Alabama Football: Allow the freshmen to do freshmen things

As the first full week of spring practice begins for the Alabama football program, fifteen true freshmen enrolled early to participate. It’s important we don’t stack too many expectations upon them too soon.

Since Nick Saban’s arrival in 2007, Alabama football has seen a bevy of true freshmen come in and make significant contributions from Day 1. There are almost too many to name, but for the sake of nostalgia, here are a few: Rolando McClain, Julio Jones, Mark Ingram, Trent Richardson, CJ Mosley, Amari Cooper, Cam Robinson, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Calvin Ridley, Jalen Hurts, Jonah Williams, Tua Tagovailoa, Najee Harris, Jerry Jeudy, Jaylen Waddle and Patrick Surtain, Jr.

It stands to reason that at least two or three freshmen could make an impact on the 2019 team, but to place the cart before the horse this early does a disservice to the young athletes.

In total, there are fifteen early enrollees about to go through their first full week of spring practice. The idea of enrolling early became vogue in the last decade allowing seventeen and eighteen-year-olds could enter college as early as December. Famously, Jalen Hurts enrolled in December of 2015 and played scout team QB in preparation for the Tide’s first championship match-up against Deshaun Watson and Clemson. This was two months before Signing Day of 2016, the class of which he was a member.

Jalen Hurts went on to become, in essence, a Day 1 starter against USC that season (Blake Barnett started the first couple of series of that game) leading the 2016 team to a national title game appearance.

Following suit in the 2017-18 season, Tagovailoa brought Alabama football from the brink of a second straight title game loss by throwing 3 TDs, including the game winner, in the second half against Georgia. Even at the most scrutinized position on the field, true freshmen are handed the keys all across the FBS.

According to the 247Sports Composite recruiting rankings, the Tide accrued twelve of the Top 100 players in the country for the 2019 cycle. Of those twelve, seven are currently going through spring practice and have already been put through Strength and Conditioning Coach Scott Cochran’s rigorous “4th Quarter Program.” Along with eight other athletes, only one three-star among them, more than half of the 2019 true freshmen have a leg up.

Consensus top five defensive lineman, Antonio Alfano, appears to be the freshman upon which Tide fans and pundits are attaching the most expectations. It’s not hard to understand why. Reports surfaced that Alfano had gained 17 pounds since arriving on campus in January and based on positional drills from the first day of spring practice, he certainly looks the part.

So, too, does five-star offensive tackle Evan Neal, who even among the giants of Alabama football’s line, looks massive. Currently, he’s listed on Alabama football’s roster at 6’7″, 360 lbs. He’s a big dude.

Then, of course, there’s top-rated kicker out of Hoover, Will Reichard. There is arguably no more pressure placed onto a freshman than Reichard. Kicking has been average-to-bad for so long, especially in 2018, that the general public isn’t even considering that sophomore kicker, Joseph Bulovas, will be the returning starter. My theory with kicking is “give the Tide any top-shelf placekicker and they’ll almost assuredly ruin him.”

The manner in which Saban and his staff develop players, the idea that even a summer enrollee (both Waddle and Surtain were last year) can make a contribution is not far-fetched. We have to also adhere to what Saban has always preached about young players: thrusting expectations that are too unrealistic can be detrimental to a player’s development. For every Waddle or Surtain, there’s an Anoma.

This isn’t a bad thing, either. Most likely, Eyabi Anoma will become a terror at outside linebacker. The reality of his situation was that the five-star rating attached to him coming out of high school was based almost solely on his ceiling, not as an immediate contributor. He had been playing football for all of two years prior to arriving in Tuscaloosa. We should let the guy develop.

Personally, my hope is the only expectation we have for this incoming class of youngsters, especially the ones on campus for spring practice, is they push the guys in front of them to improve. At the end of the day, that is the only thing we should expect. We should expect that Christian Barmore and Stephon Wynn keep eyes in the back of their heads due to the mere presence of Alfano and fellow enrollee Justin Eboigbe.

We should expect sophomore corner Josh Jobe to be on alert for the elite athleticism of Scooby Carter. Or Alex Leatherwood for Neal. Or Josh McMillon for Shane Lee. We should hope the older guys reach their potential because they know there are some really eager freshmen nipping at their heels.

In the age of social media and transfer portals, young athletes not only need to be supported by their coaches and teammates, but also by the multitudes espousing their gifts. As fans, we should hope for freshmen to be able to “freshman” until they’re ready.