Alabama’s Damon Payne Jr. has bold prediction for 2024 CFB season: “We want teams to fear us”

Alabama's defensive lineman Damon Payne Jr. is gearing up for a new era of the Crimson Tide under coach Kalen DeBoer. Following Nick Saban's sudden retirement decision after a 17-year tenure, Tuscaloosa is going to witness a new era of the program in the upcoming season.

As Kalen DeBoer and his team prepare for the tough challenge ahead, Payne came forward to talk about his high expectations from the team in 2024. During a recent interview on "The Bama Standard", Payne said that he wants the Crimson Tide defensive line to be a fearful unit in the upcoming season and to fulfill the expectations of the team under DeBoer:

"The expectation is through the roof with us. We want teams to fear us when he stepped on that line. We want teams to not want to play our defensive line."

Following Saban's retirement, several key players on the Bama roster such as Isaiah Bond and Caleb Downs made their way to different teams in the transfer portal. Defensive backs Antonio Kite and Dezz Ricks transferred to Auburn and Texas A&M, respectively. But Damon Payne Jr. is hopeful of DeBoer's skills to lead the team as he did with the Washington Huskies last season.

Before accepting the job in Tuscaloosa, DeBoer led the Huskies to a Pac-12 championship win against the Oregon Ducks. The team then faced the Michigan Wolverines in the CFB national championship, which they lost.

Given DeBoer's successful two-year stint with the Huskies, the expectations to prove himself as a worthy successor of Nick Saban in Alabama are high for the 49-year-old.

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Damon Payne Jr.'s college career

Coming out of Belleville High School, Payne was rated as the No.1 player out of Michigan. He committed to play for the Crimson Tide in 2021 and redshirted his freshman season.

Damon was then part of the Bama roster for the 2022 season where he played six games. He recorded six total tackles and one fumble recovery in his debut campaign.

Last season, he recorded nine total tackles and earned a role in the defensive front of the team. It will be interesting to see how the defensive line performs under DeBoer in 2024.