In Texas last week, I asked Alabama All-America linebacker Reggie Ragland to describe the leadership style of All-America defensive end A'Shawn Robinson.

His answer: "He's like that mean grandma."

Not what I expected. Robinson is 6-foot-4, 312 pounds, with the beard and visage of an angry Zeus. For added effect, he has a scar on his brow that you could easily imagine came from hand-fighting a grizzly. (You should see what the grizzly looked like after that tussle.)

View photos A'Shawn Robinson helps lead Alabama's dominating defensive line. (AP) More

Robinson could walk into the prison yard at Attica and everyone would scatter. If there are grandmas who look like him, the AARP is a tougher group than I ever imagined. Can you explain, Reggie?

"He's like, 'This is my house, and this is how we get it done,' " Ragland said. "He has a soft side – everyone on our team has a soft side. He's funny. But if you make him mad, he has that mean side."

OK. A'Shawn, is it accurate to call you the mean grandma of the Alabama defensive line?

"I guess so," he said, with no trace of a smile. "I say what I want to say and I'm expecting you to listen. And if you don't listen, I'm going to make you listen."

I would listen.

Robinson is the most terrifying member of the most terrifying unit in college football, the Crimson Tide defensive line. He is joined up front by fellow 300-pound maulers Jarran Reed and Darren Lake, but that's just the first wave. After them come eight more studs, all standing at least 6-3 and weighing somewhere from 273 to 315 pounds. The depth is such that Rivals.com's No. 1 recruit in the nation in 2014, Da'Shawn Hand, is a third-stringer as a sophomore.

Up front, where games still are won and lost even in the spread-offense era, Alabama wins with an unlimited supply of "beasts," as Ragland called them. Nobody else in college football has 11 defensive linemen who can play.

"They've got 11 guys, and they've got one freshman and one sophomore," said Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, whose team must attempt to block that Tide front line Monday in the College Football Playoff championship game. "It's all seniors and juniors, so not only are they talented, but they're experienced, and obviously well-coached. Really tough, tough group."

The group they remind Swinney of: his team last year. Clemson led the nation in total defense in 2014, thanks largely to a defensive line that overwhelmed offensive fronts all season. Then the Tigers graduated every starter from the front seven. Four of them were taken in the 2015 NFL draft, including two (Vic Beasley and Stephone Anthony) in the first round.

Yet here the Tigers are in the national championship game. And there they were beating the snot out of Oklahoma's offensive line last week in the Orange Bowl. Which just goes to show: Nick Saban isn't the only one recruiting phenomenal defensive line talent and depth. Swinney is doing it, too.

"We were deep and talented in that front last year, and experienced," Swinney said. "I mean, I think we're deep and talented right now. We're just very inexperienced."

Clemson's rebuilt defensive line showed its depth against the Sooners. Shaq Lawson, the star of the line and an All-American selection this season, left the game in the first half with a knee injury and didn't return. And still the Tigers throttled Oklahoma up front, holding a team averaging 222 rushing yards per game to 67 and sacking quarterback Baker Mayfield five times.

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