Will Anderson was “Depressed” in 2022

Will Anderson Jr. was a certified monster during his time at the University of Alabama.

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He totaled 34.5 sacks, 205 total tackles, one pick-six, one forced fumble, four pass breakups, and a staggering 62 tackles for loss in three seasons in Tuscaloosa. He was a national champion as a true freshman and a two-time SEC Champion at Alabama. Anderson finished fifth in the 2021 Heisman Trophy race and was drafted No. 3 overall by the Houston Texans in 2023.

In 2022, Anderson was at one of his lowest points in life, and questioning everything, including God.

In an interview with Tyler Dunne of Go Long TD, Anderson reflected on growing up with his five sisters, how he turned into "The Terminator", and how his final season at Alabama was one of the toughest he's ever had to endure.

Anderson lost his grandmother, Betty, before the start of his freshman year in 2020. At the age of 84, pneumonia took her life quickly. Anderson's sisters reportedly walked into Coach Saban's office to deliver the news in person.

Once at the funeral, the weight hit Anderson.

"I just hate so much that I didn’t get a chance to see her," Anderson said.

“Everything that she instilled in me, her love,” he adds, “that’s what I try to give to other people.”

Anderson dedicated the 2020 undefeated Alabama season to her.

In 2021, Anderson was hit with another tragedy, as high-school teammate Adonis Butler was struck and killed by a transit bus on the campus of D-II school Albany State.

Anderson told Dunne, "I was so shocked. That whole day, I was lost for words. I couldn’t even think.”

Despite the tragedy, Anderson produced one of the strongest seasons as an edge rusher Alabama has seen, leading the entire country with 17.5 sacks and a staggering 35 tackles for loss. He credited Coach Saban and his academic advisor Emily Roberts, and considered his position coach, Sal Sunseri, as a second father.

Despite his firm foundation, through his dad's tough love, his sisters' pranks, and sound faith, 2022 provided a different type of challenge for Anderson.

Sunseri moved into an off-the-field role at Alabama, and Alabama added Coleman Hutzler as its outside linebackers coach. With the new coach came a new position for Anderson, lining up at the "4i" according to Dunne; on the inside shoulder of the offensive tackle, not the outside.

"This meant less rampaging upfield, less sacks, more media pressure. Anderson worried his draft stock was falling," Dunne wrote.

“My faith was very low — questioning God. Depressed. All those things,” Anderson said. “Now that I look back on it now, I wish I could do so many things differently.

“My last year at Alabama, I was just lost. I was lost.”

A flurry of changes on and off the field contributed to Anderson's "down" year mentally in 2022. Sunseri left, Christian Harris - one of his best friends on the team - left for the NFL, and Dunne reports Hutzler and Anderson did not see "eye-to-eye on a lot of things."

Even still, Anderson was one of the most dominant forces in college football, helping lead Alabama to a 10-2 record before being drafted No. 3 by Houston in the 2023 NFL draft.

Mentally, he was in a steel cage.

“I wasn’t standing firm on who I was,” Anderson said to Dunne. “I wasn’t standing firm on the foundation that my parents had already built for me. I was letting that stuff feed into me. All that negativity. And it was just wearing me down, wearing me down, wearing me down. I had to really suck it up and ‘Let’s just get through the season. Let’s just do what you need to do and get out of there.’”

Dylan Thompson - Houston's director of development - helped lift Anderson out of the mental hole he dug.

“I’ve never, ever been truthful, truthful,” he said. “He knew everything. All my thoughts that I was thinking," Anderson said to Dunne.

A week 14 loss combined with an injury saw Anderson begin down that path again. What changed?

Dunne reports, "This time, he bought a Bible, started going to church, and experienced a spiritual awakening. He began to feel free."

“That’s when everything changed for me,” Anderson said. “It’s OK to say, ‘God, I need your help. God, can you take this off of me?’ I think once I started realizing that part, my life became easier. I stopped trying to live for people and live for God because people are going to love you one day and hate you the next day. The only approval I need is from God. Once that mindset kicked in, my life has been so much easier.”

Anderson won Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2023, and is poised to be the cornerstone defender Houston has been searching for since the departure of future Hall of Famer JJ Watt.

You can read the full long-form story by Tyler Dunne here.

Wyatt Fulton is the TIde 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.