Deontae Lawson had one request for Qua Russaw.
Alabama football had just made a defensive statement against Missouri by beating the Tigers 34-0 for the Crimson Tide’s first SEC shutout since 2020, a game where Russaw recorded his first collegiate interception.
Lawson, a redshirt junior, pulled Russaw, a redshirt freshman, aside after the win and issued a challenge in front of Alabama outside linebackers coach Christian Robinson.
“‘Hey man, I want to see you cut it loose,'” Russaw remembers Lawson telling him.
It’s a challenge Russaw plans to live up to and live up to the advice he’s received from Lawson: to play hard, to give everything, to not be afraid to make mistakes.
“I’m like, ‘I got you,'” Russaw said.
A Wolf linebacker in Kane Wommack’s defensive scheme gives Russaw the stage to make plays. It’s a position with “a lot of room for achievements,” one where Russaw could rush the pass on one down and drop back on the next down before playing traditional middle linebacker on another.
It’s a defensive scheme, Russaw said, that creates value for its players — one that’s multiplicitous, one that promotes versatility, one where players like him roam around and find opportunities to make plays.
“It’s kind of natural, for real,” Russaw said. “Just playing. Nothing too hard. Just going after it.”
That is Wommack’s defensive approach in a nutshell, one that seems to be taking shape as the season goes along and as its players continue to understand the system and finding advantageous opportunities to create momentum.
“You’ve got some guys who have experience, and maybe they have experience in different systems, and you have guys who have little experience, and they’re starting to grow and learn,” Wommack said. “So I like where we’re headed.”
To Wommack, Russaw is one of those players that epitomizes growth within his defensive game plan, one that buys in to the dynamic tendencies of the Wolf position that is asking a player to play both five- and nine-technique, that is efficient in both man and zone coverage, that can fold back inside and stop the run.
“Qua is strong at the point of attack,” Wommack said. “He’s got enough athleticism to be able to make space tackles. And so really he has all the physical traits for a good Wolf, but more so the guy has really taken ownership in terms of what to do schematically and how he fits within the framework of the defense.”
Simply put: Wommack wants Russaw to “cut it loose” just like Lawson wants him to.
Players around Russaw see his potential.
To Alabama linebacker Que Robinson, a successful pass rush comes down to effort, to a desire to “just go get it.” For some, like Will Anderson, it’s inherent, Robinson said. For others, like himself, it’s a mentality that is taught.
For Russaw?
“You don’t got to teach that dude,” Robinson said.
Russaw, a former four-star out of Montgomery, Alabama, has 19 tackles, two tackles-for-loss, one sack, one forced fumble and one interception in eight games.
After playing on a pitch count after rolling his left ankle during Alabama’s September win against Wisconsin, Russaw is feeling good. He’s as healthy as he can be, he said.
Russaw is ready to turn the corner and perform for a defense that is looking to build continued momentum into the Crimson Tide‘s final stretch.
“For myself, just being comfortable and trusting myself to cut it loose and make plays within doing my job,” Russaw said.
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him atcgay@gannett.com or follow him@_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
