Alabama Football: Top 5 breakout candidates for 2019 season

DJ Dale is the next Da’Ron Payne. You’re not always going to see him in a stat sheet, but he is the type of tackle that gives teams championships. Freshman tackles usually don’t see a lot of playing time due to the depth at the position. Quinnen Williams didn’t get a lot of time until his redshirt sophomore season.

However, I think Dale might work his way into the lineup. He started the A-Day game over Phidarian Mathis. That doesn’t always mean that he will be the starter in the first game of the regular season, but it is a good sign. I would expect a lot out of DJ Dale this season.

Dale was a four-star coming out of high school, but he wasn’t necessarily a highly-touted prospect. He was outside of the top 250 players in his class. Despite this, Alabama saw something special in him, and they hope to use him in his freshman season.

Even if Dale starts, he won’t get all of the reps. Phidarian Mathis is also a great player, so they will likely split reps. The starting position will be more of an honorary title at defensive tackle.

It’s always hard to predict a breakout star for Alabama because the beauty of them is the fact that you don’t know anything about them, but DJ Dale is a great place to start. Hopes are high for Dale in 2019.