Sometimes, Mack Wilson loses his voice.

The junior inside linebacker found himself in unchartered waters this year as the signal caller of Alabama’s defense with both Rashaan Evans and Shaun Dion Hamilton moving on to the NFL. And in the first six games, communication was not exactly crisp for the Crimson Tide.

Prior to the top-ranked team’s Homecoming game against Missouri this past weekend, Wilson shouldered the blame for the miscues on defense and promised fans they would see a familiar, dominating defense on the field at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Wilson was a man of his word.

Alabama held the Tigers to 10 points and 212 yards of total offense, intercepting quarterback Drew Lock twice and sacking him four times, including a strip sack by senior Isaiah Buggs. In the 39-10 Crimson Tide win, Wilson led the team with a season-high 11 tackles and added one sack and 1.5 tackles for loss in what was his best game of Alabama’s 2018 campaign.

“He played really well last week,” head coach Nick Saban said. “He’s one of the players of the week on defense. Played really well. He’s very productive and did a better job of making adjustments in the game with the front, got us in the right things. I thought Mack did a really good job in the game.”

Saban expounded on that Thursday evening when asked about team leadership.

“I was really excited last week because I thought Mack Wilson sort of stepped up and took some responsibility, communicated better and I think everybody played a little bit better because of that,” Saban said during his weekly radio show. “... The one thing we’ve always been blessed with here is we’ve always had coaches on the field on both sides of the ball. We’ve had some really smart guys, and they had experience and knowledge and they were very confident.

“When you talk about guys like Rolando McClain, Dont'a Hightower, C.J. Mosley, even Shaun Dion Hamilton was like a coach on the field. So, we’ve always had guys that could make a lot of adjustments and make other players feel comfortable, and that’s the one thing on defense we missed a little. But I started to see it come around last week.”

Like Saban, Wilson is proud of the way he and the entire defense played during Week 7 -- one week after surrendering 31 points and 405 yards of total offense to a 1-6 (0-4 SEC) Arkansas team.

“I feel like we played good,” Wilson said. “We played up to the standard.

Alabama ILB Mack Wilson led the Crimson Tide in tackles (11) against Missouri.

“But I still feel like we left some stuff out of the field, and there’s definitely some stuff that we can go back and correct today based on the explosive plays that they did get Saturday. So, I’m pretty sure that there’s a whole lot of room for improvement.

“... I feel like every day, there’s always room for improvement. I feel like there’s a standard of what we need to play like every week. That’s just another stepping stone toward the goals we’re trying to get to. So, back to work to go. We’re not satisfied ever.”

One area Wilson worked on this past week was simple -- preparation. Being the quarterback of the defense was new for him at the college level. He filled in for an injured Hamilton last year, but he had Evans, then a senior, to lean on. So, he watched extra film with inside linebackers coach Pete Golding in order to make necessary corrections and be better prepared for Missouri.

“Being a first-year signal caller, Mack was so focused on getting everybody lined up that he was forgetting -- not necessarily forgetting but, OK, you’ve got a job to do after you get everybody lined up and make the checks and do those things,” said Tracy Tyrome Varner of Madhouse Athletic Training, who has trained Wilson since age 13.

“So, once he had to go back to the basics -- I mean, football is stance, alignment, technique, down and distance -- he kind of worked a lot of that out of him.

“We talked last week, especially after he put the letter out, he was kind of like, ‘It’s going to get better this week.’ And so, I think his teammates responded. Me and him had a conversation about that, and I just asked him how his teammate felt about it, and he was like, ‘Everybody is on the same page.’”

Wilson explained the most difficult part of his new role as Mike linebacker.

“The challenging part is not knowing what’s coming, like not knowing what you’re supposed to check, like not knowing what play you can expect to come,” Wilson said. “Basically, it’s just trying to communicate with everybody on the field. I’ve got to set the defensive line, then I’ve got to make sure the guys behind me got the call, so it’s definitely challenging. And sometimes I lose my voice because I’m trying to make sure all of us are on the same page, and that’s something I take pride in, also.”

The good news is Wilson has veterans like around him to help spread the word.

“It’s not easy, but that’s why you’ve got guys like me and Anfernee (Jennings). Even (Deionte Thompson) back in the secondary, we make calls and echo them just as much. That way it’s not all on him,” outside linebacker Christian Miller said. “Especially when there’s a lot of noise, it’s not always easy for guys to get calls so we try to help him out as much as we can by signaling with our hands, echoing it, like I always try to echo it to the d-line because I’m right there next to them. Whatever we can do to help him out, we’re going to do that.

“That way he feels more comfortable and that way he can still focus on doing his job. As you can imagine, when you’re trying to get 10 other guys lined up sometimes you might be able to get distracted from doing your own job. Whatever we can do to help him we try to do that.”

Alabama junior linebacker Mack Wilson

On the season, the former 247Sports Composite 5-star has recorded 32 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, one sack, four hurries, three pass breakups and one interception as the man in the middle.

“I think he’s stepping into a big role this year and sometimes it takes a little time just to get more comfortable with it, which I think he’s been doing a really good job,” Miller said. “He’s made strides, improvements so far in terms of communicating and echoing the call and in terms of being that vocal guy in the middle for our defense. I think he’s going to continue to improve.

“He has all the ability in the world and obviously, he’s just a great leader and guy on this team. I really think the sky is the limit for him. As long as he keeps improving, he’s going to go down for a lot of good things here.”

Wilson’s voice was intact this week as he has better settled into his leadership role. But he will need to rally the troops again this weekend as Alabama will play in front of a hostile crowd at Neyland Stadium, taking on Tennessee and former defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt.

The Tide and Vols will do battle Saturday, Oct. 20, at 2:30 p.m. CT on CBS.

Against Missouri, Wilson played with more emotion and passion, Varner said, but despite his presence on social media, the Montgomery, Ala., native is not typically a “rah-rah” kind of leader.

“Mack is not the Rolando, he’s not the Shaun Dion. He kind of does his a little bit different,” Varner said. “But like I told him, there’s different ways to lead. He’s not like Reuben (Foster). He has to find his own way, his own footing and the way that he can communicate with his guys. He can still be that alpha dog, but I think a lot of them, they feed off the way you play.

“If he’s not so vocal, then you have to play fast, you have to make plays so your teammates can feed off of that. And he understood it. It was a good first step Saturday. Hopefully, he can build off it and the team can build off it.”

That will be key to this weekend and the rest of the Tide’s season. Alabama’s defense is full of young players, and some of the team’s toughest opponents are still on the horizon. Coming off his best performance, of the year, Wilson will look to build off that the next five games.

“Consistency. I mean, it has to be consistent,” Varner said. “You can’t go out here and have one good performance and then you come back -- you have to do the same thing. You have to prepare the same way. We had that conversation about preparing week in and week out. He has to prepare himself the same way, and the rest will take care of itself.

“A good week of practice, preparation, film study, doing everything that you need to do so when the game gets there, you’re locked in. It’s just about being consistent. And if he consistently does those things, which are the little things -- I mean, Mack has all the ability in the world. It’s the little things that you can’t corners on anything, especially when they’re looking at you for leadership. You don’t have any time to cut corners. So, it’s about doing the same thing. It’s just a part of the process, that’s all it is.”

Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports' personal messaging or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).

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