🏈 Nose Tackle

[bama alum]

I need someone to educate me and tell me why Brandon Ivory is going to beat out Darren Lake for the starter's nod here.

 

[JoshB]

Experience, Ivory has the experience and has been effective as well. Lake will get playing time tho, hes gonna be a beast. Gonna be hard to keep Robinson off the field for long too imo.

 

[beachfinder]

Part of it is experience... but the simple truth is Ivory is simply better.... Don't confuse physical attributes with greatness... Lots of big burly guys wash out all the time.... Now can Lake be better than Ivory at some point in his career? Maybe so, in fact, I'd bet on that, but he isn't there yet because of two other things....

Heart and Smart...

Heart - He plays beyond his size... He gives 110% on every play, total balls to wall style play... I've seen him have to be double teamed so many times it's funny... And he's not scared to give so much that he "burns out" after a series of plays because he trusts that just like he was a second or third string, that there's someone talented enough to come in and give him a little rest... This is how noseguard is supposed to be played in the Nick Saban system.... Platooning is something they do at nose and have in Saban's whole career here... Lake and Love both can give him the rest he needs without a too noticeable dip in defensive strength... That article I just wrote about what keeps the fire burning so brightly at Alabama said it all... There's a long line of good players just waiting the chance to be a starter, but they're all happy to just be "contributors" for now....

Smart - Lake is still learning and don't confuse learning with experience... Some people play for four years and have experience, but they've actually learned very little... The coaches are getting Ivory to step up and be a leader and mentor those who will someday take his place... Ivory sees the O line come up and by their posture, the way the lean, the way their hand in the dirt may be pointed or the placement of their back foot and tell almost always what the blocking scheme is going to be... Lake, while having a ton of raw talent, is just having react on what he sees while it's happening or simply executing his rush scheme no matter what he sees... While that sounds like getting experience, it's really just getting smarter...

Larry

 

[JoshB]

The SEC Championship spoke volumes about Ivory. First the way Georgia started gashing us when Williams & Ivory went out with injuries but 2nd the heart that he (and Williams too) showed getting back out there and fighting and make two big late stops during the game.