Kane Wommack is a bit of a nerd. The Alabama defensive coordinator and his sons are big fans of the Marvel superhero movie series, so much so that a word from one of the films has infiltrated his coaching.
It all began in 2018, when Black Panther was released. Wommack watched the film, and one word stuck out.
Yibambe. It’s a word the hero of the film, T’Challa, uses as his troops run into battle.
“I guess I’m a nerd when it comes to some of those things, so I was like ‘What does yibambe mean?” Wommack said Monday. “So I look it up and it’s actually, I think it’s an African Bantu language word that means hold fast the line. So I thought, what a fitting chant for a red zone defense, right? To hold the line.”
Alabama’s red zone defense kept South Florida out of the end zone on three of four trips inside the Crimson Tide 20-yard line on Monday. Some coaches would be thrilled with that performance.
Not Wommack.
“Really disappointed in the one touchdown that we gave up,” Wommack said. “I thought we should’ve been better there and give ourselves another chance at a stop on third down, so we have to continue to improve. It’s not OK to give up touchdowns in the red zone.”
The Crimson Tide returns to action on Saturday, on the road for the first time this season, against Wisconsin. It’s another chance for Wommack and company to try and achieve the perfection he’s looking for.
As it approaches, he’ll keep stressing the lesson from Black Panther.
“Doesn’t matter how they get down in the red zone, whether we’ve turned the ball over and whether they’ve gone on a 16-play drive and it’s first-and-goal from the five-yard line, everyone has to yibambe, we have to hold fast the line,” WOmmack said. “We have to do our 1/11th to be able to hold the line in that situation. And I think that’s something that our players have leaned into over the years, and we’ve been successful at a number of places in the red zone and I think we’re taking steps in the right direction here as well.
