the top three cornerbacks in the nation in the Class of 2014, Alabama has depth in the secondary again—so much that a 5-star cornerback (Kendall Sheffield) and a 4-star safety (Deionte Thompson) are on target to redshirt.

Pos.	Name	Year	Recruiting Ranking
CB	Cyrus Jones	Sr.	4 stars-2012, 4th Athlete
	Bradley Sylve	Sr.	4-2111, 15th WR
	Maurice Smith	Jr.	4-2013, 9th CB
CB	Marlon Humphrey	R-Fr.	5-2014, 3rd CB
	Tony Brown	So.	5-2014, 2nd CB
	Minkah Fitzpatrick	Fr.	5-2015, 5th CB
SS	Eddie Jackson	Jr.	3-2013, 14th Athlete
	Ronnie Harrison	Fr.	4-2015, 12th S
	Shawn Burgess-Becker	Fr.	4-2015, 10th Athlete
FS	Geno Matias-Smith	Sr.	4-2112, 4th CB
	Hootie Jones	So.	4-2014, 4th S

“I think we have a lot of weapons in our secondary this year that we probably didn’t (have the last two years),” tight end O.J. Howard said. “A lot of guys rotate in. A lot of guys are fresh.”

Even though there are three freshmen in the dime package (when it uses six defensive backs), newcomers like Minkah Fitzpatrick and Ronnie Harrison have already made some big plays.

Fitzpatrick, a starter in the nickel package, is tied for the team lead in passes broken up (six), to go with two sacks and a blocked punt that he recovered for a touchdown at Georgia. Harrison has made two interceptions and blocked a punt that resulted in a safety.

Category	2014	2015
Passing yards	208.3	187.2
Passing average	6.2	5.1
Passing TDs	6	8
Total yards	277.2	264.5
Interceptions	3	8
Passes broken up	26	39

“You can definitely see they’re growing up, and they’re just more confident every time they step out there,” Jones said. “I knew it would come with time, just like it did for me. I just think they’re progressing gradually.”

The key move, though, may have been when junior Eddie Jackson switched from cornerback to replace Collins at strong safety. Combined with senior Geno Matias-Smith landing the free safety job, what Alabama gave up in size at the positions it more than made up for in speed and range, which can only help against spread, uptempo offenses.

Jackson leads the Crimson Tide with three interceptions, returning one for a touchdown. His 22 tackles aren’t on the same level as Collins, who led the team last year, but Matias-Smith, Fitzpatrick and Humphrey all have 20-plus tackles.

“I think he was a little apprehensive at first of the move, only because it was out of his comfort zone and he hadn't done it for a long time,” Saban said. “There were a lot of new things he was going to have to learn, but he's been very dedicated in his approach to try and learn the position and do the things at the position that you need to do to play winning football.

First downs	7
Third-down effic.	12
Interceptions	21
Rushing	4
Scoring	15
Passing effic.	11
Total	6
Turnovers gained	21

“He's always been a very instinctive sort of playmaker guy, even when he played corner. So that's carried right over into safety, and he's done a really good job for us.

Overall, there were three important areas that Alabama felt it had to improve defensively, all of which were at least partially tied to the secondary: turnovers, third downs and giving up big plays.

In the first two categories, there’s been obvious progress.

Opponents have gone from converting 33 percent of their opportunities (27-for-83) to just 27 percent (27-for-100), which ranks 12th in the nation.

Moreover, the Crimson Tide is tied with Marshall for the national lead in three-and-outs at 6.83 per game, and the 44.6 percent success rate for all drives (41-for-92) is tied for sixth. Since the Ole Miss shootout in which Alabama had five turnovers, it's going at a 60.4 percent clip, 29-for-48.

Despite placing a big emphasis on turnovers, there hasn’t been much of an uptake in fumbles, but there has been in interceptions, from three to eight.

Opponent	Rushing	Passing
Wisconsin	1	3
Middle Tenn.	0	2
Ole Miss	4	8
ULM	0	0
Georgia	4	3
Arkansas	0	4
Total	9	20

As for big plays, Saban defines an explosive play a run of 13 yards or more or a pass of 17 yards or more. This time last year, opponents had tallied 30 explosive plays, and so far this season the defense has yielded 29.

But in 2014 the perception was that Alabama was succeeding almost in spite of its secondary, only to get exposed, especially by Auburn. This year it’s that the defensive backs will only get better as the players gain more experience, and there’s no doubt that the linemen and linebackers are playing at a higher level.

“I feel like we help the linebackers, the linebackers help the DBs and we also look out for the DBs by putting pressure on the quarterback, and they get picks,” junior defensive lineman Dalvin Tomlinson said. “So we affect each other on the field in practice and stuff.”

Since the Middle Tennessee game on Sept. 12, Alabama’s opponents have had just two drives that went 10 plays or more: Georgia’s 14-play possession for 71 yards that resulted in a field goal, and ULM's late 11-play possession for 30 yards that led to no points.

Overall, the Crimson Tide have made four major gaffes resulting in touchdowns:

• The 66-yard Quincy Adeboyejo reception that deflected off a helmet.
• The 73-yard pop pass to Cody Core when Ole Miss had an illegal man downfield that wasn’t called.
• Nick Chubb’s 83-yard run when Alabama left a running gap open.
• Dominique Reed’s 54-yard catch in sloppy coverage after Alabama had a big lead on Arkansas.

Those four plays account for 276 of the 1,587 yards Alabama has given up, or 17.4 percent. With the extra points factored in, the touchdowns account for 30 percent of all the points yielded.

That’s why after last week’s victory against Arkansas, both Jones and Jackson said they thought Alabama had had the best defense in the nation.

“As long as we come out there and execute like we're supposed to, I don't think anybody can beat us,” Jones said.

"Most definitely, we are the best defense in the country, hands down" Jackson said. "We come in every day in practice and use all the critics and things and use it to fuel our fire and come in to work hard."

They’ll get a chance to prove it Saturday, when the Alabama defense might face its biggest test of the season at No. 9 Texas A&M.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Christopher Walsh is a lead SEC college football writer. Follow Christopher on Twitter @WritingWalsh