This article will be one of the best in this series so pay attention. The other great article will be on the secondary in a couple of days.
Alabama runs a three man front. All three men are gone. That’s right, every starter on our defensive line has to be replaced this year. But when you hear about our new guys, you might realize, it’s not so bad.
First of all, we need to look at who we lost. Our biggest loss, both literally and figuratively, is Terrence “Mount” Cody. The massive nose gaurd did not garner a lot of stats, but he was well known in the Tide fan community for his immense size. This size forced a double-team, freeing our linebackers to run around unblocked. He was drafted to the Baltimore Ravens.
Lorenzo Washington played end and wasn’t extremely popular, but he recorded 2 sacks and 21 total tackles over the season.
Brandon Deaderick missed some games after being shot in the leg, but was an above average end and went in the seventh round of the NFL draft.
Replacing Mount Cody at noseguard this year will be Josh Chapman. Chapman is 6″1′ and weighs 310 pounds. He has the highest bench press at well over five hundred pounds, and the highest squat, barely beating Trent Richardson, with well over six hundred pounds. He runs a 4.9 40 and has more stamina then Cody, which should allow him to generate some pass rush.
Rotating with Chapman will be Kerry Murphy, a space-eater like Cody. However, Murphy also show good athleticism and footwork where Cody was slightly lacking. Murphy is also considerably smaller than Cody was, weighing in at 330 pounds, 55 less than Cody. Also, for fans of Jason Pierre-Paul, Murphy can reportedly do backflps, probably meaning back handsprings.
Marcel Dareus. The man you’ve all been waiting for me to write about as you read this article. I take a small sense of pride in calling this player as one to watch early last year. He led the team in sacks and has the ability to generate a great pass rush. He’s best known for his fumble/interception TD run in the second quarter of the National Championship. It showed his amazing athleticism. He also had two more huge plays in the game when he knocked out Colt McCoy, and he and Eryk Anders forcing a fumble near the goal line. He is now one of the top prospects for the 2011 NFL draft. Nick Saban recently told reporters they were double-teaming Dareus in practice. They still couldn’t stop him.
There are questions surrounding Luther Davis and whether he will play or not. A senior, he is the only player who could truly offer experience. Saban said Davis had some personal issues that were keeping him out of spring training and was uncertain wether he’d play in the fall.
On the other end, it looks like we’ll be starting Damian Square. This guy should be a superb athlete at defensive end. He played linebacker and quarterback in high school. He is 6″3′ and weighs 284 pounds. He is described to be strong, big, fast, and overall atheletic. He suffered a knee injury last season but was reported to be ready for action in the past Spring Training.
Speaking of knee injuries, did we have a linebacker that suffered a knee injury last season? See why it may be a blessing in disguise in tomorrow’s linebacker segment.








