Alabama Football Position Breakdown: Running Backs

Just as Penn State has earned the moniker of Linebacker U, Alabama is making the case for the title of Running Back U. With Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram and top 5 NFL draft pick Trent Richardson coming out in consecutive years, and enough talent to supply the entire Pac-12 in the backfield right now, the Tide is making its case to earn a new nickname.

However, that much talent can’t be on the field at the same time. Like almost everything in life, this position battle will have its winners and losers.

Eddie Lacy is the early leader in the clubhouse for being on the field for the first snap, after averaging 7.1 yards per carry and scoring seven rushing touchdowns in a 2011 season that was severely hampered by a toe injury.

Jalston Fowler may also have a thing or two to say about this starting job battle, having taken over in Lacy’s absence in spring training and performed incredibly well, garnering his fair share of media attention in the process.

But watch out, the new kid in town is turning heads. True freshman T.J. Yeldon exploded onto the scene by quickly recovering from a hand injury to rush for 94 yards while catching five passes for 91 yards and a touchdown in the A-Day game.

By the way, let’s not forget Dee Hart, who has yet to fully prove himself after his torn ACL, in addition to Blake Sims and Kenyan Drake trying to figure out how they can contribute to this team.

To put it frankly, this position is going to get a little hectic. To break it down, I’ve assembled a few possibilities I can see happening when it comes to the RB rotation for the 2012 season.

Option 1

1- Eddie Lacy

2- Jalston Fowler, T.J. Yeldon

3- Dee Hart

This way, Alabama will have its most versatile back as its No. 1 guy, as Lacy has something close to an even balance of physicality and finesse (read: the spin move). When Lacy needs a break, the two-headed monster of Fowler and Yeldon gives the Tide options, to use Fowler as a wrecking ball and Yeldon for his quickness. Hart is available for mop-up duty in blowouts or in case of an injury.

Option 2

1- Eddie Lacy, Jalston Fowler

2- T.J. Yeldon, Blake Sims/Dee Hart

3- Dee Hart/Blake Sims

In this alignment, the Tide has a 1-2 punch that has an all-purpose back (Lacy) to run all over defenses that the power back (Fowler) has punished to their breaking points. Behind that two-headed monster lies another, featuring a natural playmaker in Yeldon and either a all-purpose back in Hart or one of the SEC’s most versatile players in Sims.

Analysis

In the end, I think Eddie Lacy will be the first back on the field when the offense makes its 2012 debut against Michigan. Lacy got the necessary experience in 2010 and proved to be a quality back before his injury in the 2011 season, averaging 8.63 yards per carry in the first five games of the season and scoring a touchdown per nine carries (five touchdowns in 46 carries).

That being said, the contributions of Jalston Fowler and T.J. Yeldon in the spring cannot be understated. Fowler took over as the No. 1 all spring and handled the load well, conducting himself like a No. 1 back at all points in time. Yeldon put himself in the elite class of running backs that can have an immediate impact at Alabama, as Mark Ingram was unable to do.

Dee Hart has some work to do. His knee injury paved the way for players such as Fowler and Yeldon to assert themselves into the rotation while he could do nothing but watch. Blake Sims, however, was left out for other reasons. From what I have seen from Sims, he strikes me very much like former ‘Tide player B.J. Scott.

Scott earned his fame at the high school level as an all-around athlete; one that could on any given play be found in the quarterback, running back or wideout position. When Scott arrived at the Capstone, he was good at numerous positions, but great at none. That made playing time hard to find for Scott, who transferred away from the Tide back to his hometown of Mobile, Ala., to play for South Alabama. I see a lot of that type of story in Sims.

Finally, the true freshman Kenyan Drake will likely follow the many running backs that came ahead of him and take a redshirt season as he waits his turn.

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