Alabama 2014 Position Preview: Running Backs/Fullbacks
As we inch closer to the 2014 Alabama football season, it’s time to take a look at each and every position on the Crimson Tide squad, breaking down man-to-man what we can expect and look forward to this year.
Previous Previews:
Running Back & Fullback/H-Back
Key Departures: Dee Hart (transfer), Alvin Kamara (transfer)
Key Additions: Bo Scarbrough (freshman)
Returning Players: T.J. Yeldon, Kenyan Drake, Derrick Henry, Tyren Jones, Altee Tenpenny, Corey McCarron, Jalston Fowler, Michael Nysewander
Breakthrough Players to Watch: Derrick Henry
Junior T.J. Yeldon is the unquestioned leader of Alabama’s stable of talented running backs. He is coming off of his second consecutive 1,000 yard rushing season. Yeldon needs just 1,222 yards to break Shaun Alexander’s all-time Alabama rushing record, which would make him the first Alabama back to run for 1,000 yards in three consecutive years.
Yeldon is big and deceptively fast and patient, but has had a problem with fumbles at key times at some points. This is something that Yeldon and the other backs worked at extensively during the spring and will surely continue on in the summer and fall.
Behind Yeldon are two very young and very talented backs in sophomore Derrick Henry and junior Kenyan Drake. Drake was second on the team in rushing last year with 694 yards, but it was Henry that took all the headlines at the end of the season with a breakthrough performance in the Sugar Bowl.
Drake is a shifty speed demon, but is also a lot more powerful than expected. Like Yeldon, he had trouble holding on to the ball at key times last year and seemed to be in the doghouse much of the end of the season for some reason. Then just a couple of weeks ago he was arrested for refusing to obey police as they secured a crime scene. All of this will make it much harder for him to get playing time with Henry and Yeldon trying to carry the same ball.
Henry, on the other hand, came into Alabama with a ton of hype due to his massive size (6-foot-3, 241 pounds) and the fact that he is the all-time high school rushing leader. Despite all the hype, Henry struggled to get playing time early on. He had trouble learning to pass block or run pass patterns, because he hadn’t had to do so in high school.
Despite the early struggles, Henry worked hard and improved enough that he was made the second option at running back in the Sugar Bowl. He responded by exploding for 100 yards rushing along with a 61 yard touchdown catch. Henry is an amazingly strong bowling ball of a runner that seems to thrive on physicality, but with speed that is incredible for a back that big.
The combination of Yeldon, Henry and Drake may be the scariest group of running backs in the country. Add to that powerful sophomore Altee Tenpenny, shifty redshirt freshman Tyren Jones, and incoming freshman speedster Bo Scarbrough, and depth will be no problem. It is going to be fun to see how offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin uses his stable of backs. And with a new starting quarterback this season, the running game will be leaned on even more than usual.
As Alabama moves towards more I-formation in the offense, Jalston Fowler and Corey McCarron will likely be the primary fullbacks as well as playing H-back.
Fowler was deadly in 2013 on the goal line. Of his seven receptions on the year, five were for touchdowns. He’s a hard hitter and a terrific blocker that can also carry the ball from the tailback position, making him a solid choice in short yardage situations. The combination of Fowler at fullback and Derrick Henry at tailback in certain situations should strike fear in opposing defenses.
In short, running back is perhaps the most solid position on the team this season, and with a solid performance from the Crimson Tide offensive line, and competent QB play, this could be a truly dominant offense.