Tagovailoa headlines long list of injured players to begin spring practice
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — After a season plagued by injuries, Alabama head coach Nick Saban started spring practice Tuesday by rattling off a long list of key players who will be out for the Crimson Tide. Headlining the group is quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who injured his thumb on his throwing hand during Alabama’s first practice of spring camp.
“Tua hurt his thumb today in practice,” Saban said Tuesday. “We’re taking him to Birmingham to get that evaluated. But it’s probably going to require some time for him to get back. I don’t want to speculate on what the injury might be. Mostly telling me when these type of things happen, it takes a little while for them to come back.”
In his last time on the football field, Tagovailoa led Alabama to a comeback over Georgia in the College Football Championship. Replacing starter Jalen Hurts to start the third quarter, he completed 14 of 24 passes for 166 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winning 41-yard pass to DeVonta Smith to give Alabama a 26-23 win in overtime.
During his freshman season, Tagovailoa played in nine games, completing 63.6 percent of his passes for 636 yards and 11 touchdowns with two interceptions. Tuesday he was behind Hurts in footwork drills while working beside him during team drills.
“I think in a few days, Tua will probably be able to do some things,” Saban said when asked about the quarterbacks. “But when you hurt your thumb on your throwing hand, it’s kind of hard to grip the ball, so I think that’s going to be the issue is whether he’s able to throw it.
“He and Jalen were splitting reps, and we’re giving both guys an opportunity to see how they compete, to see how they do. So, we don’t have decisions, we’re not speculating on any decisions. But we’re just going to be fair and honest in terms of how we give both players a chance to compete.”
Aside from Tagovailoa, Saban also mentioned running back Josh Jacobs (ankle), linebacker Anfernee Jennings (knee), defensive back Keaton Anderson (shoulder) and offensive linemen Matt Womack (foot) and Kendall Randolph (Achilles) as players who will be out for an extended period of time during spring practice.
Jacobs was absent from practice as he is still rehabbing from ankle surgery in January. Earlier this year, he tweeted that he was dealing with the injury since Week 5 of the season.
“He may be able to come back at some point in the spring and do some drills,” Saban said of Jacobs. “To what degree I don’t know. It depends on how he progresses.”
Jennings sprained his knee during the Sugar Bowl against Clemson and underwent surgery in January. Saban said he will “probably” be held out of spring camp.
“His rehab is going extremely well, but we're taking it easy with this injury,” Saban said. “This is not something that I think you want to really mess around with too much. He'll probably be full-strength by the beginning of the summer.”
Womack cracked a bone in his right foot during practice and will undergo surgery on Wednesday. According to his father, he’s expected to be out roughly six weeks. Randolph and Anderson will also miss spring practice, according to Saban.
Alabama will also be without backup linebacker Keith Holcombe this spring. Saban said the redshirt senior linebacker, who also plays outfield for the baseball team, has decided to focus solely on baseball this spring.
“Keith wanted to give baseball his best shot,” Saban said. “Keith would be a fifth-year senior. He’s been through four spring practices here already. I made him a promise when we recruited him that he could play baseball. He’s always tried to do both. We met after the season and I said that ‘You’ve been through plenty of spring practices. Why don’t you just play baseball, do the best you can with baseball. When baseball season is over you and I will sit down and decide if you want to come back for your fifth year.' That’s what he doing. He’s totally focusing on baseball, which I’m good with. We’d love for him to come back in the fall. I hope he chooses to do that.”