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Bama News
Why Alabama football needs to send its cheetahs after Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker
Alabama football needs to deploy its cheetah package frequently against Hendon Hooker and Tennessee on Saturday.
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Alabama football needs its cheetahs to move fast Saturday to slow down the nation's No. 2 offense.
The No. 1 Crimson Tide (6-0, 3-0 SEC) will have its hands full when it faces quarterback Hendon Hooker and No. 8 Tennessee (5-0, 2-0) on Saturday (2:30 p.m. CT, CBS) at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.
Hooker might be the nation's most efficient quarterback and already is among the early favorites for the Heisman Trophy. Hooker's quarterback rating is the best of any SEC quarterback (179.5), and he’s just behind Mississippi State's Will Rogers in completion percentage (71.63% to 70%).
Hooker has thrown for 1,432 yards, 10 touchdowns and no interceptions over five games for the Vols, who average 46.8 points per game. His last interception came Nov. 13 vs. Georgia last season, a streak of 239 consecutive passes without a pick.
If that sounds tough, it is. Which brings us back to the cheetahs.
Alabama will need to deploy its three-headed monster, known as the cheetah package, to affect Hooker.
The cheetah package is as overwhelming as it sounds. The Crimson Tide brings three edge rushers on the field at once. It’s a smart design, considering it has three starting-worthy outside linebackers in Will Anderson Jr., Dallas Turner and Chris Braswell.
Alabama frequently deployed this defense in last Saturday's win vs. Texas A&M, and it worked.
The trio combined for 23 total pressures and three sacks, per Pro Football Focus’ charting. Anderson led the way with 10 pressures and he didn’t even have a sack. Turner had seven pressures and Braswell finished with six.
“It’s really fun because you never know who is going to get back there first,” Turner said.
Fun for them maybe.
“It puts a lot of stress on the O-line,” offensive tackle Tyler Steen said, after facing the unit every day in practice.
And it puts stress on the quarterback. Texas A&M's Haynes King looked like he was running for his life most of the night at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Hooker is better than King, but Alabama would be wise to unleash the cheetahs against him, too.
If there’s a time Hooker isn’t quite as good, it’s when he’s facing pressure.
Hooker has completed only 10 of 17 passes (58.8%) for 128 yards and one touchdown on 35 drop-backs under pressure, per PFF. When he’s kept clean, Hooker has completed 88 of 124 passes (71%) with nine touchdowns.
Just deciding to blitz doesn’t matter as much, though. The blitzers have to be effective. Hooker's completion percentage is about the same blitzed (68.3%) as not blitzed (70%), per PFF.
Fortunately for Alabama, it has three players who have shown a propensity for being effective when sent after the quarterback.
They will need to continue the momentum from the Texas A&M win to grab another road victory this weekend.
