Why Alabama's offense will still be rolling despite recent reshuffle
The offseason departures are daunting. Along with losing the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, Alabama’s offense will also be without its record-breaking quarterback, its Doak Walker Award-winning running back, the Outland Trophy winner, the Rimington Trophy winner and perhaps its most dynamic playmaker in recent memory.
On top of all that, the Crimson Tide is replacing all but one of its offensive assistants, including Broyles Award winner Steve Sarkisian at offensive coordinator.
Still, Nick Saban and company shouldn’t be too worried heading into the coming season.
Alabama wrapped up the highest-rated recruiting class in modern history on Wednesday, filling several needs while retooling its record-setting attack.
Here are five reasons why Alabama’s offense will still be rolling next season.
The RB room is still loaded
Replacing Najee Harris won’t be easy, but Alabama still has plenty of options in the backfield now that the Doak Walker Award winner is gone.
Brian Robinson Jr. has yet to announce his plans for the future, but the current expectation is that the senior will take advantage of the NCAA’s extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19. If he does, he’ll likely be the frontrunner to lead the room heading into spring camp. However, he’ll face healthy competition for the starting role.
Outside of Robinson, a former Rivals100 recruit, Alabama’s running back room currently features six other scholarship backs who were all given a four-star rating or higher coming out of high school. Among that group are five-star talents Camar Wheaton and Trey Sanders, who both came to the Tide as the No. 1 back in their respective classes.
Wheaton signed with Alabama on Wednesday and will join the team in the summer. Sanders, who joined Alabama as part of the 2019 class, is coming off of back-to-back season-ending injuries, the most recent of which came when he was involved in a car accident on Nov. 6.
Alabama will also see the return of speedster Keilan Robinson, who opted out last season due to the virus. Meanwhile, Jase McClellan leads a trio of second-year backs that also includes Roydell Williams and Kyle Edwards.
“Najee had a great year for us, and we don’t ever try to compare players and we’re not trying to replace Najee,” Saban said during a Zoom call with reporters Wednesday. “But we do have some other players that I think can make contributions this year and their experience is probably gonna be helpful as their role is going to probably increase.”
Harris received 52.6 percent of Alabama’s carries last season after taking on 47.9 percent of the Tide’s touches the year before. Those two seasons have been a break in the norm as Alabama’s leading rusher the previous three years received less than 27 percent of the carries. Given its wealth of options, Alabama might revert to spreading out carries more this season.
Saban isn’t worried about lack of experience at QB
Following Mac Jones’ departure, Alabama’s current quarterback room is devoid of experience.
Bryce Young took on the backup role last season. However, due to an all-SEC regular-season slate, the five-star freshman attempted just 22 passes, completing 13 of them for 156 yards and a touchdown. Alabama’s other two options, third-year quarterback Paul Tyson and incoming freshman Jalen Milroe, have yet to attempt a pass at the college level.
