The line sounded like a PSA from the Alabama Department of Transportation rather than a message from the Crimson Tide’s head football coach. When it comes to assessing his current receiving corps, Nick Saban is looking for a bit more horsepower under the hood.
“I think speed kills on the football field and on the highway,” Saban said during his Wednesday Zoom call with reporters. “I love to have speed guys. We have some big guys, but we’ve gotta get some speed guys, too.”
Gone are the days when races between Jaylen Waddle and Henry Ruggs III resembled NCAA track meets inside of Alabama's indoor practice facility. Ruggs and Jerry Jeudy were selected in the top 15 picks of last year’s NFL draft. At the end of the month, Waddle and reigning Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith are projected to follow in their footsteps. Combined, that quartet is responsible for 68 percent of Alabama’s receiving yards and 70 percent of its touchdowns through the air over the past two seasons.
Complicating matters even more, the Tide’s leading returning receiver, John Metchie III, will sit out this spring as he recovers from a nagging ankle injury. Saban and his staff did their best to remedy the situation, adding four Rivals100 receivers in this year’s recruiting class. However, the unit as a whole is still very much a work in progress.
“I wouldn’t trade the guys that we’ve lost the last two years for anybody,” Saban said. “Probably all of them [are] first-round draft picks. So I don’t know that anybody that’s here right now has earned the first-round draft pick. Maybe [John] Metchie, and he’s not really practicing this spring, so I’m not really counting him. These guys all gotta prove themselves.”
Three of Alabama’s four true freshmen receivers are already on campus as Ja’Cory Brooks, Agiye Hall and Christian Leary will all compete for the starting roles vacated by Smith and Waddle. While that trio still has much to prove, the early reviews have been positive.
“I think they’re all working hard,” redshirt junior receiver Slade Bolden said. “They’re doing a good job of trying to learn the offense and the system. It’s a hard system to learn so it’s going to take time for them to grow and get through the process, but I think they’ve done a good job. Working hard. I see a bright future for them.”
Speaking to Saban’s call for speed, Leary is viewed as one of the fastest recruits in this year’s class. The speedy receiver posted a school-record 10.5 time in the 100-meter dash during his junior year of high school. For perspective, Ruggs, who clocked the fastest time in the 40-yard dash during last year’s NFL combine, ran a 10.58 in the 100-meter during his junior year of high school.
JoJo Earle, the fourth receiver in Alabama’s incoming quartet, is set to join the team this summer. While he doesn’t have quite the same straight-line speed as Leary, he offers another quick, shifty option out of the slot.
If either of those two are going to lock down the opening at slot receiver, they’ll have to beat out Bolden who filled in for an injured Waddle last year. With Metchie on the sidelines, Bolden is Alabama’s leading active receiver, pulling in 24 receptions for 270 yards and a touchdown last season.
Alabama also has intriguing returning options in Javon Baker and Xavier Williams. Baker received the most playing time out of the Tide’s non-starters at wide receiver last year. Williams, who teammates call “Ziggy,” tallied a reception in each of Alabama’s final three games last season and has been brought up a couple times already this spring.
“He’s worked hard, done everything right these last couple of years, and continues to progress,” Bolden said. “I’m excited for him, and happy he’s waited his turn the way I had to wait my turn. He’s done some very good things this spring, and I’m excited for him and hope things work out in his favor.”
Alabama will hold its opening scrimmage of camp Friday inside of Bryant-Denny Stadium. The game-like setting will give Saban his first true look at life without any of his four first-round receivers and perhaps provide some indication of whether or not the Tide has the tools to get its offense firing on all cylinders again this season.
“I think it’s going to be good for us as a unit since we had some guys leave, we got some new guys,” Bolden said. “I think just going out there, performing to our best ability, just making ourselves better and the defense better — just coming [and] making the team better — it’s kinda the ultimate goal right now for spring. I’m excited. I think we’re all excited to actually play, like, a simulation of the game so I think we’re ready.”
