The chaos of Alabama football’s last offseason has been well documented, after Nick Saban shook up the college football ecosystem by retiring in January of 2024. On the field, some of the most obvious changes were on defense.

Safety and team captain Malachi Moore opted to stick around for his final season in Tuscaloosa following the hire of Kalen DeBoer. Speaking Thursday at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, Moore praised how Crimson Tide defense coordinator Kane Wommack handled the shift away from some of Saban’s schemes.

“It was a positive thing,” Moore said. “Coach Saban had Cover 7 as mainly what we ran, 95% of the time. So, I knew that in the league, there’s no Cover 7 in the league. So for coach Wommack to come in and implement an NFL-style defense, vision-based, vision and drive-based, one-high defense,

“I feel like it’s gonna help me with the learning curve of going to the NFL, because i’ve learned how to have vision on the quarterback and drive, and not just play man-to-man or Rip/Liz match when you look in the league, that’s something that teams do often is play vision coverage and drive on the ball.”

Moore also changed positions in the new defense. After spending his first four seasons as a star, playing closer to the line of scrimmage, he moved back to a more traditional safety role in 2024.

League coaches voted Moore first-team All-SEC for his lone season under Wommack and head coach Kalen DeBoer. He finished the year with 70 tackles, two forced fumbles, two interceptions and two pass breakups.

At the combine, he said the move worked well.

“Moving this year, it allowed me to be in the deep part of the field, and like I said, in the league, when you look at one-high defenses, safeties are really deep in the field,” Moore said. “And so it kind of gave me, I would say, a head start, in kind of learning and acclimating to NFL-style defense. Because up here (in Indianapolis), I’ve been installing team defenses, and it’s all kind of the same terminology, but it all reverts back to what we ran this year.”

Moore underwent sports hernia surgery earlier this offseason, and won’t be participating in drills at the combine. He said he’ll be fully ready to go for Alabama’s pro day in March.

In Indianapolis, Moore, showing up in mock drafts as a mid to late-round pick, is meeting with teams, trying to sell them on what he said separates him from the rest of the class.

“My ability to cover in the slot,” Moore said of his top talent. “I played star for four years and like I said, I was going against Jaylen Waddle, DeVonta Smith (in practice). Last year I was guarding Malik Nabers the whole game. So I have experience guarding elite players at that position.”