5 Alabama players on the rise — offense
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama’s spring practice is over, and while the Crimson Tide is poised to return plenty of big names this season, it will also rely on several newcomers to fill open roles.
Here are a few of the rising stars on offense from Alabama’s spring camp:
Jerry Jeudy, wide receiver
Jerry Jeudy is 18 years old. Keep that in mind the next time you watch him humiliate an opponent on the field. By the looks of Alabama’s A-Day game, that appears to be a common occurrence next season.
It took all of one play for Jeudy to demonstrate why he was rated as a five-star recruit and the No. 19 player overall in this year’s class. By the end of Alabama’s annual spring game, he arguably made the case he should have been rated even higher coming out of high school. The early enrollee earned the game’s MVP award, tallying five receptions for 134 yards and two touchdowns, often bailing out White team quarterbacks on the afternoon.
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The 6-foot-1, 184-pounder from Deerfield Beach, Fla., appears to be the next in line of elite South Florida receivers to join the Tide, following in the footsteps of Amari Cooper and Calvin Ridley. In fact, Jeudy’s teammates have even called him a “clone” of Ridley on the field.
“Only thing different is probably Jerry Jeudy is a little bit taller than Calvin,” Alabama receiver Cam Sims said. “That’s it. They both nightmares for a DB.”
The comparison is fine with Ridley, who grew up playing with Jeudy. Ridley said he’s rooting for the early enrollee, even stating he hopes Jeudy breaks his single-season freshman receiving record of 1,045 yards at Alabama.
“Yeah, I do. I want him to break it,” Ridley said. “That's my boy.”
Tua Tagovailoa, quarterback
The person getting the ball to Jeudy during A-Day wasn’t too shabby himself. Early enrollee Tua Tagovailoa raised plenty of eyebrows during the scrimmage, completing 17 of 29 passes for 313 yards and three touchdowns with one interception.
The 6-foot-1, 219-pound left-hander from Ewa Beach, Hi., led the White team to touchdowns on his first two drives, delivering a pin-point pass to receiver T.J. Simmons in the corner of the end zone for the game’s first touchdown. Tagovailoa would later benefit from a fortunate deflection, which ended up in the hands of Jeudy for an easy 25-yard touchdown. The freshman receiver would again come to the aid of his quarterback in the second quarter, out-jumping cornerback Aaron Robinson on a 50/50 ball for a 29-yard touchdown, Tagovailoa’s third of the game.
Despite the help, the freshman quarterback was impressive on his own, showing maturity beyond his years in the pocket. While he won’t overtake starter Jalen Hurts at quarterback, Tagovailoa reassured Alabama it has depth at the position moving forward.
“There was a lot of production,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said. “I think all of our quarterbacks are better passers than they were a year ago, first-, second-, and third-team guys. So that’s encouraging.”
Najee Harris, running back
Alabama’s running game left much to be desired during A-Day. However, that was no fault of early enrollee Najee Harris, who rushed for a game-high 70 yards on 17 carries in the scrimmage. He also recorded three receptions for 37 yards. Like Jeudy and Tagovailoa, the freshman wasted no time making an instant impact, rushing for 19 yards on his first carry.
Despite running behind the Tide’s second-team offensive line, Harris looked to be the most complete back on the afternoon, outshining fellow early enrollee Brian Robinson and returning starter Josh Jacobs.
Harris, the No. 1 overall player in this year’s recruiting class, excelled throughout the spring, drawing rave reviews in the Tide’s two scrimmages leading up to A-Day.
“Najee, he runs hard,” Alabama defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick said. “He doesn’t want to go to the ground, and you can see that every time he touches the ball.”
Harris will have a tough task ahead of him if he wants to unseat starters Bo Scarbrough, Damien Harris or Jacobs for playing time next season. However, A-Day proved it will be hard to keep the 6-foot-2, 227-pound back off the field for long.
Irv Smith, tight end
The arrival of newly-hired offensive coordinator Brian Daboll has many projected an increased involvement of tight ends in the passing game. Daboll comes to Alabama after serving the past three seasons as the tight ends coach for the New England Patriots.
A-Day did nothing to disprove that notion, as Alabama tight ends were targeted a combined nine times resulting in six receptions for 71 yards. The leader among the unit was Irv Smith, who accounted for three catches for 37 yards.
After serving in a minimal role last season, Smith has put together an impressive spring. The 6-foot-4, 243-pounder recorded a time of 4.59 in the 40-yard dash and bench-pressed 425 pounds during Alabama’s spring workouts, according to Al.com.
“There’s a good bit of depth. We have guys like Irv Smith, who is extremely good,” Alabama tight end Hale Hentges said. “A lot of people haven’t heard much about him yet just because he didn’t play a whole lot last year, but this guy has a ton of talent. I’m sure you guys are going to be seeing him coming up in the coming season.”
T.J. Simmons, wide receiver
A winner of the Bart Star Most Improved Player Award this spring, receiver T.J. Simmons showed he is capable of breaking into Alabama’s rotation this season. After failing to record a reception during his freshman season last year, Simmons stood out this spring, recording seven catches in the Tide’s first scrimmage and a game-high six catches for 82 yards and a touchdown during A-Day.
“T.J. has been doing real good this spring,” Ridley said. “He’s making big plays. But he’s always been like that. He’s young. But he’s ready.”