Projecting Alabama’s defensive line rotation with the departure of Jamil Burroughs
It was reported on Friday that senior defensive lineman, Jamil Burroughs had entered the NCAA transfer portal. Burroughs appeared in 20 games for the Crimson Tide over three seasons and accumulated 15 tackles, three tackles for loss, and two sacks.
Burroughs was expected to be a key piece along the Alabama defensive line in 2023. Now, Nick Saban and position coach Freddie Roach will have to look a little further down the depth chart to fill in the hole left by Burroughs.
While depth is certainly not an issue for Alabama, especially along the defensive line, it won’t be easy to replace the experience that Burroughs would have brought to the lineup.
With Burroughs out of the picture, let’s try and project what the rotation up front might look like for the Crimson Tide this fall.
DE
Justin Eboigbe
Justin Eboigbe is one of the quiet leaders of the Alabama defense. Before suffering his season-ending neck injury in 2022, Eboigbe was playing the best football of his Alabama career. If he can return to that form in 2023, the Alabama defensive front could be in for a special season.
NG
Jaheim Oatis
Jaheim Oatis is a load to try and move from his nose guard position. Oatis made a positive impact on the defensive line as a freshman last season and should be in store for a breakout year in 2023.
DE
Tim Smith
Tim Smith will round out the first-team defensive line for the Crimson Tide in 2023. Smith has shown plenty of flashes of star potential but the consistency has not been there. If Smith can find more consistent production, he has a chance to be one of the standouts for the Tide this season.
Next Group Up
Jah-Merien Latham
Damon Payne
James Smith
Latham, Payne, and Smith will be a very nice second group for Coach Roach to roll out there when the first team needs a breather. Latham and Payne saw their playing time increase towards the latter half of the 2022 season and Smith is one of the Tide’s most gifted young players on the team. While I am probably a little higher on Latham and Payne than most, the upside of Smith has folks excited and believing he could be the difference-maker the defensive line has been looking for over the last few seasons.
Remaining Players
Monkell Goodwine
Tim Keenan
Khurtiss Perry
Anquin Barnes
Isaiah Hastings
Jordan Renaud
Edric Hill
Hunter Osborne
If you are Nick Saban and Freddie Roach, you have to feel comfortable with what you have in your top six players. But as you know, injuries happen, and unfortunately, they happen fairly often to defensive linemen. That is where this group enters the mix. With Burroughs gone, Tim Keenan and Monkell Goodwine are two players I believe could sneak their way into a handful of first-team reps this fall even without injuries to those currently ahead of them on the depth chart. This group is inexperienced but has a ton of potential, we’ll see if they can earn some playing time in 2023.
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