Alabama Football Allowing Younger Players to Prove Themselves Early in Fall Camp

Nick Saban said the coaches have been encouraged by some of the young receivers and defensive backs.

It is still too early in the preseason for Alabama to establish a depth chart. Head coach Nick Saban said he is giving younger players an opportunity to compete and prove themselves, and it started with the first scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday. 

"There was a lot of good things out there and there was a lot of mistakes but that’s probably what you expect in the first scrimmage, especially for young players," Saban said. "We did have some of the young players who made some plays out there today which I think is a real positive for them."

When asked specifically who some of those younger players were, the head coach did not share any individual names but said he was very encouraged by the young receiving corps and defensive backs. 

"I’m not gonna sit here and make predictions about anybody or put any expectations on anybody right now," Saban said. "We’re encouraged by a lot of the young players that we have and we just want to keep working with them and see how they progress."

Saban said every freshman develops at a different level and pace, but a few have collected early attention from coaches and the media. Freshman DB Kool-Aid McKinstry garnered some praise from Alabama defensive coordinator Pete Golding for his physicality earlier in the week. Another freshman DB Saban was asked about is Terrion Arnold.

"Terrion’s a really good athlete," Saban said. "He’s a hard worker. He’s really conscientious, and I think the big thing right now is just consistency in technique. He’s made a tremendous amount of improvement in the few practices that we’ve had to this point, and he’s got really good ball skills."

Alabama lost four wide receivers to the first round of the NFL draft over the last two seasons, and while the Crimson Tide does return some experience at the position in John Metchie III and Slade Bolden, there is plenty of opportunity for freshman to step up and make an immediate impact. Some of those young receivers are Ja'Corey Brooks, Agiye Hall, JoJo Earle and Christian Leary. 

Australian freshman punter James Burnip is also in the running for the starting position on special teams according to Saban. He clarified that Burnip has punted an American football before, and that Alabama did not just snatch him straight off a rugby field. 

"Really, we’re not asking him to play football," Saban said. "We’re asking him to punt it. And he did a pretty good job of that today. And I’m sure that being a young guy as he gets more comfortable, more experienced and more confident, he’ll even do better probably from a consistency standpoint."

Because of the new rules to protect players calling for fewer full-contact practices, Saban said some of the younger guys may have been less prepared for the first scrimmage than normal. Overall, he was not disappointed in what he saw prior to having the chance to evaluate the film from the practice. 

Saban sounded encouraged with where his team was after the first full week of fall camp. Now, these younger players have three weeks to continue to put themselves in a position to see the field when Alabama opens the season against Miami on September 4. 

"All in all, we know we have a lot of work to do to improve as a team and we’re going to continue to do that," Saban said. "That’s why we’ve gotta practice and I think the players have to be very committed to sort of a relentless standard of excellence that this team wants to aspire to and that’s going to come from every individual player on the team wanting to do that and doing the things they need to do to do it."