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Alabama football thankfully has the deepest running back corps in the country
In a sport as physically demanding as football, health sometimes matters more than skill. We have seen plenty of seasons derailed due to devastating injuries to key players. In recent memory, Alabama football failed to overcome Tua’s hip injury along with multiple injuries to linebackers. Whether it be for a game or the season, losing your best players is hard to overcome.
That’s why the Tide are fortunate this year. They have the deepest group of running backs in college football. In the spring, Alabama football had six running backs that could start on most SEC teams. This surplus of talent led Keilan Robinson, one of the more experienced backs, to transfer to Texas.
That left the Tide with five stellar backs, which was still more than you could hope for. However, Camar Wheaton went down with an injury and has yet to play this season. Now that Jase McClellan is out for the year, the Tide have half of the number of backs as they did in the spring.
McClellan had become Alabama football’s RB2 this year and has averaged 5.8 yards per touch. While Brian Robinson has still been the feature back, McClellan has been a great receiving option for the Crimson Tide.
With him gone, Robinson will likely see more touches. Behind him, expect Trey Sanders and Roydell Williams to compete for targets. Sanders can be a quality receiving option, but he is still working to get into a rhythm after injuries have plagued his career.
Even though Alabama has a Heisman hopeful at quarterback, they need the run game to flourish. Young is a great quarterback, but the Tide thrive when they have some balance on offense. That’s why the depth at this position could save Alabama’s title hopes. Most teams would love to have three running backs as talented as Robinson, Sanders and Williams. If Alabama didn’t have that depth, they would have a massive flaw to their offensive arsenal.
This doesn’t guarantee a championship for Alabama football, but it does ensure that these injuries won’t derail an otherwise excellent season.