Motivation, focus never an issue for Will Anderson Jr., the 2022 CBS Sports Preseason Player of the Year

HAMPTON, Georgia — In the beginning, it was about the raw talent for Will Anderson Jr. A teenage edge rusher from an Atlanta suburb, Anderson was a Porsche without brake lights.

It didn’t matter if the kid couldn’t decipher a bull rush from a speed rush. He was a wind-up toy who never wound down. Forget about technique … that could come later. In that beginning, it was first about making it through a Dutchtown High School practice.

Anderson’s defensive coordinator, Will Rogers, remembers the prize defender lining up against the offense in drills.

“We had to take him out,” said Rogers, who was at Dutchtown for Anderson’s entire high school career. “We couldn’t get anything done [offensively]. I hear they’re doing the same thing at Alabama. They’ve got to get his butt out of there.”

There is no official word on Anderson’s impact at Alabama practices. They are mostly held out of sight of prying eyes. There is enough proof on Saturdays, however.

Anderson, a unanimous 2022 CBS Sports / 247Sports Preseason All-America selection and our Preseason Player of the Year, enters the season as the nation’s best defender, a unanimous Preseason All-American and a potential No. 1 overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft.

At age 19, Anderson became the first true freshman to start at linebacker for Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban. As a sophomore last season, he led the country in both sacks (17.5) and tackles for loss (34.5). No Power Five player has topped both categories in the same season for at least the last 13 years. Pro Football Focus lists Anderson as only the second true sophomore to lead the country in total pressures (82).

But Anderson’s impact extends far beyond his stat line. In an age when edge rushers are so valued, he forces Bama observers to crack the vault and research the program’s history. Ultimately, Anderson has to be considered among the best-ever Tide players at his position only two seasons into his career.

There have been great linebackers at Alabama — Cornelius Bennett, Lee Roy Jordan, Rolando McClain, Dont’a Hightower — but the best comparison for Anderson might be Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Derrick Thomas.

“It’s like the 15th question I’ve had on that,” Anderson said last month at SEC Media Days when asked about comparisons to Thomas. “I watched clips. [He’s] a freakish athlete.”

Thomas was more than that. In 1988, he finished…