The playing out of Alabama’s quarterback situation last Saturday night against Louisville has been well documented, with Tua Tagovailoa having engineered four first-half touchdown drives during the 51-14 blowout and swiping the reins from former starter Jalen Hurts.
How the Crimson Tide’s defensive quarterback performed against the Cardinals has received far less fanfare.
Guiding a unit that no longer has veterans such as Rashaan Evans and Shaun Dion Hamilton, junior middle linebacker Mack Wilson served as the play caller in the first regular-season start of his collegiate career. Wilson also was barking out the signals for new defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi, who never before had occupied that role in his career.
“It was the first game, so everybody was going to come out and make some mistakes and mental errors,” Wilson told reporters this week. “It’s about getting back to work and correcting these things and moving on to the next game. We had a lot of mental errors and busted plays, and a lot was a lack of communication.
“That’s on my part, and I take the blame for it.”
Given that Alabama has eight new defensive starters this season and had to open against a team under the direction of proven offensive mind Bobby Petrino, a few hiccups perhaps were to be expected. Injuries late last season had forced Wilson into the starting lineup for the College Football Playoff, and the 6-foot-2, 239-pounder from Montgomery responded brilliantly.
During the 24-6 thumping of Clemson in the Sugar Bowl national semifinal, Wilson collected six tackles and had a game-sealing 18-yard interception return for a touchdown. He followed that with a career-best 12 stops – the most of any Crimson Tide defender last season – during the 26-23 overtime victory over Georgia in the title contest.
“I did OK the other night compared to the playoffs,” Wilson said. “I was confident coming into the game, but they did some things that we didn’t go over. I was like, ‘What should I call?’ I made a call. We stayed on the same page, and we executed the play.
“It probably wasn’t the right call, but at least we ran something.”
Stats from last weekend’s game at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, reflected that it was business as usual for a Crimson Tide defense. Louisville rushed 26 times for just 16 yards, an average of 0.6 yard per carry, and the Cardinals didn’t put points on the scoreboard until midway through the third quarter.
Louisville didn’t score a second time until 1:55 remained in the game, but Alabama coach Nick Saban was quick to admit that it wasn’t a smooth showing for the consensus top-50 national prospect in the 2016 signing class.
“Mack is a really good player and a really conscientious guy,” Saban said Wednesday. “In most cases, his issues are not capability issues but rather not having the experience in that role, and the only way to get experience and confidence is to go out there and do it. Mack is very capable of doing it.
“Louisville presents a lot of multiple looks, so it was a difficult game, especially for a first game and not knowing exactly what they were going to do.”
Wilson finished with 4.5 tackles and a quarterback hurry against the Cardinals.
Alabama host Arkansas State on Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Red Wolves opened their season last week with a 48-21 drubbing of Southeast Missouri, with quarterback Justice Hansen throwing for 423 yards and six touchdowns.
“I got a chance to watch their first game, and they’ve got a pretty good quarterback,” Wilson said. “He passed for something like 400 yards last week, so we’ve got to have good rush lanes and collapse the pocket. If we let him sit in the pocket, he can be really effective.”
The Red Wolves often employ four receivers and use a rapid tempo, and Saban believes they will provide a good test for what Alabama will see later. It should also be a good test for Wilson, who hopes to have a smoother second game, or else he may hear about it.
“I’m the signal caller,” Wilson said. “Coach Saban always tells me that if someone messes up, he’s coming at me regardless. I’ve got to make sure everyone is on the same page.”
Said Saban: “The good news is that when we did things correctly, we had a lot of success. Most of the errors that we made are very correctable things.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.