Hope: After Multiple Setbacks, Trey Sanders Continues to Build Confidence

After a foot injury ended his freshman season before it began and a serious car accident left him recovering through his junior year, Sanders approaches 2022 as a fully-healthy player for the first time in his college career.

On Tuesday afternoon, Alabama football hosted yet another press conference featuring three of its players as the Crimson Tide entered its next-to-last week of spring practices ahead of the 2022 A-Day Game.

For the media present, it was a day like many that had come before it. For the fans, just another normal opportunity to hear members of their favorite program speak. For one of the three players featured during the roughy 45-minute session, though, it was a day that held a decent level of significance.

For Crimson Tide running back Trey Sanders, it was his first time ever appearing in a press conference. Despite having been a member of the team since the spring of 2019, Sanders — now a redshirt junior — fielded questions for the very first time.

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The road for Sanders has not been an easy one. Even prior to that 2019 freshman season, Sanders suffered a broken foot that sidelined him for the year and forced him to take a medical redshirt. In 2020, he was only able to carry the ball 30 times for 134 before he was involved in a serious car accident during the team's bye week.

The wreck left him with internal injuries as well as a fractured pelvis, something that would put him in a wheelchair and, once again, would keep him away from the game he loved.

On Tuesday, everyone who had an ear to listen finally heard Sanders' side of the story.

“You appreciate everything a whole lot more," Sanders said. "I’ll say that since I’ve been going through this process of not playing football, I actually learned a lot about myself outside of football and realize what I wanna do one day after I’m done playing the game. And hopefully, when I’m done playing football, I’m able to do the same thing I was when I was playing the game — inspire people. That’s the main outlook I’ve been having these last couple years.”

Sanders might not have had the start to his college playing career that fans had wanted for him, but there's nobody more disappointed than the man himself.

Now 17 months removed from his accident, Sanders entered this spring fully healthy for the first time in his college career. At the start of last season — 10 months after suffering the injuries and going through intense rehabilitation — Sanders returned to the field for the first time since the accident in the Crimson Tide's 2021 season opener against Miami in Atlanta.

During the game, a 20-yard touchdown run caused an eruption of cheers from the Alabama faithful packed inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium. While to those unfamiliar with Sanders' injuries it was just another touchdown, to those aware of the situation, the significance of the play was not lost.

“It’s been a lot of ups and downs, but I’d say these past couple years, it really helped me a lot because without them past couple years, I wouldn’t be the man standing in front of you today," Sanders said. "I feel like that’s helped me a lot going through the adversity, coming back and seeing what I was capable of myself, mentally and physically. I feel like at this point right now, I’m a lot more ready than I was my freshman year.”

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It was quite remarkable that just 10 months after being involved in such a serious accident, Sanders was able to play. While he himself admitted that his confidence in his abilities is still shaken, one thing has helped him persevere above all else: hope.

Hope is a word that is thrown around quite often in today's society. Let's face it: a lot of people across our planet have had a lot to be fearful of over the past several years. However, hope has been what has seen many through and, in Sanders' case, the use of hope was no different.

The source of that hope? None other than Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban, who Sanders cited as the primary reason he didn't leave the game of football when he was at his lowest point.

“I think Coach Saban was one of the main persons who kept me going throughout the process because it was times where I felt like I couldn’t do it," Sanders said. "It was times I was in a wheelchair and I was just rolling around the facility and going out to practice, watching other dudes practice and stuff like that. I wasn’t able to go out there and practice, and Coach Saban would call me into meetings and he’d talk to me and he’d give me hope on the future.

"Each time he talked to me, he gave me hope and just gave me a better outlook on how I wanted to come out of my injury and come out of my car wreck. I felt like having Coach Saban on my side, that’s helped me a lot, most definitely. That was the main part he’s played a big part in.”

Thanks to the medical staff at Alabama rehabbing Sanders throughout his dealings of recover and overcoming pain, Saban and his staff were there every step of the way. Whenever he was in a dark place of frustration or the pain seemed to be simply too much to bear, Sanders would meet with Saban in his office where the seasoned coach would offer him advice and, most importantly, a sense of hope.

When asked about the role he played in Sanders' recovery, Saban said that to him, he's never been more proud of a player that has had to overcome such serious injuries.

“Trey's done a remarkable job to overcome all the adversity that he's had to overcome. I think the big thing that we tried to do was be positive, you know, with Trey because it was an uphill battle for him. And there was times where he would get a little frustrated, but all in all, he was extremely positive. He worked hard. He went through tons of difficult days because he had to fight through a lot of not only injuries, but the pain that went with those injuries and rehab and coming back.

"Never probably been more proud of a guy for the way he fought through all that. He was able to contribute last year and when he scored the first touchdown in the Miami game, I was like ‘It doesn't get any better than this.’ You know, just my thoughts for him. So he's had a good spring and doesn't seem to have any recurring problems.”

Last season, Sanders amassed 314 yards and two touchdowns on 72 carries while being used in a limited capacity. This season promises to feature Sanders much more provided that his confidence continues to improve. Alabama has a packed running back room this season, sporting fellow backs Roydell Williams and Jace McClellan — both of whom are recovering from injuries of their own — as well as Georgia Tech transfer Jahmyr Gibbs, so there will be plenty of competition for the redshirt-junior.

While Sanders said he's still in the process of getting comfortable confident, he is taking everything on a day-by-day basis. However, when Alabama snaps the ball for the first time this season inside Bryant-Denny Stadium against Utah State, there will be nobody that's seen more adversity than Sanders.

“I’d say I wanna improve on my confidence and being a leader for my team," Sanders said. "Even though these past couple years, I’ve been trying to get away from these injuries and try to get my body back right, I wanna be a leader for my team. I wanna be a leader for the running back room. I wanna be a leader for the offense. I wanna be a leader for the whole team.

"I just wanna lead by example in the stuff I do. I just wanna carry that every day. That’s the main thing I’m focused on right now.”

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