Alabama values consistency over ‘flashes’ from James Smith

“James flashes,” Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said. “He’s a very athletic player. He does some really good things. Needs to become more consistent.”

Unfortunately for the Tide, performances like that have come too few and far between from the Montgomery, Alabama native over his career.  Smith’s sack was just his first of the season. While he has been able to tally 18 tackles, including four stops for a loss, he’s only recorded four total pressures through seven games, according to Pro Football Focus.

Smith’s sack was his first in four SEC games. He tallied a pair of hurries during the Week 2 blowout over Louisiana-Monroe and a quarterback hit the following week against Wisconsin. From there, he drew a targeting penalty at Georgia that cut his night short and caused him to miss the first half of the game against Vanderbilt. Then he was essentially a non-factor during the Week 7 win at Missouri. 

Still, it’s hard to ignore the signs of growth. 

“If you think big picture from a year ago to now, I love the energy,” Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said. “There’s a personality, there’s a connection that I feel with him, and I feel like our relationship is really good. 

“There’s been moments, and he had one where he hit the quarterback late. And I know how much he cares, I see it. As soon as he could, he was back there talking to me, owning up to it, and knowing he messed up. And so it’s just a matter of learning from that. And I feel when people do care, like he does, they’ll be better because of it.”

Saturday’s performance came with some learning moments, too. Despite seeing the field for a season-high 25 pass-rushing snaps, the defensive tackle’s sack was his only pressure of the night. 

“I’m not necessarily singling him out, but there were some plays he particularly left out on the field, a number of our guys left out on the field,” Wommack said. “So, that’s exciting from a number of ways, because he’s very productive on a number of plays. But there were also opportunities that we left out there on the field. Those are the things I’d like to continue to see from him and a number of guys on our defense.”

Alabama hopes this past weekend’s performance against Tennessee is the spark Smith needs to establish some consistency moving forward. The Crimson Tide still have matchups against a trio of mobile quarterbacks in South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers, Oklahoma’s John Mateer and Auburn’s Jackson Arnold. Along with that, the Tide will host an LSU offense featuring a potential early-round quarterback in Garrett Nussmeier. Strong interior pass rush will go a long way in all of those future matchups. 

Smith and No. 4 Alabama (6-1, 4-0) will travel to South Carolina (3-4, 1-4) for a 2:30 p.m. CT kickoff on Saturday inside Williams-Brice Stadium. The game will be televised on ABC.