Alabama Football: 5 players trending up after spring 2019
With Mack Wilson departing for the NFL, last year’s starting Will linebacker, Dylan Moses, has shifted over to the Mike role as the signal-caller of the defense. Moses has appeared to relish that role so far, taking on the increased leadership as Alabama’s defense looks to get back among the elite units in college football.
With Moses shifting over to Mike, there was a hole left at the Will spot, and by all accounts a pretty open competition heading into the spring. With spring now gone, it appears that redshirt senior Joshua McMillon has emerged as the front-runner for the job.
McMillon is a former four-star recruit, but he’s been a career backup for the Crimson Tide. He’s mainly been a special teams contributor, with rare snaps coming at linebacker unless the game was already well in hand.
The senior put in the work this spring, and earned the starting spot alongside Moses for the A-Day game. He really stood out on Saturday, too, showing a knack for dropping into coverage and defending the pass. He didn’t appear to make many plays against the run, but in general the first-team defense stuffed the first team offense’s attempt to move the ball on the ground.
The competition is far from over, with several players still very much in contention. Sophomore Ale Kaho looked like the favorite coming into spring after spending last season as Moses’s backup, but he missed the first two practices of spring and has been in the doghouse ever since. He worked exclusively with the backups throughout the spring.
The player to watch out for is freshman Shane Lee, who put together a big spring that culminated with a strong showing during A-Day working with the second-team defense. He picked off Mac Jones in the first half, perfectly reading the eyes of the quarterback. He’s still got some development to do as he is well behind McMillon in terms of playbook knowledge, but on his current developmental track the true freshman could push for the starting job in the fall.