A salute to the 2020 Alabama seniors: Dylan Moses

Dylan Moses came to Alabama as the defensive crown jewel of the offensively loaded 2017 recruiting class, with more hype than most as a player who started getting SEC offers in the 8th grade. The 2016 high school Butkus Award winner grew up in Baton Rouge but made the difficult decision to choose Alabama over hometown LSU, with whom he had a longstanding relationship.

Dylan’s talent was evident from the jump. He has rare size and speed for a man his size, and when the Tide suffered a litany of linebacker injuries in his freshman season, he played pretty well before succumbing to injury himself, earning his first start against Mercer. He started next to Mack Wilson as a sophomore, and was slated to be The Man in the middle coming into 2019.

As we all know, the football gods had other ideas. Dylan suffered a devastating knee injury in practice, just a few days before the season opener against Duke. He was missed terribly. Dylan flirted with the idea of entering the 2020 NFL Draft despite the injury, but ultimately decided to come back to school and hopefully improve his stock.

Whether he did that remains to be seen. It’s a shame for Moses that there is no Combine this year, because he excels physically and would likely increase his value in that environment. He will still have the opportunity to showcase himself at Pro Day and private workouts. At times, he appeared somewhat tentative as a senior, but that is understandable after such a horrific injury that at times had him thinking about quitting football altogether.

Thankfully, he did not. His senior leadership and presence on the field contributed mightily to a much improved, national champion Alabama defense. Like his fellow seniors, the two-time All-American leaves Tuscaloosa with a degree in hand and two championship rings.

Enjoy some of his highlights below. Thanks for the memories, Dylan.

Roll Tide.