Crimson Red Sports

“I feel like we could maybe be one of the best,” he said. “Last year it was kind of a lack of experience thing. I don’t see it this year. The way we’ve been practicing 7-on-7, even in the film room, you don’t see guys making those rookie mistakes that you saw last year. Everybody comes in with their hard hat on. I don’t see any flaws heading into fall camp.”

It’ll be Hightower who assumes much of the leadership role as the elder statesman on defense. It’ll be his fourth year with the program, though a major knee injury in 2009 slowed his rise. Pass-rush specialist Courtney Upshaw, Nico Johnson, and C.J. Mosley fill out the starting linebackers with depth backing them up.

http://www.annistonstar.com/view/full_story/14793446/article-High-expectations-for-experienced-Alabama-defense?instance=sports_top

Defense gave up 441 yards per game in 2010.
22nd in country. Not Alabama Football.

With all the returning defensive starters, I hope they make their stops sooner and get off the field. RTR!

 8)

I don't think 441 yards per game is correct. According to rolltide.com we averaged 444.1 yards per game on offense and gave up 286.4 yards per game on defense. We gave up 13.6 points per game and that led the SEC.

The stats look good but they are misleading in my opinion. We shut down average and poor teams. We gave up big plays and too many points to the better teams. I think we will be much better on defense this year. We were very young and had too many injuries last year.

http://www.rolltide.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/2010-2011/teamcume.html