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The Most Interesting Man at Alabama: Dalvin Tomlinson

Defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson was interesting. Really interesting at the University of Alabama.

He’s interesting as a player, who seemed to turn on a mental switch as needed. When his Crimson Tide teammates saw a certain look in his eye they knew what was about to be unleashed.

He’s interesting as a person. Tomlinson’s as likable as can be, hails from Georgia and had already overcome two knee surgeries. Away from the game he was usually pretty laid back and often smiling.

Tomlinson’s even interesting as a student. Of course he wanted to give the National Football League a try after his college football career concluded, but if it didn’t work out had a backup plan.

“I’ll go into financial planning,” he said with a grin.

It wasn’t necessary. Tomlinson’s the kind of player that every NFL team covets: big, fast and hard-working. That he was one of the main cogs on a national champion defensive line didn’t hurt his pro prospects either.

“I don’t know if you can tell, but he’s really a difference maker on the front. That’s my dawg man. He’s funny.”defensive lineman Jonathan Allen

While players like Allen, interior linebacker Reuben Foster and outside linebackers Ryan Anderson and Tim Williams got more of the attention among the Crimson Tide’s imposing defensive front seven in 2016, Tomlinson was a program stalwart for years.

Before his final season he had already played in 29 games for Alabama, notching 60 tackles, including six for a loss, two sacks and six passes knocked down. About the only thing he hadn’t done is start. He took care of that in the high-profile opener against Southern California, a crushing 52-6 victory.

“Dalvin has been a real contributor for us,” Nick Saban said. “Made a lot of plays, bats down a lot of balls. A very consistent player, a smart player. Plays really good technique and is athletic and can rush and do a lot of things.

“He's been an outstanding player for us. He's gotten better and better each year. He was a little bit undersized when we recruited him. He's gotten bigger and stronger and now he's a pretty effective player on a consistent basis.”

That fed into the notion among his teammates that Tomlinson might have been the most underrated player on the Crimson Tide roster. Sometimes they even contributed to it themselves, although not intentionally.

“Dalvin is a big part of this defense,” Anderson said. “He doesn’t get a lot of credit he deserves, but Dalvin is a monster. He’s been that way for a while. He can run, pass rush.

“[The other day] we were talking and I thought he was like 280, he’s like 310. So he got up on the scale and I was like ‘Dang.’ He don’t look like it. He doesn’t play like it. He’s one of the fastest D-linemen we have besides Da’Shawn [Hand]. He’s big. Dalvin is a big-time player man.”

But that mean streak that Tomlinson played with was something to behold, and came through in each and every game. It allowed him to pounce off the line with a burst that could be surprising, causing a rushing lane to collapse, or disruption in the backfield.

That’s one of the secrets to his playing success. Another was his hands, something that can make or break a defensive lineman.

“Pretty much hands for a defensive lineman are key, if you don’t use your hands you’re not going to be successful,” Tomlinson explained. “You use your hands every single play, and simply, if you don’t have good hand placement you’re going to pretty much get blown off the ball by the offensive lineman and lose your block and lose your gap which leads to big plays by the offense.”

Tomlinson had exceptional hands, perhaps the best on the Crimson Tide — at least among the linemen. Although he was surrounded by players who were rated as being 5-star prospects by a variety of recruiting services, they couldn’t duplicate what he did. And yes, they tried.

“I watch a lot of things he does with his hands, and I can’t really pick up on it’s just natural the stuff he does,” Anderson said. “I don’t know if he took jujitsu or something in the jungle. It’s just so quick.”

Actually, a lot of it came from playing other sports in addition to football. Tomlinson was the goalie for his high school soccer team (which was how the first knee injury occurred) and a prize wrestler. He only lost twice.

“The first one was my first-ever varsity match and I was nervous and lost by points,” he said. “The second one I got disqualified for hip-tossing a dude onto his neck.”

To clarify, Tomlinson wasn’t trying to hurt his opponent, he executed a move that his coach called for when way out in front and missed on the follow through. But that he was able to throw a 285-pound opponent like that was more than enough to raise the eyebrows of his teammates.

They shared the videos of him wrestling, including the one when Tomlinson won a state title faster than the time it took you to read this sentence. He was that good, and was undefeated as the Crimson Tide’s locker room champion, initially defeating A’Shawn Robinson for the unofficial title.

Regardless, it all helped explain how Tomlinson could be so effective at getting off blocks and knocking down passes. 

“Ryan just thinks I’m a freak of nature,” Tomlinson said.

He was certainly one of a kind.

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