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The rebuilt Alabama defensive front is taking shape in fall camp, and a USC transfer is set to play an important role for the Crimson Tide in 2026. Defensive lineman Devan Thompkins is currently in his fifth college football season and is the guy making the most magic happen in the Bandit position in Kane Wommack’s 4-2-5 “Swarm” defense and is even excelling when lined up in a 3-technique. Alabama’s defensive coordinator raved about Thompkins on Tuesday, saying that the USC transfer has a special skill set. “Devan is just a special skill set just to be that big and athletic, and he can move and do some things both from the Bandit position and from the 3-technique position,” Wommack said. “It allows me as a play caller… There’s a lot of different things that we can do with him, but just his physicality, you know, his ability to take on blocks, disengage, when a lot of times offenses are trying to figure out how they can attack that C-gap area, right? So, they’re to create a C-gap area rider or a split zone concept or insert somebody back inside, and so, if you can constrict that area, it makes it more difficult to run the ball or for the ball to be able to wind back.” Wommack said he believes it will be very difficult for a team to throw just a tight end at the 300-pound Thompkins and expect to win the C-gap. “He [Thompkins] is a very physical presence in there,” Wommack said. “You look at the tight ends in our league, and there’s some really good tight ends, but he’s gonna be really hard to be able to say ‘Okay, we’re gonna put a tight end one on one with him and win in the C-gap area.’ So, it definitely helps the dynamic of what we need to do to stop the running game.” Thompkins was On3’s second-rated defensive lineman in the transfer portal. Last season, he totaled 31 tackles including 6.5 for loss, and he added three sacks, a forced fumble, a quarterback hurry and two pass breakups to his name. Alabama ranked 14th in the SEC in the Crimson Tide’s independent study of defensive linemen’s frames, and so Wommack wanted to increase the size up front. The Bandit position was completely gutted by the NFL Draft and the transfer portal, but Thompkins is shaping up to be the guy at that spot for Wommack and the Alabama defensive front.