Why this 'weird' defensive back could be Alabama football secret weapon

Dijon Lee Jr. is in a weird spot heading into his second spring with Alabama football. 

The Crimson Tide sophomore defensive back is locked into a starting cornerback spot, along with junior Zabien Brown. And Lee remains uniquely built with his 6-foot-4, 204-pound frame standing on the turf field after Alabama’s final spring practice session before the university’s spring break. 

While Lee is unique, he’s not the only one built like this in Alabama’s cornerbacks room. 

“Me and Carmelo (O’Neal), I don’t know, he might be a little taller than me now,” Lee said. “It’s just different. The game’s changing every day. Corners getting taller. It’s just kind of weird a little bit.” 

Alabama defensive backs coach Maurice Linguist has a type, one Mercer transfer Carmelo O’Neal fits to a tee: a 6-foot-4, 209-pound big-bodied cornerback, one who is a ball hawk with a team-leading 10 pass breakups for the Bears a season ago. 

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And it’s one Alabama saw firsthand, recording three tackles and a pass deflection in Mercer’s 52-7 loss to the Crimson Tide in 2024. But that is not the tape Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack noticed. 

It was O’Neal’s film in the Bears’ 62-17 loss to Auburn in 2025, one where he had three solo tackles and a pass deflection, a performance that caused Wommack to exclaim “Who is this long DB they got at Mercer?” as he prepped for the Iron Bowl. 

Linguist and the recruiting staff found O’Neal later, joining Alabama’s 2026 roster Jan. 10. And on the spring practice field, Wommack said, O’Neal is “like a sponge,” eager to “take a step forward.” 

But all Wommack has to do is look at O’Neal. It’s not normal to see a player like that out of the NCAA transfer portal. 

“We’re already long in the secondary and all of a sudden he’s taller than Dijon Lee, which is hard to believe, and still have corner feet,” Wommack said. “There’s a lot of things we could do with him, but right now he’s doing a really good job on the outside. I’m excited about him.”

For Alabama, O’Neal is depth, a direct replacement for one-year transfer Cam Calhoun, who is off to Ohio State. O’Neal is a number in a room that includes redshirt freshman Chuck McDonald III, five-star Jorden Edmonds and four-star Zyan Gibson.

But Lee knows what O’Neal can be from personal experience. What he and O’Neal share is not normal. It’s “weird.” 

“Kind of hard for a quarterback to fit the ball in,” Lee said when asked about what advantages a 6-foot-4 cornerback has. “Take a lot of space on the outside, the boundary, the field, either way. Not many quarterbacks can throw over a 6-4 corner. And if it is, it’s a perfect ball.” 

Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Why Carmelo O’Neal could be Alabama football secret weapon