Alabama Football: Jaylen Waddle began practice for Ohio State on Tuesday. Check out what his teammates and others are saying about the Tide star.
Alabama football has two star wide receivers. One won the Heisman Trophy Tuesday night. The other one returned to a Crimson Tide practice field for the first time since mid-October. Nationally, some question would DeVonta Smith have won the Heisman, having to share targets with Jaylen Waddle all season. Alabama football fans don’t know and even more, don’t care. The duo is simply the best pair of wide receivers in college football. As deserving as DeVonta was in winning the Heisman, Jaylen could have won it instead.
For both young men, there are bigger concerns ahead. On Monday night, the Alabama Crimson Tide can make a claim of being Nick Saban’s best. Winning an18th Alabama Football National Championship, and the sixth in 12 seasons would cement the 2009-2020 Alabama Crimson Tide as the greatest college football Dynasty.
Of course, Jaylen Waddle intends to play against the Ohio State Buckeyes. Having been cleared medically, he will play, unless his ankle or lower leg have unexpected complications after this week’s practices.
Official word of the percentage number for Waddle’s healthiness may not be disclosed. Why give Ohio State any additional information to use in preparing to defend the Crimson Tide offense? So far, Jaylen has not been available for media questions. His teammates were asked about him before Wednesday’s practice. Mac Jones’ response was,
"He’s worked really hard in his rehab the last couple months. he looks really good. you’ll have to ask Coach Saban (if he’s going to play Monday.)"
As every Alabama football quarterback has been trained to do going back to Bryant and Trammell, Jones was careful about disclosing too much information. Fellow wide receiver, John Metchie said,
"Waddle’s looked good. He’s been doing a lot of rehab….everyone kind of knows what he brings to the table"
The most insightful observation came from the Heisman Trophy winner.
"It’s amazing just to see him recover. He’s recovering well. Everything is going as planned.I think he’s getting back into it,” Smith shared. Of course, it’s going to take some time just for him to get comfortable with everything but he looks good to me."
Smitty was asked about Waddle playing Monday and smartly had ‘no comment.”
Does the Alabama Crimson Tide need Jaylen Waddle to beat the Buckeyes? Any answer is a guess, but a strong claim can be made the Crimson Tide with both Jaylen Waddle and Landon Dickerson would have been two-plus touchdowns better than the Buckeyes.
Jaylen Waddle will threaten the Buckeyes Monday night, even if the Crimson Tide wideout is not 100 percent recovered. He should not return punts though.