ATLANTA — An Alabama team already rife with injuries might have lost another one of its star players. The No. 3 Crimson Tide celebrated its second straight SEC title Saturday, upsetting No. 1 Georgia 41-24. However, the victory came with a cost as receiver John Metchie III left the game late in the second quarter with an apparent lower-body injury.
“We’ve lost a lot of really good football players this year on our team,” Saban said. “John Metchie is probably going to be out now, and we have a couple other guys that may be injured. It creates a lot of opportunity for a lot of other players. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get them to step up.”
Metchie was slow to get back to his feet after going down awkwardly during a play on Alabama’s final drive of the half. The receiver was eventually helped up before walking gingerly to the sideline before heading to the Tide’s locker room. Metchie was on the sideline for the second half but did not return to the game.
Metchie recorded six catches for 97 yards and a touchdown before leaving the game. He was replaced by sophomore Traeshon Holden and freshman Ja’Corey Brooks, who combined for three receptions for 30 yards. Jameson Williams led Alabama with seven receptions for 184 yards and two touchdowns on the night, while Slade Bolden also had a solid performance with five catches for 54 yards.
Metchie has 1,142 receiving yards and eight touchdowns on a team-high 96 receptions this season. Williams leads the Tide with 1,445 yards and 15 touchdowns on 68 receptions. Alabama’s next-highest receiver after those two is Bolden, who has 32 receptions for 333 yards and two touchdowns.
“I think we have some young guys that are going to get opportunities now,” Saban said. “Ja’Corey Brooks did it last week and this week. And I think Slade prayed really well. But I also think that a lot of that comes from Bryce (Young) having trust and confidence in those guys as well because a good quarterback can make receivers look good, and those guys have to run good routes and do things the right way to get open. But I think his faith, trust, and confidence in those guys have helped their development tremendously.”
Added quarterback Bryce Young, who earned MVP honors, passing for 421 yards and three touchdowns: “There's a lot of guys who stepped up with people being down, with just having to have rotation. I think Coach spoke to it well with the confidence that I have in them. That's confidence in seeing how they work throughout the week, seeing how they work in the offseason.
“So for me, even when it is the next man up and it's not someone that might be particularly familiar to the field, I see how they work throughout the week, and the guys that stepped up, I had complete confidence, complete trust and faith in them. We kind of built that rapport through how hard they work. For those guys to step up in a moment like we did, it was definitely big for us.”
Alabama's receiving unit could get reinforcement in the near future as freshman JoJo Earle is recovering from an injury he suffered against New Mexico State on Nov. 13. Earlier this week, Saban said Earle "probably will be back sometime shortly.”
Alabama will learn its postseason fate Sunday as the final College Football Playoff rankings are released at 11 am. CT on ESPN.
