Alabama's Anfernee Jennings thrilled to have more company

Alabama fifth-year senior outside linebacker Anfernee Jennings has 111 career tackles and 22 tackles for loss. / Alabama photo/Kent Gidley
Alabama fifth-year senior outside linebacker Anfernee Jennings has 111 career tackles and 22 tackles for loss. / Alabama photo/Kent Gidley

Anfernee Jennings has reason for excitement before every football season, but this one is a little different.

It's the grand finale in Tuscaloosa for Jennings, a fifth-year senior who has totaled 111 tackles and 22 tackles for loss in his career. It's also a reuniting of sorts, as fellow outside linebackers Terrell Lewis and Chris Allen are back from their lost seasons due to ACL tears last summer.

"I'm beyond excited," Jennings said Tuesday in a news conference. We're all different kinds of players, and we all capitalize off each other. It's really going to be fun."

Allen played in seven games as a freshman in 2017 but had yet to blossom into a prominent player before his setback. Lewis cleared that hurdle, sacking Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm in the national championship game of the 2017 season for a 13-yard loss in overtime that forced the Bulldogs to settle on a 51-yard field goal by Rodrigo Blankenship.

Jennings, Lewis and Christian Miller were expected to top Alabama's outside linebacker rotation last season until Lewis got hurt.

"Terrell is ready to go," the 6-foot-3, 259-pound Jennings said. "Terrell is ready to ball, and he's going to do that."

Jennings was a four-star signee in the 2015 class out of Dadeville, Alabama, and redshirted during Kirby Smart's eighth and final season as the Crimson Tide's defensive coordinator. He played under Jeremy Pruitt during the 2016-17 seasons and under Tosh Lupoi last year.

Alabama's defensive coordinator now is Pete Golding, who coached the Crimson Tide's inside linebackers a year ago and has the utmost respect for Jennings.

"When you talk about Alabama's defenses over the years, there is a relentless effort," Golding said. "There is a physical toughness in playing Alabama, and you see that on tape. It's the same speed in practice as it is on Saturday.

"It's invaluable to have a guy like that, who's a good player and day in and day out is the hardest-working guy."

Lupoi was in charge of the outside linebackers last season, but that role now belongs to Sal Sunseri, who coached Alabama's linebackers from 2009 to 2011 before becoming the defensive coordinator at Tennessee.

"We respect him, and we like to learn from him," Jennings said. "He's hard-nosed and old school, so he's not going to sit there and pat you on the back. He's going to tell you when you mess up.

"He keeps it real with you at all times."

Jennings has been starting since his sophomore season and closed that year by collecting three tackles for loss in the 24-6 defeat of Clemson in the Sugar Bowl national semifinal. He suffered a knee injury late in that game and was unable to play against Georgia.

Last year, Jennings amassed 51 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks and a team-high 11 pass breakups. He also had an 18-yard fumble return for a touchdown during the 50-17 whipping of The Citadel.

It was a mostly enjoyable season for Jennings, but it would have been better had Allen and Lewis been around.

"We're going to complement each other and stay fresh," Jennings said. "We're going to be hard to deal with."

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.

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