The injury bug took the worst bite for Alabama football this week. How will they overcome the injury to Dylan Moses?
Alabama football has already lost multiple players to injury for the upcoming season, but the news just got a lot worse. At an evening practice, Alabama’s starting linebacker Dylan Moses went down with a knee injury, and he appears to be out for the season.
Moses was projected to be the best linebacker in all of college football this year. As a junior, he was going to be a leader on the Tide defense. As the Mike linebacker, he was going to be the quarterback of the defensive unit. Without his knowledge on defense, the Tide are in trouble.
What makes this worse is that Alabama has already lost a starting inside linebacker in Joshua McMillon. They will now likely be starting two true freshmen at inside linebacker. Christian Harris has already won the start at Will, and Shane Lee was Moses’s backup. Others will be fighting for playing time, including Markail Benton, Jaylen Moody, and Ale Kaho.
The skill is there for these guys. What they lack is the experience and leadership. It’s very rare for freshmen to start at inside linebacker. It is probably the most important position in Saban’s defense. These guys were recruited to Alabama for a reason, but they’re simply not the same as having Moses.
The hardest thing to overcome will be the lack of a defensive play-caller. That takes years of studying the playbook and defense. Someone has to know exactly where every other player on the team is supposed to be.
My best guess is for this role to go to Xavier McKinney. Alabama’s strength this season will easily be their secondary, and McKinney grew in his role late last year. He’s probably the most experienced guy that could take that role. Alabama has done this in recent years. Minkah Fitzpatrick and Landon Collins both took on this role late in their college careers.
I think Alabama has the potential to overcome this. The injury isn’t a nail in the coffin. However, I would be a lot more concerned about future games against Texas A&M, LSU, Auburn and potentially Georgia.