re: Lewis Neal best position in the 3-4

Alabama's "3-4" more often than not has 4 guys with their hand in the dirt. A big nose tackle, two big defensive ends, and a big outside linebacker. Upshaw played Jack, which means he rarely played standing up or dropping into coverage. Same goes for Tim Williams, he's an outside linebacker but he sticks his hand in the dirt 95% of the time. The only times when you see Bama with three down linemen and 4 stand up backers is when we're playing LSU and Arkansas. We're usually in Nickel. The Sam comes off the field in favor of the nickel back and the Jack puts his hand in the dirt

That said- Neal looks like a 3-4 DE to me. Jon Allen, Dalvin Tomlinson and Da'Shawn Hand will play that position for us and those four guys are all in the same neighborhood when it comes to size. Either way, that position (de/Jack) in a 3-4 has essentially the same responsibilities, with the Jack being a bit more tailored to drawing a single blocker and rushing the passer