Alabama Football has a deep running back group that it suddenly needs after Saturday's injury to Jam Miller. Unofficially, it is believed that Miller dislocated a shoulder late in Saturday's scrimmage. The official word from Alabama is that Miller underwent a medical procedure on Saturday night, and is expected to make a full recovery.
There has been no official word about how long the full recovery will take. The Bama Central site stated Miller will miss multiple games. Other sources state that such an injury typically results in a recovery period of six to eight weeks. On Sunday morning, Josh Pate tweeted that he expects Miller to be back in action when Alabama's SEC season begins.
From Saturday's scrimmage to the Georgia game is exactly six weeks.
During the offseason and preseason camp, Jam Miller has been frequently praised by Alabama coaches. On Saturday, Kalen DeBoer stated that Miller had another excellent scrimmage performance. Ryan Grubb recently talked about the Crimson Tide's lead running back, "Jam Miller. He's the man. Love that guy. Jam's been doing everything. The thing about a guy like Jam, you love older guys that don't feel like their skill sets are complete. I think Jam really wholeheartedly takes on, there's things that [he] can get better at."
Both DeBoer and Grubb have spoken about Miller's leadership that goes beyond the running back group. He is a big loss for the early games.
Alabama Football and deep running back talent
The good news is that Alabama has plenty of talent behind Miller. Former 5-star recruit Richard Young will step into the lead role. The Alabama football staff has confidence in sophomore Daniel Hill and transfer Dre Washington. Washington has four seasons of college football experience. Hill and Young combined have rushed for 231 yards for the Crimson Tide. Jam Miller's stats over three seasons are 1,092 rushing yards and 227 receiving yards. Miller is also a dependable blocker. Young, Hill, and Washington must be solid blockers in Miller's absence.
According to Chop Chat, FSU had expected Alabama to pound the rock, using Miller to attack the Noles' defensive front. They now believe Alabama will use more of its passing offense in the season opener.
Note: player stats provided by Sports Reference