Alabama Football: Six Crimson Tide Records that can be broken this fall

Alabama football is the Mona Lisa of college football the past eleven years. Nick Saban has crafted an exquisite masterpiece. Star football players clamor to play for the iconic coach. As more accomplished players depart, storied Crimson Tide records will continually fall.

Alabama football has received the creme de la creme of football players since Nick Saban’s arrival at the Capstone. With the type of players Alabama football has collected over the years, school records falling are no surprise.

The only seemingly unbreakable Tide record is Derrick Thomas 27 sacks in just one season. For anyone to break Thomas’ record will require a Hall of Fame worthy performance.

The 2018 Alabama offense could feature a record-breaking offense under new coordinator Michael Locksley.

Defense is the Crimson Tide’s calling card, and plenty of playmakers line up on that side of the ball. There is a record all Tide fans would like to see broken this year. Surpassing the eleven defensive touchdowns set in 2016 would drive fans crazy.

Two school records in Damien Harris’ crosshairs

Damien Harris needs 1,397 yards to break all-time Alabama football rushing record set by Derrick Henry. The prime-time Heisman winning running back accumulated 3,591 yards during his three years in Tuscaloosa.

Back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons is not an easy task at Alabama where a running back committee is utilized to maintain freshness through the game and the season. Turning down the opportunity to play in the NFL, the Kentucky native decided to return for his senior season injecting inspired leadership and experience to a young Alabama team.

The senior running back will challenge another record. Bobby Marlow set an Alabama record under head coach Harold “Red” Drew by averaging 7.5 yards-per-carry in 1950. The running back rushed for 882 yards on 118 rushes.

Harris already is in second place for yards-per-carry with a minimum 100 rushes with 7.4 when he rushed for 1,000 yards on 135 carries last season. In 2016, he averaged 7.1 yards a carry with 1037 yards on 146 attempts.

Tackle Jonah Williams and center Ross Pierschbacher are two road paving linemen that will ensure Harris breaks the records mentioned above.

Quarterback records harder to achieve

Blake Sims set an Alabama record in 2014 by passing for 274.1 yards per game. Legendary Amari Cooper was the recipient of a majority of his passes.

Sophomore Tagovailoa assumes the helm, expect him to surpass this number. He has a talented lot of playmaking wide receivers, running backs and tight ends to meet this number with relative ease. The world laid witness to Tagovailoa’s performance in the comeback win during the national championship game.  The lefty delivered the pigskin all over the field to different receivers bringing an edge to the offense that was missing all season.

If Jalen Hurts remains the quarterback, the chances of him passing AJ McCarron’s streak of 291 passes without an interception is reasonable.

Last season, the junior quarterback threw one interception the entire season. The one turnover was tops for any quarterback in the nation that attempted over 200 passes.

His streak currently sits at 131. Hurts did not throw an interception until the seventh game of the season against Arkansas.

Touchdown Maker

Five players are tied for most touchdowns in a game with five. The record holders are quarterbacks Gary Hollingsworth, Blake Sims and Jalen Hurts, running backs Shaun Alexander and Santonio Beard.

The last player to complete this feat was Hurts in 2016 against Mississippi State Bulldogs when he finished with four passing scores and one rushing touchdown. Tagovailoa is an incredibly talented passer that can exceed these numbers.

Five touchdowns are a tall task for any offensive player but not unreasonable for Tua.

Raekwon Davis can break Derrick Thomas’ record

The late great linebacker Derrick Thomas once achieved seven tackles for loss in a game. He recorded five sacks and two tackles for loss in a game versus Texas A&M in 1988.

Raekwon Davis is a grown man amongst boys standing at six-foot-seven and roughly 305 pounds. The gigantic defensive end registered 8.5 sacks last season. The junior displayed brute strength and cat-like quickness with ten tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

Davis mauling offensive linemen to plummet quarterbacks or running backs will happen. Can offensive coordinators successfully scheme against him is the big question?

Next: Ten Questions for the 2018 Crimson Tide Season

Tua Tagovailoa presents an opportunity to break a lot of standing A.J. McCarron’s records if he stays in Tuscaloosa. Besting McCarron would cement Tagovailoa in Alabama football history as the Tide’s best quarterback ever.