It was while watching Alabama's utter demolition of Florida two weeks ago, the thought occurred: How would this Crimson Tide defense fare on Sunday?The idea seems preposterous: Pitting a college defense, made of up of 19- to 22-year-olds on the field against against older men who make millions in the NFL because they are the best of the best.Nevertheless, speed-wise, size-wise, scheme-wise, Alabama looks like an NFL defense. I'd love to see it.Turns out I am not alone.I spent Tuesday talking to five different NFL scouts and scouting directors about Alabama's defense, which will be on display in Oxford Saturday when the No. 2-ranked Crimson Tide plays at Ole Miss. All talked on the condition of anonymity, which is what their employers demand. All had pretty much the same spiel."I had seen them on TV and on tape, but I was down on the field before they played Arkansas," said one NFL team's chief talent evaluator. "They really look like an NFL team. You hear people say that, but with them it's true. That defense is huge, bigger than most NFL teams. Not just the linemen, but the cornerbacks, the linebackers, the safeties. And they can all run. That secondary. ... it's the best secondary I've ever seen in college football."Most college teams would be happy with one future NFL talent playing cornerback. Said one scout: "I think Alabama has three NFL cornerbacks. They can not only cover but they can tackle. They love to tackle."All will get an NFL chanceThe consensus: Everybody on the Alabama defense will get a chance to play in the NFL. At least four are first-day draft picks. Six or seven might go as early as the first three rounds.Said a third scout, "You watch Alabama play and the speed of the defense is the same as the NFL. It looks like they've got too many people out there."And another: "It's like watching a pro team, except they are bigger than a lot of pro teams. You just wish you could take them all."And another: "What you get with Alabama is everybody plays to his speed. What I mean is a 4.7 guy really plays at 4.7 speed, because he is so well drilled and so well-coached he knows exactly what he supposed to do and where he's supposed to go. He doesn't have to pause and think. Sometimes, you see 4.5 guys to play 4.8 or 4.9. At Alabama, the 4.5 guys play 4.5. And they've got a bunch of them."They do a lot more with their secondary than most teams. They play so many coverages and disguise them so well."They hit, too. The image Alabama's defense leaves you with is that they are racing one another to deliver the first lick. This won't come as welcomed news for Ole Miss quarterback Randall Mackey, but Alabama's last two opposing quarterbacks haven't made it through the first half.Don't have to blitzOle Miss offensive coordinator David Lee probably thought he was getting away from facing this kind of talent when he came to the Rebels from the Miami Dolphins."This is my 29th year coaching college football and I don't remember seeing a more talented defense than Alabama's," Lee said. "They are so strong, so fast. They really do look like an NFL defense."Lee said this Alabama team hasn't blitzed nearly as much as past Alabama teams he's seen."They haven't had to," Lee said. "But you know they can."Lee was told what the NFL people had said about Alabama, about how six or seven Bama defenders might go in the first three rounds."I can see that, they are ultra-talented," Lee said.So, what do you do?"You've got to run the ball with some success," Lee said.Of course, you do. Because if you can't run it, those huge, fast guys will just tee off on the quarterback.Good luck. Alabama opponents are running for fewer than 40 yards per game. Bama running back Trent Richardson, a sure-fire first round pick on the other side of the ball, has run for nearly three times as much yardage as Alabama opponents combined.It's ridiculous.Alabama's is a Sunday defense playing on Saturday. Now then, here's the kicker.Before I got off the phone with every one of those NFL people, they also were talking about LSU's defense.The consensus: Comparable to Alabama's, only younger."Thanks," said David Lee, who will face LSU's defense next month. "You've made my day."Reach Rick Cleveland at rcleveland@clarionledger.com
Who the fuck is Rick Cleveland? And I write that with the most sarcastic tone I have ever used in my entire life...
No idea. But I'm willing to bet those NFL scouts are either unofficial blogger-scouts or figments of his imagination.
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