It's now or never for 'Zo'

TUSCALOOSA | After signing in 2004, he first had to spend a year at a military prep school in order to academically qualify. Then came a season of sitting on the bench, which counted as a redshirt, followed by taking just 29 snaps last year.

Yet the wakeup call for University of Alabama sophomore defensive tackle Lorenzo Washington happened when he was away from the field, in the weight room doing a simple workout. The result of an accident, a torn pectoral muscle, made him even more of a sideline fixture, leaving him looking around this past spring and not liking what he saw.

“I almost lost what I worked hard for,” Washington said. “I’m not saying that I was like messing around, I might have been a little bit out of focus, maybe taking things for granted.

“That made me realize how much I want to be here, how much I have to work. Everything just can’t be handed to you. [It] really pushed me to get better, faster, to get ahead of the curve because I love doing this. This is what I want to do.”

And this is his chance, in part due to three years of being in the wings, in part due to attrition. In fact, right now Washington may be the only thing between success and downright disaster at defensive tackle this season.

‘This camp’s been an opportunity for me to step up,” Washington said. “This is an opportunity for me to show that I can put everybody on my back. Coach says the defense starts up front with nose tackles. It starts up front with us.”

However, no position on the Tide is as precariously thin, and that was before any of the recent setbacks.

During the brief time reporters were able to observe Wednesday’s practice, Washington worked with the first unit, as expected.

His backup was true freshman Josh Chapman, who according to a newspaper report had a grade mistakenly changed on his transcript at Hoover High School, which made him academically eligible to accept his scholarship.

Wearing black, signaling no contact, with the third unit was redshirt freshman Brian Motley, who was wearing a cast on his right hand and wrist following recent surgery. Although the cast will allow him to extend his fingers, it’ll still be difficult to grab, and thus somewhat limiting.

Behind him was true freshman Alfred McCullough.

That’s it. Currently there’s no one else.

Of the four, Washington is only one with game experience. However, he has yet to record his first tackle with the Crimson Tide, at 6-foot-4, 283 pounds isn’t considered a true nose tackle and like everyone else is still learning the new defense.

“This is the kind of stuff that people in the NFL might have some problems with,” Washington said. “Our coaches are like, ‘So what?’”

Motley’s quick ascension during the spring had him atop the depth chart for the A-Day game, while Washington was still out as a precaution. Perhaps that too spurred him a bit, but he was still behind the converted offensive lineman at the start of fall camp.

“I lost almost a whole conditioning program, so when we started the summer conditioning program I was already behind,” Washington said. “I had to catch back up in the conditioning program, and then catch back up on the football field.”

At minimum, both figure to be on the field a lot this season, although Nick Saban is heavily recruiting the position with the promise of available playing time from the get-go. Within a year or two the depth chart could, or rather should, be fully restocked, but the best way to fight off challenge is as the incumbent.

That’s why the man they call “Zo” might never get a chance like this again.

“Good player,” junior center Antoine Caldwell said. “Smart player. He’s one of the smartest defensive linemen that we have. Works hard, gives me a challenge each and every day. Gives me something different every day and that only makes me better. Works a lot of moves and does a lot of different things.”

“Yeah, he’ll beat me, and I don’t like getting beat by anybody, but I’m like, ‘Man, that’s one of the best centers out there and beat him,’ when I beat him,” Washington said. “There’s not many people out there with an offensive line as good as ours. I think that helps.”

It had better, especially considering that Alabama is roughly one week away from the start of the season, two weeks from facing its first SEC opponent and three Saturdays from the defending division champion visiting.

“I’ve been ready since I signed on the dotted line three years ago,” Washington said. “You see people saying stuff. You hear people talking. It’s just time for me to do it now. It’s put up or shut up time pretty much.”

Reach Christopher Walsh at chistopher.walsh@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0196