Nick Saban updated Alabama’s injury report Wednesday as he revealed safety DeMarcco Hellams and offensive lineman Kendall Randolph will both miss time with sprained ankles they suffered during the team’s first fall scrimmage over the weekend.
“It’ll be day-to-day but they’ll probably be out for a little while,” Saban said, “but we hope to get them back shortly.”
Randolph, a redshirt senior, has been working with the first-team offense at right tackle this fall. According to reports, the 6-foot-4, 298-pounder lined up at left tackle during the scrimmage in replacement of Evan Neal, who was held out of the workout. Following his injury, Randolph was replaced by sophomore Damieon George and redshirt sophomore Amari Kight. Five-star freshman J.C. Latham worked with the first-team unit at right tackle during the scrimmage.
Hellams has been working alongside fellow junior safety Jordan Battle on the first-team defense. Redshirt senior Daniel Wright has also worked with the first-team defense at times this offseason. Another option at the position is sophomore Brian Branch, who Saban said has featured at every position in the secondary this fall.
“I think that he’s had a really, really good camp,” Saban said of Branch. “He’s done a really good job. And maybe we’ve asked him to do a lot of different things. We’ve played him at Star, we’ve played him at corner, we’ve played him at Money, we’ve played him at safety, so he’s played every position in the secondary. But I think, in fairness to him, we need to put him someplace and get him some reps at that position so he can feel really good about playing fast because when he’s confident that way, he’s a real playmaker.”
Alabama will practice again Thursday and Friday before returning to Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday for its second scrimmage. After taking part in a more situational scrimmage last weekend, Saban said Saturday’s workout will feel more like an exhibition game as he looks to see how players react to game-like situations without coaches instructing them what to do.
“This will be a little more freedom for the players, we’re also working on gameday coaching organization from that standpoint so we’re looking forward to that,” Saban said. “The bottom line is we need more guys to develop consistency in performance so they can play winning football and we have more depth on our team, we have more competition on our team and I think that will make us better.”