Why Kane Wommack Trusts Dijon Lee to Start as True Freshman

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— A tactic used in recruiting against schools like Alabama is telling a high school player that he will never see the field as a freshman because of the dept within the program. It isn't easy to start, or even see significant playing time, as a true freshman with the Crimson Tide, but it isn't impossible.

As Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer has pointed out many times this offseason, Alabama played more freshmen last season on special teams than any other SEC school. Wide receiver Ryan Williams and corner Zabien Brown started as true freshmen in 2024 and others like Red Morgan and Zavier Mincey saw significant playing time.

There's a new name emerging throughout fall camp that will start on the Alabama's 2025 defense as a true freshman: 6-4 cornerback Dijon Lee Jr.

"To me, with two very experienced corners that we have on this roster, we feel like Dijon can go right in," Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said on Wednesday. "Credit to him and the way that he’s playing right now. I see him as a starter in our defense. Really impressive. That's two years in a row, right? We've had a young freshman that Mo Linguist has done a tremendous job of developing that guy into being a starter-level player for us. Excited for Dijon and what that does for our defense."

Alabama returns two starting corners from last season: Brown and Domani Jackson, who missed the bowl game with an undisclosed injur y. Jackson has slowly been working his way back from injury throughout the spring, summer and fall. He's been on a sort of pitch count according to Wommack.

Because of this Lee has been able to gain a lot of reps and reps with the first-team defense. His work ethic and talent have earned the trust of the coaching staff for a significant role this season. Redshirt senior defensive back DaShawn Jones said Lee has shown a lot of maturity.

" He’s an amazing player, talented," Jones said of Lee. "He’s mature enough to handle that playbook. So him coming in and doing what he’s been doing is amazing to see.”

Wommack grew up in a coaching family where his dad had stops as an assistant and defensive coordinator all around the southeast. His father coached Patrick Surtain at Southern Miss, where it was the exception, not the rule, for a true freshman to start.

"The standard and expectation hasn’t changed, just the level of play for a freshman to get on the field has," Wommack said. "When you get guys like Zabien Brown or Dijon Lee, it’s impressive to me the level of discipline and commitment through their upbringing to whenever they started playing sports— my guess is probably five or six years old— to the level of urgen cy and detail that those guys carry. What's so impressive to me with those guys is like, when they make a mistake, they can fix it. They sustain the correction, meaning that they can hold that same correction throughout a long period of time and not get hit on it in practice six, seven, 10, 12, 13 [times.]

“Guys that are consistent. Guys that can make plays, they're the ones that are going to play, and if they happen to be a freshman, that's awesome.”