Alabama Football: Should Jaylen Waddle play against the Buckeyes

Alabama Football: Jaylen Waddle return to the practice field is a boost to the Alabama Crimson Tide

If possible, Alabama football fans are as excited as Jaylen Waddle is about his return. Cleared by the Alabama Crimson Tide medical team, Waddle participated in the first game-week practice for the National Championship game.

Three questions remain about Jaylen’s return to the field. Will he play against the Ohio State Buckeyes? Assuming something less than 100 percent, how healthy will Jaylen be? Are there added risks in playing on Jan. 11 that Jaylen should not ignore?

The answer to question No. 1 is not expected soon. Jaylen will be evaluated by the Crimson Tide medical staff to assess how the ankle holds up to practice activity. Those evaluations will continue throughout the week. On question No. 2, there may be a good estimate by the end of the week. Don’t count on Jaylen or anyone involved with the Alabama football program to share the information. Keeping the opponent guessing is the standard approach of all football programs.

Question No. 3 is perhaps the toughest to answer. First, it is a judgment call. Even if the medical team says Jaylen is at little or no risk of aggravating the injury, only Jaylen can decide what risk he is willing to take. There is little doubt he wants to play. But, wanting to play and deciding whether or not he should play is not the same.

As Nick Saban has said before, on Monday Nick added,

"He wants to play and has been working hard to get back.Our medical people will evaluate him as the week goes on and make a decision from there."

Barring a setback this week, some Alabama football insiders are confident Jaylen will play on Monday. As his play has shown during his Crimson Tide career, the young man is fearless. Not playing in a National Championship game could well be harder on him than risking a re-injury.

It makes sense to believe a less than 100 percent healthy Waddle will choose to play. He will be valuable to his teammates if only used as a decoy or on ‘go’ routes. Just having him dressed out and running on the field will give his Crimson Tide teammates a motivational boost.

Rumors have persisted for the past 24 hours that Ohio State players will miss the game due to COVID. There have also been rumors the Buckeyes want the game postponed until Jan. 18. We cannot confirm or dispute those rumors, but any Ohio State plan that gives Jaylen Waddle more time to heal is a bad one.