It’s been mostly smooth sailing for Kalen DeBoer’s Crimson Tide heading into the head coach’s second season at the helm, but there have been some choppy waters along their path to Tallahassee for a Week 1 matchup with Florida State. The roughest seas came when starting running back Jam Miller dislocated his collarbone in the second and final scrimmage of fall camp, an injury that will keep him out for at least Week 1.
There has been uncertainty in the running back room behind Miller. Louisiana transfer Dre Washington, redshirt sophomore Richard Young, and sophomore Daniel Hill have all been vying for playing time in the backfield, and DeBoer didn’t exude confidence in that group with comments from practice last week.
“Just looking for someone to separate themselves,” DeBoer told reporters about the running back room. “Jam (Miller) was certainly at a higher level than these guys. I know they’re hungry, and they want to do it. Now they just gotta show us.”
Crimson Tide still searching for an answer behind Jam Miller
Washington is the likely starter with Miller out, but even the veteran transfer has never registered more than 16 carries in a game throughout his four-year career at Louisiana, and his career high of 92 carries for a season came two years ago. Last year, even with Jalen Milroe leading the team in rushing and Justice Haynes, who has since transferred to Michigan, cutting into his workload, Miller amassed 145 attempts.
DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb will likely use a running back by committee system early in the year while Miller recovers, and that’s not just to ease the burden on Washington as a ball-carrier, but to emphasize each player’s strengths in the backfield.
“It’s not just one area,” DeBoer continued, “it’s all the phases, it’s running the ball, it’s pass protection, it’s just all of those things combined. So, each guy has got some tools, got some things that they can do, but we need them to stand out because there’s kind of a logjam there. Each of them have their strengths and they all can fit into the offense in some fashion.”
Last season, even with Milroe creating conflict for the defense and occupying at least one defender, if not more, Alabama ranked outside the top 30 in EPA/carry and outside the top 60 teams in the country in success rate, at 42 percent. The run game was buoyed by Milroe’s explosiveness, but even Miller was a net-negative statistically with the ball in his hands.
Now, without a dynamic runner at the quarterback position and a return to a more traditional run game, which DeBoer and Grubb thrived with at Washington, the running back position is even more important. The coaching staff will want to ease the pressure on Simpson in his first-career start in Week 1, but if the Tide’s running backs underwhelm, the redshirt junior quarterback could be asked to pass his way to a road victory in a hostile environment.