Where Tommy Rees says Alabama is 'spoiled' on offense
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — All eyes are on Alabama’s quarterback cake this month, but Tommy Rees is eager to get a taste of what the Crimson Tide has cooking in the backfield. The first-year offensive coordinator has never been shy about his love for running the ball, and he should have some mouth-watering options to work with this fall.
Alabama boasts five former Rivals100 running backs in what should be one of the nation’s deepest units.
The Tide returns two sturdy seniors in Jase McClellan and Roydell Williams as well as Jam Miller, who showed plenty of promise during his debut season last year. That trio will be joined by a pair of top-five running backs from this year’s class in Justice Haynes and Richard Young.
“We're a little bit spoiled in that position if we’re being honest here,” Rees said of the unit Sunday during his first press conference as Alabama’s offensive coordinator. “We're very talented there, and I’m excited to see how the pieces fall together and excited to see how we can enhance some of those guys’ roles moving forward.”
Last season, Alabama ranked fourth nationally, averaging 5.57 yards per carry. However, when it came to moving the ball in tough-yardage situations, the Tide was a bit toothless. Alabama ranked near the bottom of the SEC, converting first downs just 60% of the time when facing third and fourth downs with 2 or fewer yards.
That figures to change under Rees, a former Notre Dame quarterback who says if he could come back and play a different position, it’d be pulling guard. As for the backs he’ll be working with at Alabama, Rees believes they carry the same hard-nosed personality.
“They play hard,” Rees said. “They play physical, and we have a great blend of guys that can do kind of a little bit of different things coming out of the backfield in the pass game, running between the tackles.”
Last week, Nick Saban spoke glowingly of Alabama’s unit, stating he feels he has four capable backs at the moment. That number should grow to five once Young is able to gather his bearings after joining the team over the summer.
As Rees mentioned, it’s also helpful that all of Alabama’s backs offer multi-faceted elements to their game. McClellan is the Tide’s leading returner with 655 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground last season but showed off his receiving ability by reeling in 14 catches for 174 yards and three scores. The same can be said about Williams, who was compared to former Alabama standout Josh Jacobs coming out of high school.
Miller might be Alabama’s toughest runner in short-yardage situations but also led all backs with 6.76 yards per carry last season. Haynes starred during this year’s A-Day scrimmage, rushing for 27 yards and three touchdowns on 10 carries while pulling in four receptions for 40 yards and another score through the air. Young should eventually offer a similar pass-catching threat out of the backfield while also demonstrating good vision as a runner.
“I like all those guys,” Saban said. “I think they all have great attitude, and I think that’s one of the strongest positions from a depth standpoint on our team.”
Perhaps the only issue with Alabama’s backs is there’s only one ball to feed them. Sunday, Saban didn’t seem too worried about distributing carries in his loaded backfield, reminding reporters that he has often used rotations of three backs in recent years. That being said, there still figures to be a competition for touches this fall.
“Everybody has to show how they can be used in a positive way,” Saban said. “That's a position where guys have been really good special teams players. If they can contribute on special teams, as well as, we've had as many as three guys have a strong input into how they've been able to impact the team at one time. That's a position where we can do it. Hopefully we'll be able to stay healthy at that position, but there's a competition. And the best guys are going to get the most opportunities and those guys all can contribute in a positive way.”
Of the problems Rees will be tasked with solving over the next few months, that’s likely the one he’ll be looking forward to most.