All Things CW: Who Have Been Alabama's Best Third-Down Receivers ?

Regardless of if you go by yards or catches, Bryce Young's primary receivers stood out on third downs during the 2021 season.

Nick Saban tells the following story a lot, especially after getting asked about the importance of playmakers and what goes into the decision to call certain plays at critical points of a game. 

This particular version goes back a few years, but includes the most details. It's about when Saban was the quarterback of his high school football team. 

"When I was in (Monongah) high school in West Virginia, we were playing at Masontown Valley," Saban said. "You had to walk through the graveyard, the lights were bad, to get to the field to go play. We're third and fifth in the state. Whoever wins the game is getting in the playoffs. In those days only the top two teams got in.

“We get behind 18-nothing. Walk through the graveyard, come out at halftime through the graveyard. It’s 18-12, with one minute 27 (seconds) to go in the game. We get the ball back. Coach (Earl) Keener doesn't call any plays. He made coach of the year eight years, and I call every play as a 15-year-old high school (sophomore).

“We get down to 4th-and-12 at the 25-yard line, one timeout left. Take it. Everybody in the town where I grew up is at the game, every guy, every person. Last guy turned the lights out to go to the game. I'm saying, ‘Thank goodness Coach Keener is going to call this play, then I won't get blamed for calling the wrong play.’

“I said, ‘Coach, what do you want to run here?’

“He says, ‘What do you think?’

“I said, ‘I think you should call this one, last play of the game.’

“He says, ‘I tell you what. You have a three-time all-state split end and the left halfback is the fastest guy in the state. I don't care what play you call, just make sure one of those two guys get the ball.’

“I call 26 crossfire pass. Threw it to the left halfback, fake to him, post corner off the X, 25-yard touchdown, we won the game 19-18.

“After the game he told me this, he says, ‘It really doesn't make any difference what play you call sometimes; it's what players you have doing it.’ 

"I remember that.

“On offense I think sometimes that's important. I think it's important to have playmakers and skill players who can make a difference in making explosive plays.” 

It's a key part to understanding the Crimson Tide offense regardless of whether Alabama was a run-first team a few years ago, or the throw-first offense that has developed and can quickly move the ball downfield.

The more important the play, the more you want your best playmakers to have a chance to do what they do best. Moreover, anyone who has closely watched Saban's recruiting efforts lately knows just how important he views playmakers and quarterbacks nowadays. 

Last season, Alabama had Jameson Williams and John Metchie III as the starting wideouts, who in terms of style were a little like Randy Moss and Cris Carter when they were tearing up NFL defenses with the Minnesota Vikings. Moss was the flashy speed guy and Carter caught everything thrown his way, especially in the end zone. 

Williams was flashy and topped the team in yards with 1,572, and with 15 touchdowns. But Metchie had the most receptions, and by a wide margin, with 96 (Williams finished with 79). 

Impressively, the numbers carried over to third down. 

During the Saban era at Alabama, only one player has had more third-down catches during a single season than Metchie's 25: Amari Cooper with 32 in 2014. 

Only one player has had more third-down receiving yards than Metchie's 408 in a season, Williams with 471. 

That's remarkable, especially considering some of the wide receivers Alabama has had (although Jerry Jeudy had more third-down touchdowns with five in 2019).  

But not all standout Crimson Tide receivers have had that kind of success on third downs. 

For example, when DeVonta Smith won the Heisman Trophy in 2020, he had just 16 third-down catches. 

During that same season, Jaylen Waddle had just four third-down receptions for 69 yards before he got hurt against Tennessee. Overall, he had 28 catches (in comparison, the previous season he had 33 receptions, with just five on third downs). 

Two reasons why they didn't post better numbers on third downs were: 1) Alabama had a ton of talent and could spread the ball around, and 2) The offense was so prolific it often didn't get to third down. 

In 2020, Alabama was 86-for-146 in third-down conversions. This past season it was 116-for-223. 

2021 Alabama Third-Down Receiving Leaders

Alabama Athletics

Name, Catches-Yards (Average), TDs

1. John Metchie III 25-408 (16.3) 3
2. Jameson Williams 18-471 (26.2) 4
3. Cameron Latu 10-128 (12.8) 2
4. Slade Bolden 12-120 (10.0) 1
5. Brian Robinson Jr. 11-135 (12.3) 1

2021 Alabama Percentage of Catches on Third Down

TG Paschal/BamaCentral

1. Cameron Latu 38.4 percent of his 26 catches were on third down
2. Brian Robinson Jr. 31.4 
3. Slade Bolden 28.6
4. John Metchie III 26.0 
5. Jameson Williams 22.8 percent

(minimum 20 receptions)

Of note: Tight end Jahleel Billingsley only had four receptions on third down, plus two on fourth down. 

Freshman receiver Ja’Corey Brooks only had one reception on third down, but it was his 28-yard touchdown to send the Iron Bowl into overtime.

Alabama’s Top Third-Down Receivers By Catches (Since 2009)

T.G. Paschal/BamaCentral

• Amari Cooper, 2014, 32
• John Metchie III, 2021, 25
• Jerry Jeudy, 2019, 20
• Amari Cooper, 2012, 19; Calvin Ridley, 2015, 19
• Richard Mullaney, 2018, 18; Jameson Williams, 2021, 18
• Julio Jones, 2010, 17; Calvin Ridley 2016, 17; Calvin Ridley 2017, 17
• Marquise Maze, 2016, 16; DeVonta Smith, 2020, 16
• ArDarius Stewart, 2015, 15

Alabama’s Top Third-Down Receivers By Yards (Since 2009)

TG Paschal/BamaCentral

1. Jameson Williams, 2021, 471
2. John Metchie III, 2021 408
3. Amari Cooper, 2014, 373
4. Jerry Jeudy, 2019, 303 
5. Amari Cooper, 2012, 293
6. Jerry Jeudy, 2019, 284
7. Calvin Ridley, 2017, 282
8. Richard Mullaney, 2014, 274
9. John Metchie III, 2020, 269
10. ArDarius Stewart, 2016, 258
11. Marquise Maze, 2011, 225
12. Gehrig Dieter, 2014, 223
13. DeVonta Smith, 2020, 216 

One of the really impressive things about Young during his Heisman Trophy season was that his completion percentage actually went up on third downs. He completed 68.4 percent of his attempts on first downs, 65.8 on second, but was 86-for-122, 70.5 percent, for 1,263 yards on third downs.

He also had his best average for passing yards on third downs, 10.4 per attempt.

The flip side to that, of course, is he had five of his interceptions on third downs, yet still had his best passer rating, 176.3. 

Part of that was due to Young's escapability and ability to extend plays. However, he obviously had a lot of confidence throwing to his star wide receivers in clutch situations. 

"Having weapons like that makes my job a lot easier," Young said about Williams and Metchie.  

5 Things That Got Our Attention This Week

The best kind of benefit with NIL changes

Jordan Prather-USA TODAY Sports

Oscar Tshiebwe sent a simple tweet that meant a lot more than many realized this week. The Kentucky standout's "I am open for business" meant that after working with his agent, immigration attorney and compliance staff to “navigate the legal complexities of earning NIL income while attending an American university on an F1 student visa,” he's now able to accept some of the offers that have been waiting for the red tape to clear.

According to The Athletic’s Kyle Tucker, Tshiebwe is about to get a free Porsche, like teammates TyTy Washington and Shaedon Sharpe, and launch a merchandise and apparel deal.

Additionally, Tshiebwe’s agent Conley tells Tucker: “I’m looking at an email right now. If he comes back to school, there will be a multimillion-dollar deal on the table." 

That's not the best part, though. It's that he can finally bring his mother to the United States. She still lives in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The SEC's frustration nearing tipping point

The SEC isn't ready to do the equivalent of take its ball and go home, but Greg Sankey's frustration with expansion talks could soon cause the league to find a solution on its own. 

Sankey told Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger the SEC is going to “rethink” its stance on expansion and a possible 12-team playoff.

“For all the clamor about wanting to think about student athletes, there are a 1,000 student athletes each year on eight teams who could have participated in the playoff,“ Sankey said. ”On the other hand, we (the SEC), didn’t need more.”

“We don’t need that. Others do. We have to rethink formats. A wholesale evaluation of our position.”

Andy Staples of The Athletic suggests that the SEC might simply turn internal and stop worrying about the other leagues altogether. 

"Sankey seems mad enough to do that.” 

Staples posits the league could hold its own six- or eight-team postseason tournament with quarterfinal and semifinal games played on campuses. If the other nine FBS conferences and Notre Dame wanted to host their own postseason tournament that, perhaps, culminates in the Rose Bowl on January 1, they could.

“And if the champion of that tournament happened to play the champion of the SEC tournament on the Monday night following the final weekend of the NFL regular season, then that’s more money for everyone.” 

In such a scenario, the SEC would be guaranteed half the money from the national championship game each year. 

“Will this happen? Not necessarily," Staples said. "This is only a prediction of what the SEC could do with a little imagination and a whole lot of spite."

Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com chimed in: "If all this nonsense isn't solved, the SEC and Big Ten could go off on their own and crown their own national champion. Everyone else can go fish. They've got the best and biggest brands, and combined, they've won 15 of the last 19 national championships."

There's a lot of speculation about what could happen, but the one thing we'd bet on is for the SEC to be at the forefront of whatever change happens. 

Vanderbilt baseball debuts wearable 'pitch-signaling' devices

The Vanderbilt baseball team debuted its new wearable pitch-signaling device last weekend. Student-athletes wear the watch-like device on their glove hand to receive pitch selection information from the coaching staff, but cannot send info on their own. 

The NCAA approved these wearable devices last year.

"Examples of what could be implemented next season include teams being allowed to use an electronic display board from the dugout that shows a numerical code to call pitches and/or defensive plays," the NCAA said. "Teams also can use a one-way in-ear communication device that would be limited for use from the dugout to the catcher."

Per Mike Axisa of CBSSports.com, the goal is to improve pace of play, and also cut down on possible sign-stealing.

Study: NCAA COVID Restrictions Helped Control Virus Transmission

Alabama Athletics

A cross-sectional study published in Jama Network Open found participation in collegiate athletics was not tied to higher COVID-19 test positivity during the 2020-21 academic year. 

A study by Stanford University included more than half a million NCAA Division 1 athletes and 3.5 million non-athletes in their analysis. It used data from public official COVID-19 dashboards and press releases on 65 Power 5 NCAA Division 1 universities during 2020 and 2021. Schools that released at least four months of testing data, including the fall 2020 football seasons, for student-athletes and non-athletes were also included in the study. 

Among the 12 schools it examined, there were 2,425 positive tests (0.44 percent) among student-athletes and 30,567 positive tests (0.88 percent) in non-athletes. At only one university was the rate significantly higher with athletes than non-athletes (ironically, it was Stanford). 

It also found that mitigation measures like frequent testing, masking, and social distancing played a role in lower test positivity rates in athletes versus non-athletes. 

Researchers say the findings can reassure people that sports can be conducted in a safe manner, but it should be noted that the data did not include fans or attendance.  

An Expensive Sendoff

Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

If seeing the last home game for Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski is on your bucket list, here's hoping you saving up. 

Per tickpick.com, the cheapest seat for his final regular season game at Cameron Indoor against North Carolina is going for $4,000. 

To put that into perspective, you could get into the recent Super Bowl in Los Angeles for $3,501. 

The most expensive tickets for the Duke-UNC matchup top out at $21,090. 

On Stubhub, the price ranges from $3K to nearly $80K while Vivid Seats has tickets available from $3,141 to $17,362. 

It makes us wonder what the seats would go for if Nick Saban ever has a sendoff game ... 

Tide-Bits

• 2022 Draft Interviews: Alabama cornerback Jalyn Armour-Davis

• 2022 NFL Draft Prospect: Alabama cornerback Josh Jobe

• The SEC had 82 players invited to the NFL combine, more than twice as many as every other conference except the Big Ten, which had 52. Check out Everything You Need to Know About the 2022 NFL Combine, which begins Tuesday. 

• NBA Draft Big Board: Ranking the Top 80 Prospects includes three Crimson Tide players. 

Did You Notice .... 

• College football attendance declines for seventh straight season to lowest average since 1981

• College Baseball Primer: Who and What You Need to Know

• ‘It's the Continuous Hits’: Colt Brennan’s Family Learns CTE Played Role in His Death

• Report: Charlie Strong Joins Mario Cristobal's Miami Staff as LBs Coach

Christopher Walsh's notes column All Things CW appears every week on BamaCentral.