South Alabama QB: Wommack’s a Grinder

Mobile, AL. - The Senior Bowl is in full swing in Mobile, with several high-profile coaches making appearances during Tuesday's portion of practice. Arguably most notable, new Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer made an appearance at the college all-star game's practice on Tuesday.

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In addition to Deboer, new Alabama coordinators Ryan Grubb and Kane Wommack were spotted in Hancock-Whitney Stadium for the practices. Wommack and DeBoer visited with former Washington QB Michael Penix Jr., while Grubb and DeBoer met with former Washington OL Roger Rosengarten as well.

It's a testament to the relationships those coaches build with their players. Wommack built relationships with every player on the South Alabama roster during his time in Mobile before becoming Alabama's defensive coordinator. During media availability following the practices on Tuesday, South Alabama QB Carter Bradley spoke highly of the new Crimson Tide defensive coordinator.

He's a big players coach. His dad coached him, and him playing at Arkansas and Southern Miss, it's huge to a player. He understands what we go through. He understands the practice schedules and the meetings and stuff like that. He's been unbelievable, and I can't thank him enough for giving me the opportunity at South and being as successful as I was. It wouldn't be possible without him.

Bradley also spoke on Wommack's work ethic and defense,

Alabama's getting a coach who is a grinder. He loves ball. His vision and coverage stuff is unbeleivable. He's given me some hard times in practice, so I've had to mes with him with my eyes just to throw off some stuff. They're getting a guy who's going to go in everyday, is positive, who's ready to work; he'll get those guys right in Tuscaloosa.

Wommack's defenses provide a lot of challenges to quarterbacks, especially young ones,

You're going to have landmarks as a zone dropping team, but it's more vision dropping; you're goin g to play off the quarterback's eyes. It's tough, a lot of guys, especially at the college level, can't really use their eyes as well as they want, so guys flow and melt into where their eyes are going. Turnovers happen and breakups happen. It's a tough defense to play against, You can look back at some stuff he did at Indiana he did, he beat some teams that have been unbelievable. It what he doesn, and he's had a lot of success here at South. I see him having a lot of success at Alabama.

Carter Bradley spent time at Toledo before his time as a South Alabama Jaguar, so he got the full recruiting experience as a portal QB. He highlighted Wommack's effort on that trail,

Just relationships. He understood players. That's something that you can easily tell right out of the gate. On December 15 I moved out of Toledo, and was back home in Jacksonville December 16. On December 18, [Major Applewhite and Wommack] were in Jacksonville eating breakfast with me at Metro Diner. He drove from [Mobile[ to [Jacksonville] when he easily could've picked up the phone and called. That shows the relationships that he wants to have with a player.

As a coach, Bradley talked about Wommack as high-energy

He's positive. He's got a lot of juice to him. He's going to make others excited about the day and about going to practice. Whether you're in the building or out of the building, he's always going to be positive and bring the juice, but he loves messing with players and loves to have a good time. But when ball is ball, he knows when to lock in and be serious.

Something Wommack doesn't like?

He hates water on his back, oddly specific. He never lets someone dump water on him after a big win. He's not a big prankster, but he likes to mess with and get messed with. You can play arounds with him a little bit. He's justa high-juice guy.

A little strange, but Alabama's defensive coordinator gets the seal of approval from South Alabama's signal caller. Alabama fans get some insight into what Wommack runs defensively in his 4-2-5 defense, or Swarm Defense as Wommack has called it before.