After the longest offseason in recent history, the Alabama Crimson Tide's fall camp is flying by in front of our eyes. Twenty percent of the practice sessions are in the books and Alabama's Sept. 26 opener against Missouri is just over a month away.
On Monday, Tony wrote about what we learned during the first week of fall camp, but it's a new week and we still have a lot of unanswered questions (most of them involve the offensive side of the ball) ahead of the 2020 season).
1. Will Alabama's third receiver please stand up?
Last year Henry Ruggs III was the Crimson Tide's third option in the passing game. He still managed to top 700 yards while scoring seven times. Oh yeah, and he was the first receiver drafted in the recent NFL Draft.
Despite playing fewer snaps than the trio of sophomores ahead of him, Jaylen Waddle was Alabama's third-most targeted receiver in 2018. He finished with 848 yards and seven receiving touchdowns.
So it's only fitting to ask Waddle which guys will be rounding out the new receiving corps this season.
"That's a question you are going to have to ask Coach Saban," Waddle said when asked just that on Saturday.
Okay it looks like we'll have to do this the hard way.
John Metchie III ran 57 routes last season, the most of any returning receiver not named Waddle or DeVonta Smith. In case you forgot, Metchie earned MVP honors in the 2019 A-Day after he caught five receptions for 133 yards.
Slade Bolden only ran 25 routes last season, but he seems to be getting the most buzz from members of the media after the first week of camp.
"He's grown tremendously," cornerback Patrick Surtain II said of Bolden. "He's obviously a great route runner, but also he understands the game. … Knows ins and outs of defenses, which makes him a better player."
The dark horse of the group seems to be freshman Javon Baker. He's easily been the most exciting newcomer on the offense this offseason outside of Bryce Young, and he seems poised to see the field plenty this season, likely at the expense of one of the other two guys on this list.
