How Henry To'oTo'o, who transferred from Vols to Alabama football in 2021, is having best season yet
Bring up Henry To'oTo'o, and usually one of the first things mentioned is his football intelligence.
And for good reason. That allowed him to step in right away as the Mike linebacker after he transferred from Tennessee, calling the defense from the first game of the 2021 season. He's been the signal caller of the Alabama football defense ever since.
There's more than just smarts to To'oTo'o's game, though. His decision to transfer from the Vols to Alabama has been a good one for his development as a football player, this season in particular. In 2022 with the Crimson Tide, he's having the best statistical season of his collegiate career.
In the midst of that, To'oTo'o and No. 1 Alabama (6-0, 3-0 SEC) are preparing to face his former team in Tennessee (5-0, 2-0) on Saturday (2:30 p.m. CT, CBS) at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee.
To'oTo'o played the 2019 and 2020 seasons with the Vols. He entered the transfer portal two days after former coach Jeremy Pruitt was fired in January 2021. Then in May 2021, To'oTo'o transferred to the Crimson Tide.
“He’s gotten better and better since he’s been here," Saban said. "Think he’s more and more confident and comfortable in what he’s doing. He was a good player last year and a really good player this year."
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To'oTo'o has been an important piece in the nation's No. 8 rushing defense. His tackling has been valuable all over the field, with 39 in total. He has only missed 6.8% of his tackles, according to Pro Football Focus' charting. That's a drastic drop from the past three seasons where his missed-tackle percentage was 13.3% (2019), 14.7% (2020) and 15% (2021).
To'oTo'o also has 24 stops through six games, which PFF considers "tackles that constitute a failure for the offense." With that total, he's already not far from the 30 stops he had in each of his first two seasons with the Vols.
“To'oTo'o is playing his best ball that I've ever seen him play,” Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said earlier this season.
The allowed-reception rate is also the lowest so far of his career, but by a small margin. This season he has allowed receptions on 69.2% of targets thrown his way, per PFF. That's slightly better than his performance in past years at 70.3% (2019) and noticeably better than 76.3% (2020) and 84% (2021).
As a pass rusher, To'oTo'o has seven pressures this season to go with one sack.
"He's athletic, has the ability to play sideline to sideline," Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said Wednesday. "He's a really, really good football player."
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Henry To'oTo'o, who transferred from Vols to Alabama football in 2021, is having best season yet
