What was once considered to be the outright weakness of the Alabama Crimson Tide defense looks like it could be the strength in 2017. I’m talking about the secondary, of course. We all know about Minkah Fitzpatrick. The guy is going to be a top 10 NFL draft pick next Spring. He even has Nick Saban gushing. But, last year’s defense was insanely good – at all levels. There’s a lot of production to replace, and a lot of new faces are going to have to step up. One of those faces is cornerback Trevon Diggs.
Inside Alabama’s defensive back meeting room, Trevon Diggs is consistently seated next to Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Diggs, who moved from wide receiver to cornerback after last season, has been trying to learn as much as possible from Fitzpatrick and is regularly asking questions and seeking advice. And that extends beyond the meeting room. It also takes place on the practice field and, according to Fitzpatrick, even when the two are in the car together.
“I played the position before, and he knows I know what I’m doing, so he trusts me asking me questions about it,” said Fitzpatrick, a first-team All-American who has played both safety and cornerback at Alabama. “He’s just soaking it all in and trying to learn.”
It’s helping.
Diggs has seemingly bounced back after giving up several long passing plays during the Tide’s spring game in April and remains the favorite to win Alabama’s open starting cornerback job.
Pretty interesting little tidbit there from Matt Zenitz at Al.com. Kind of takes you “in the room” a bit. It’s like a sensei-protege relationship. Fitzpatrick is Master Splinter and Diggs is Michaelango. At least, that’s the analogy I’m going with.
I remember that performance in the Spring, and I remember thinking, “that secondary is screwed if this is the next best thing.”
But, he proved me wrong. So, hey – here I am admitting that. Could this also be an indication that Nick Saban recruits more talent than he knows what to do with? Like, “well, our receivers are looking pretty deep, but we need a corner. Shit, Trevon – just line up over there!” NBD!
Again, it’s like they pull athletes off an assembly line down there in Tuscaloosa. It isn’t fair. But, the only real loser in this whole thing is Anthony Averett. That was your spot, bro. Yikes.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. A strong advocate of GSD (get shit done) and #BeBetter, he’s down to talk Tennessee Titans and Alabama Crimson Tide football over a beer any day. Check him out covering the WWE for WrestlingNews.co. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley, @WrestlingNewsCo
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