Injuries plague Alabama Crimson Tide across all athletic teams

The Alabama Crimson Tide football team faced injuries at the most critical positions throughout the 2019 season and eventually became too much to overcome.

Even the Alabama haters would likely agree that the Tide had one of the most impressive lists of players in the entire NCAA for the 2019 season. At the end of the 2018 season, Saban expected to have the likes of a gunslinger quarterback, four future first round wide receivers, a touted incoming running back behind an experienced, powerhouse veteran, and a talented, experienced defense at his mercy for the 2019 season. The revenge tour for the embarrassing National Championship loss to Clemson should have been easy.

Yet the god of crushing injuries had other plans. It started in the offseason before any of those incredibly talented players could take the field in 2019. Veteran linebacker Joshua McMillon was first with a season ending right knee injury suffered in fall camp. Next up was five-star recruit and the self-proclaimed future 2019 Heisman winner Trey Sanders. Sanders suffered a season ending foot injury that required surgery.

By the end of fall camp, right before the opening game, the last of the preseason blows came with the other veteran linebacker, Dylan Moses. Moses tore his ACL during practice and would miss the entire 2019 season. This was the ‘straw that broke the camels back’ per se. The stacked defense could attempt to absorb the loss of McMillon with Moses there to coach up the freshman linebacker filling his role.

However, because of both McMillon and Moses’ injuries, Saban had to baptize two freshman linebackers by the fire and have them start all season in his defense. While Shane Lee and Christian Harris rose to the occasion as best could be expected, they could not match the dominance and experience the veterans would have brought. Opposing offenses benefitted from their loss.

Remarkably enough, the Tide seemed to cover all of these injuries fairly well at the hands- and arm- of Tua Tagovailoa. While the defense did not play to the Alabama Crimson Tide standard and gave up a lot of points, Tua masked the deficiencies by putting up more points himself. It was a flawed but salvageable plan.

Until, Tua went down, and time stood still. After getting rolled up on during the Tennessee game, it was obvious Tua was not 100% in the following games. But, doing what Tua did best, he gave it his all. Yet a less than 100% Tua was not able to overcome the holes the Alabama defense was allowing Joe Burrow and the LSU Tigers to exploit.

The Tide suffered its first loss of the season.

Trying to find the silver lining, even that seemed like something the Tide could best since it came to the top-ranked team in the country.

Of course, until Tua went down, again. Tua’s injury at Mississippi State was the final nail in the coffin. The injuries had finally become too much, and the Alabama Crimson Tide tried to save face as much as possible for the remainder of the season.

Who knows why the cursed injury bug continues to bite each of Alabama’s athletic teams. We can only hope that the stroke of bad luck causing it will soon move on. The Alabama Crimson Tide athletic teams have a few more National Championships to win.