Happy Gump Day, everyone. Fall camp is always the gumpiest time of year, as optimism abounds. The Bama Central staff collaborated on a practice report from yesterday that highlighted a couple of budding superstars for this upcoming season.
The offensive line also held a drill where the tackle blocks a man up front, while the interior lineman runs to the second level to attack the linebacker. Delgatty’s athleticism, which offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb opened up about on Monday, truly showed during his reps.
The Wolf linebackers participated in a drill where they had to shed a blocker and go down low towards a moving blue yoga ball. Jah-Marien Latham, Alabama’s longest-tenured player, stood out during this drill.
The wolves also did some one-on-one swim moves against each other, which defensive coordiantor Kane Wommack was right there for. Wommack provided pointers during each rep, and gave some extra coaching to South Carolina transfer Desmond Umeozulu.
Wolf linebacker Justin Hill ran into Wommack on one of the drills, but Wommack patted him on his pads with approval.
The defensive theme for the media viewing period was block destruction. Every position group was practicing an aspect of it when the media arrived at practice. The cornerbacks were practicing playing on the edge as Dijon Lee, Cabin Brown and Red Morgan led the lines in taking on multiple blockers, but maintaining the edge on an outside run play.
Delgatty and Hill might not lose a rep all season, and “block destruction” just sounds awesome.
Matt Stahl put together a few nuggets for you as well.
The edge rushers at outside linebacker, known in this defense as the wolves, worked several drills right in front of reporters. Christian Robinson led them, and eventually defensive coordinator Kane Wommack arrived to watch and monitor the drills as well. Wommack doesn’t coach a position group, which allows him to hover from position to position and offer coaching points where he sees fit.
At one point, the wolves had to try and track down a rolling exercise ball, like running in pursuit down the line of scrimmage. During this drill, there was a moment where Justin Hill almost took out Wommack, but Wommack started backpedaling to avoid a fall.
Yhonzae Pierre usually led the edge rushers through these drills. Next up were usually some combination of Jah-Marien Latham, Hill and Desmond Umeozulu, the South Carolina transfer. Jamarion Matthews was also in the mix.
It’s not surprising that Yhonzae was leading the group. Dane Brugler over at The Athletic believes that he could find himself among the top 20 selected in April’s NFL Draft.
Pierre’s energy is an unquestioned strength. But complementing his relentless play style with added discipline would increase his impact. Pierre occasionally puts himself in compromising positions, which can get him washed and walled off, especially versus angle blocks or double teams. He also had several missed tackles on the 2025 tapes.
2027 NFL Draft outlook
Yhonzae (pronounced “yon-ZAY”) was a highly touted five-star recruit who stayed home to play for Alabama. He entered his redshirt sophomore season last year as a part-time role player, but he earned more playing time and emerged as arguably the Tide’s most impactful defensive player. Pierre finished the 2025 season with a team-high 45 pressures, 14.5 tackles for loss, eight sacks and three forced fumbles.
Pierre flirted with leaving for the 2026 NFL Draft, where he likely would have been a top-40 pick. Instead, he returned to Tuscaloosa for his fourth season — and a chance to cement his status as a top-20 prospect.
Want to see OL coach Adrian Klemm mic’d up? Of course you do.
Inside the action. 🎙️🔥
Mic’d up with Coach Klemm
BTS at Bama Fall Camp: Presented by @TMobile. Best network in the game. Best network in America. pic.twitter.com/t1OqLxBsTz
It was DC Kane Wommack’s turn to speak to media yesterday, and he was gushing about Devan Thompkins.
Wommack and the Crimson Tide’s run defense will count on the fifth-year senior transfer to play meaningful snaps at Bandit in 2026. Wommack noted that Thompkins’s combination of athleticism and physicality makes him a tough assignment for tight ends in one-on-one situations, potentially giving Alabama a key advantage against opponents’ running games.
“Offenses are trying to figure out how can they attack that C-gap area, so they’re going to create tight ends in that to create a C-gap area, or a split-zone concept or insert somebody back inside, and so if you can constrict that area it makes it more difficult to run the ball or for the ball to be able to wind back, and he is a very physical presence in there,” Wommack said. “You look at the tight ends in our league, and there’s some really good tight ends, but he’s going to be really hard to be able to say ‘Okay, we’re going to put a tight end one-on-one with him and win in that C-gap area.’ So it definitely helps the dynamic of what we need to do to stop the run.”
Devan may well turn out to be the most dominant free agent signing of the entire college football offseason.
Wommack spoke glowingly of his linebacker group as well, and called out young Luke Metz in particular.
“Luke has always been a guy that, when you watch his tape, the energy that he plays with, the passion he plays with, and the physicality. I thought at the beginning of spring ball he got a little bit where he was more concerned about the scheme and making a mistake. He was playing a little bit hesitant at the beginning of spring. I talked to him like, ‘Hey man, go back to who you are and what you do. You’re a guy that can go run and hit and be decisive.’ He took that to heart. He took strides as we moved into spring ball, and then you saw that through the summer time, and right now he’s playing at a very high level. Excited about him. Excited about a number of those linebackers right now that are really playing aggressive. One of the things that I think you see from our defensive line playing more consistent right now is that because they’re in their gap and they’re doing their job, the linebackers are now playing more aggressive. The safeties are coming down and fitting more aggressively because they have confidence in guys holding their gap responsibility. All those things go hand-in-hand when it starts up front.”
Wommack also spoke about some guidance he received from the GOAT.
“There are times where you have to be able to play match coverage to be able to go win in this league,” Wommack said after Tuesday’s practice. “In the offseason, Coach Saban and I talk a lot, and that was one thing that he brought up watching us on third downs. I thought he had some really good points of having one or two more variations of things that we can do to be able to complement some of the stuff that we’re already doing.
“You look at our third down numbers in the past in our history, they’ve been pretty good. I thought we’re not where we needed to be. We had too many third-and-longs where we didn’t get off the field. For us, maybe having a couple more variations and things that we do.”
Alabama has longer defensive backs, like 6-4 sophomore cornerback Dijon Lee Jr., who are built for success in press and man coverage. While he doesn’t have the final say as a player, Lee said the Crimson Tide will “definitely” be pressing a lot more this season.
“I love playing press coverage,” Lee said. “I’m a taller corner, get my hands on people, disrupt routes.”
Wommack’s brother-in-law has Auburn stank on him, but he’s apparently an Alabama staffer now.
He spent the past three years as the head football strength and conditioning coach for the Auburn Tigers. Then the staff was shuffled when Hugh Freeze was fired. Studzinski had been with Freeze at Liberty as well.
So as of late, Studzinski has been in Tuscaloosa helping out in the weight room.
“Having Dom here has been awesome,” Kane Wommack said after practice Tuesday.
Studzinski’s been on the practice fields during camp. He isn’t listed in the online staff directory, but he was pictured in the 2026 team photo released this week.
Hopefully they properly fumigated him.
Ced Morgan was mentioned on USA Today’s list of 10 freshmen who could make an instant impact in 2026.
Morgan has a path to starting for Alabama in what should be one of the better receiver corps in college football.
Morgan, who’s competing for the Crimson Tide’s No. 3 receiver spot behind Ryan Coleman-Williams and NC State transfer Noah Rogers, has been impressing Alabama in spring practices and fall camp.
Morgan caught a 22-yard touchdown from potential starting quarterback Keelon Russell in Alabama’s spring game, and has a ready-to-play 6-4, 222-pound frame. Morgan’s size could play nicely next to Coleman-Williams and Lotzeir Brooks, who also both played meaningful roles as true freshmen.
“He can catch the ball better than anybody I have ever seen,” Brooks told reporters recently. “… He is definitely going to play.”
The Alexander City, Alabama, native was the No. 44-ranked prospect and No. 5 overall receiver in 2026, per 247Sports’ Composite.
Last, Max Olson of ESPN posted an update of what college football free agents cost at each position. Unsurprisingly, teams really broke the bank for a signal caller this cycle.
Then, you still have the truly elite tier. Oregon’s Dante Moore could’ve been the No. 2 pick in the draft and signed a $54 million contract but preferred to stay in school. GMs believe Moore, Arch Manning (Texas), Julian Sayin (Ohio State) and the best of the best are getting revenue share guarantees but still earning just as much outside money in brand deals thanks to their NIL value.
“If you’re in the ACC and Big 12, you’re probably $1 million to $2 million,” an SEC GM said. “If you’re Big Ten and SEC, you’re probably $2 million to $3 million and then plus, plus, plus for the elite.”
Not all these quarterbacks are millionaires, to be clear. There are still a few Power 4 programs with unresolved QB competitions between two passers on six-figure deals.
“If you’ve got a $1 million starting quarterback, they’re probably an inexperienced guy at this juncture,” a Big 12 GM said.
But even the inexperienced guys cashed in this offseason, with career backups Lincoln Kienholz (Louisville) and Kenny Minchey (Kentucky) earning in the $2.5 million to $3 million range as they move into starting roles.
Teach your sons to throw footballs, folks.
That’s about it for now. Have a great day.
Roll Tide.
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