Pete Golding saw a leader emerge before his eyes a year ago this week. Looking back, that was part of the shame of watching linebacker Dylan Moses come out of his shell.
"This is the first time we met as linebackers after practice," said Golding, Alabama's defensive coordinator. "It was the first time I ever saw him grab somebody by the facemask, really get in their stuff, let them know that's not how we do it here. That's what I'd been waiting on …
"That's the first time since I'd been here that I saw him wear his emotions on his sleeve and just pour it out. He came to my office after practice. I told him, 'That is it, man. That is it.'"
Until it wasn't.
The next day, Alabama's star inside linebacker was lost for the season with a torn ACL. It was a crippling blow that even a dynasty like Alabama couldn't completely endure.
This week is significant because it is more than a marker that the season is still a month away for the SEC. It is dark reminder that on August 27, 2019, the Crimson Tide were thrown into scramble mode four days before the season opener when they lost a preseason All-American, a team captain and Butkus Award finalist.
Never mind Moses also being a top NFL prospect who was obviously expecting to enter his last year of college football.
Until he wasn't.
The suffering and anticipation was written on Moses' face last week during a Zoom conference. Even in that detached setting, one could sense what a trying year it had been ... and what a year 2020 could be.
The injury was one thing. Then there was the tedious rehab. Then COVID-19 came along to put the 2020 season in doubt, a devastating capper what could have continued to be an awful year.
"This last year has actually been really hard for me, especially last year when I got hurt," Moses said. "As far as COVID and us practicing and getting ready to play and all the uncertainty, I'm actually at peace with it. Either way, it would have been good in my favor. … At the end of the day, it would have given me more time to heal."
Moses -- a 2020 CBS Sports/247Sports and AP Preseason All-America first team selection -- is healed, and Alabama's defense is getting there. Without Moses, Golding's unit finished fifth in the SEC in total defense, 21st in the nation -- the worst finishes in those categories for the Tide since Nick Saban's first season in 2007.
There was similar slippage on third down. Opponents converted almost 36% of the time. That was 35th nationally (second-worst at Alabama since 2007) and sixth in the SEC.
Even a deep dive into the analytics seemed agonizingly misleading. Alabama is fifth nationally over the last three years in hard stop percentage, the rate of opponents' possessions that ended with a turnover, three-and-out or a fourth-down stop, according to SportsSource Analytics.
Admirable, right? Two of the top four (No. 1 Clemson, No. 3 Ohio State) were in the College Football Playoff last year. No. 4 was Auburn.
So this is about more than Moses' return. It's about Golding entering his third season at Alabama maybe needing a bit of redemption himself. It's about a standard that may not be lost but is at least out of focus for the Tide.
Would Moses have made a difference last year? Probably. But the defense didn't hinge entirely on him. Golding was forced to start two freshmen at the inside linebacker spots. Before Moses' injury, redshirt redshirt senior Josh McMillon had wrecked his knee.
There were nagging concerns about Bama's defense being susceptible to "tempo" offenses that predated Golding.
In the end, it simply wasn't the defense anyone at Alabama had been used to seeing. The result was a tie for the fewest wins (11) since 2010.
"I used to break these guys down every year wherever I was at to learn and watch tape," Golding said of Alabama's defense. "Guess what? Five national champions [and], average the defense, No. 1 in the country. Everybody knows defense wins championships. We have an obligation to all the players who came before us to meet the standard."
As mentioned, Moses wasn't supposed to be here. The Alexandria, Louisiana, native led the Tide in tackles two seasons ago. With a 6-foot-3, 240-pound frame, Moses was already being mentioned among the linebacking greats Saban had developed.
There was growing talk of 2019 being his final season. That previous spring, Moses obtained a loss of draft value insurance policy, according to ESPN. In late December, Moses said he was returning.
"I think he thought long and hard about, 'Do I really want to come back and go through this again?' Golding said.
In the end, he did.
"It was very frustrating," Moses said. "I'm not the type of person who likes when things are up in the air. I like things that are certain. I want to be able to put a punctuation on my career here at Alabama."
Sadly, it's not all up to Moses. If the season is played at all, it might not be seen through to completion due to COVID-19. The commissioners' biggest fear beyond not playing at all is having to stop the season midstream.
All that work -- everyone's work -- to fit in a season would potentially be down the drain.
Think of Moses playing his last down of college football in January 2019. An on-time start to the SEC season on Sept. 26 is not assured.
"I was actually trying to rush my process," Moses said recalling his rehab. "My body was telling me, 'No.' As time went on and I got stronger, there were times I would go out on the field without a brace. I would feel great. I felt like, once it's actually game time, I'll be ready."
Let's just get to game time, please. The comeback for Moses and Golding could potentially be remarkable. Since 2004, Saban has employed 12 coordinators. Eight have become head coaches. In all, 14 of his assistants have become FBS head coaches, six of them in the NFL.
This is Golding's time. He was hired as co-defensive coordinator two years ago at age 34. In his first full season at the helm of the defense in 2019, he not only had to sheperd Bama through the injury situation. The Tide also ran into one of the best teams in college football history.
The 46-41 loss to LSU will stick with Alabama fans until, well, the Tide beat the Tigers again. The 46 points were the most scored by an opponent in a regulation game in the 90-year history of Bryant-Denny Stadium.
"The difference in the game now is the LSUs of the world is they'll go 'tempo' [fast-paced], but they'll go look [to the sidelines]," Golding said. "If you're in the same defensive look, they're going to eat you alive. …
"I have no regrets. I coached my ass off."
And Dylan Moses worked his ass off.
Golding could see it in what became daily Zoom meetings when the offseason was shut down.
If they can all make it to Sept. 26 when Alabama plays at Missouri then this comeback is just beginning. To make it to the end, they'll need more than the next great Bama linebacker and his coordinator.
On some level, the Tide will need cosmic luck to dodge the coronavirus. If they and the SEC do, Moses is prepared to make the most of his second chance at a lasting impression.
"I feel like I could have made a difference, [but] you can't look back on the past or reminisce," he said. "You have to keep moving forward."
