Alabama Football Packing Another One-Two Punch at Running Back
By Ethan Sharp
Alabama football is set up to have another impressive duo in the backfield with running backs Damien Harris and Bo Scarbrough. Business as usual.
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As Alabama fans we are all a little spoiled when it comes to the running back position. It began with Mark Ingram winning the Heisman Trophy in 2009, on to the Trent Richardson/Eddie Lacy rushing duo, and led up to Derrick Henry winning the Heisman Trophy last season.
Since Coach Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa, the rushing game has become a staple in the Alabama offense.
With Derrick Henry going into the NFL Draft, fans are left wondering who is going to fill his cleats. All of the hype going into Spring Practices surrounded sophomore Bo Scarbrough. The 6-foot-2, 230-pound Running Back saw playing time in seven games during the 2015 season after sitting out for the first four games due to a knee injury.
Everyone believes he will be equivalent to or better than Derrick Henry. However, Scarbrough was not the stand out back at the Golden Flake A-Day Game on Saturday. The sophomore rushed for just 20 yards on 9 carries for an average of 2.2 yards per carry, but that was against the first-team defense.
If we had to pick a winning running back just based on their performance from the Spring Game on Saturday, then it would be hands down sophmore Damien Harris. Harris saw some playing time in the 2015 season as a back up to Derrick Henry. He finished the season with 46 rushes for 157 yards and a touchdown. During The A-Day Game on Saturday, Harris ran for 114 yards on 20 carries for an average of 5.7 yards per carry. Those are impressive numbers for the 5-foot-11, 214-pound running back, considering that the rest of the offense struggled to move the ball against the Crimson Tide defense.
After watching the spring game, I believe that we are going to have a very competitive rushing duo in Scarbrough and Harris. Scarbrough will deliver when the season starts. We all have to cut him some slack as he was going up against the best defense in the country. He should not have to go up against a more tenacious defense during the regular season.
I know we all remember the Eddie Lacy and Trent Richardson duo that we all came to love and rely on. Get ready this season for the Scarbrough and Harris duo.
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The two together, with the help of the Alabama offense line, shouldn’t have any problem rushing against opponent’s defenses and giving us all what we have come to expect out of Alabama football.