3 players who could be X Factors for Alabama Football against South Carolina

Alabama Football has officially flipped the page from last week's disappointing (to put it mildly) loss to Vanderbilt and have shifted their focus to South Carolina.

The Crimson Tide is back at Bryant-Denny Stadium, where two weeks ago they defeated Georgia in one of the biggest games of the young season. Unfortunately, last week's defeat at Vanderbilt makes it feel like that game was three years ago.

Alabama clearly has much to clean up this week, and the players are eying getting back to a standard this week with the Gamecocks in town.

How the Tide responds this week against South Carolina will tell us a lot about the character of this team and how the rest of the season will go.

Let's take a look at three players who could be X-Factors for Alabama this week:

3 X-Factors

3. C.J. Dippre

Alabama has continued to get the tight ends involved in the offensive gameplan in recent weeks, and with banged up receivers in Kendrick Law and Kobe Prentice - we'll find out later in the week what their status is for Saturday - it could be another week where the tight ends get featured.

C.J. Dippre has been under-utilized in his Alabama career after transferring from Maryland, but he's put together a couple of strong games in a row. He was a focal point against Georgia, catching four passes for 38 yards. Last week against Vanderbilt, Dippre only caught two passes, but he racked up 66 yards.

Jalen Milroe's growth as a passer has helped Kalen DeBoer and OC Nick Sheridan feature the tight ends in the offense a lot more. I think Dippre's role continues to grow and I think he finds the endzone against South Carolina.

2. Caleb Odom

Caleb Odom was one of the most intriguing prospects in Alabama's 2024 recruiting class. A wide receiver with tight end size, he has the potential to be one of the biggest mistmatches in the country as his develop continues. DeBoer and Sheridan will be able to do a lot of fun things with him as he progresses.

They keep trying to find ways to get him on the field, and with Law's status in doubt and the head injury suffered by Prentice against Vanderbilt, Odom has a clear path to playing time.

Alabama needs to find a way to replicate some of the physicality vacated with Law out, and Odom's size at 6-foot-5 and 227 pounds, he has the size to fill some of that void. He made a key block on Jam Miller's touchdown run in the first quarter last week.

1. Malachi Moore

If there's any player I think has a big bounce back game this week, it's fifth-year senior safety Malachi Moore. Moore let his emotions run over at the end of the Vanderbilt game, but released a sincere apology on Monday for his actions.

Moore is all Alabama through and through. It doesn't excuse his actions last weekend, but nobody took the loss last week worse than he did. Because it matters to him, more than almost anyone. And he knows when the team doesn't play up to a standard and he takes it personally.

I think we'll see that come out on the field on Saturday against the Gamecocks as Moore leads a renewed defensive effort and the Crimson Tide bounces back in a big way.