Alabama covets versatility. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about Kalen DeBoer and Ryan Grubb with the offensive guys, or Kane Wommack on defense. Providing flexibility and filling a variety of roles always increases value. A perfect example of that last year was Jihaad Campbell, who was an impact linebacker playing both on and off the ball.
A player such as Jah-Marien Latham doesn’t have the same NFL ceiling as Campbell. Really, it’s not even close, but there’s still value to the various things the sixth-year senior can do for your defense. Wommack recently talked about Latham’s versatility, even bringing up that he’s playing between 3-4 positions on defense.
“(Latham) can do a lot of things for us; he can play multiple positions for us,” Wommack told reporters this past Wednesday following Alabama’s practice. “In fact, we’ve got him playing three, four positions on the defense, which is really impressive.”
Last year, Latham started off as a strong-side defensive end, which is known as the Bandit in Wommack’s defense. Later in the year, he made the move to Wolf, which is the boundary edge playing to the short side of the field. That position requires a lighter body who can play both on and off the ball. Latham held up well considering he was 6-foot-3, 278 pounds, but now that the move has been made permanent, he’s dropped down to 262.
So, what are the other positions Latham is playing outside of Wolf? Well, he shared that information on Wednesday.
“So, I play Wolf, that’s one,” Latham said. “We have a ‘Cheetah package’ where I go to nose. Then it’s basically like, with the Wolf position, you’ll play like a stacked ‘backer. So like, you can play in the box. Then also I play a little bit of Bandit.”
In other words, Latham is mainly playing Wolf, but he’s also getting snaps at Bandit and as a nose tackle when Alabama deploys its infamous Cheetah package, which has typically included three edge rushers and one defensive lineman. And when you consider that the Wolf plays some off the ball as a stacked linebacker, that technically makes four.
I love the idea of Latham playing nose in some obvious passing situations. Yes, you’d like for him to be at his previous size (278 pounds) in those rare situations, but he was fairly effective in that role a couple of years ago under Nick Saban and the previous coaching staff. Plus, you’re essentially getting four edge guys on the field now for those situations, if Latham is the one playing the nose. Here would be my guess on what that four-man, Cheetah package could look like:
