The Position Group Nick Saban Has His Eyes on for First Fall Scrimmage
Back at SEC Media Days in July, there were two main areas that Nick Saban highlighted as "challenges" for his team heading into the 2022 season: offensive line and wide receivers.
The receiver room became an even bigger challenge when it was announced on Wednesday that sophomore JoJo Earle would be out for six to eight weeks with a fracture in his foot. Earle was growing in his confidence and having a really good fall camp according to Saban.
Alabama is now a week into fall camp and will hold its first of three scrimmages Saturday inside Bryant-Denny Stadium, and Saban will be closely watching how the pass-catchers perform this weekend.
"I think there's a lot of competition at that position between new guys, transfer guys, freshmen, old guys coming in, so it'll be interesting to see how they do when we scrimmage on Saturday," Saban said. "You know I'm kind of different than everybody else. All of these coaches we got, they want to get in the huddle and tell everybody what to do. Unless they let you get in the game and tell them what to do, we got a problem. So sometimes you gotta let the players play."
While the Crimson Tide lost its three leading receivers from last season (Jameson Williams, John Metchie III and Slade Bolden) to the NFL, the coaching staff was able to bring in some major help from the transfer portal with Jermaine Burton and Tyler Harrell.
"Bryce Young is a great player, a great leader, a great quarterback obviously," Saban said back at media days. "But quarterback is also a position that may be one of the most difficult positions in all of sports to play if you're not surrounded by good people. So the challenge for us is to make sure we do an outstanding job of developing the players around him so that we can continue to be a very productive offensive team."
Burton has been with the program since the spring and participated in the A-Day game. He has drawn high praise from the coaching staff and players throughout the spring. Saban called Burton the guy, "that has played with the most consistency out of the receiver group.
The Alabama quarterback has known Burton since their high school days in California and is excited to team up with him this fall.
"He's just he's willing to work," Young said about Burton. "Whether it's in a meeting room, just knowing how to run things, knowing what we’re expecting, know what I like, what he likes. And then on the field, he’s always giving everything— finishing routes, finishing plays. He’s super competitive. He's willing to go run any route, play any role, not selfish at all. So that stuff definitely popped on film and now that you get to see him in practice, you get to be around him, it makes a lot of sense why he was able to have the success he has."
Harrell enrolled in the summer, so he obviously hasn't been with the team as long. Saban said that Harrell has been practicing all summer, but not at 100 percent, calling him "sort of in and out a little bit to this point."
The Louisville transfer is most known for his speed on the field, but Young said that the thing that has most stood out about Harrell so far is his willingness to learn. With Harrell wearing No. 8, the two are right next to each other in the locker room, and Young said the new wide receiver hasn't been afraid to ask questions.
Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien said the additions of Burton and Harrell, plus returners like Ja'Corey Brooks, have helped to create a good mix of youth and experience.
"[The receivers] are working very hard, early in the training camp," O'Brien said. "We like the presence that Jermaine Burton has brought to that position. Tyler Harrell, the presence that those guys have brought to that position. But again, just like the offensive line, it will continue to develop over time. We’re early in camp, like I said, and we’ll see how it all shakes out over the next few weeks."
With Earle out for six to eight weeks and tight end Cameron Latu also missing some time early on, the Crimson Tide returners with the most yards at receiver that are currently healthy are Traeshon Holden (239 yards in 2021) and Brooks (192 yards and two touchdowns in 2021.) Burton had 497 yards and five touchdowns for Georgia last season, while Harrell had 559 yards and six touchdowns for the Cardinals.
"Ja'Corey Brooks is doing really well," Saban said. "Very competitive, smart, plays with a lot of toughness, very physical, doing a good job, has got really good hands. And all the other guys, they're making progress. They're better or they're getting better. I think they're doing a pretty good."
The "other guys" includes Holden, Christian Leary, Thaiu Jones-Bell and a talented group of freshmen receivers highlighted by Aaron Anderson and Isaiah Bond plus Shazz Preston, Kendrick Law and Kobe Prentice.
Saturday's scrimmage is not open to the public, but Saban will address the media after it is over. So while the media and fans won't get a full picture of how that receiving corps is looking a few weeks ahead of the season opener, Saban will surely learn a lot and has made it clear that he's looking for people to step up.
"So when we go to a scrimmage, we'll see what they know," Saban said. "We'll see how they do, how much confidence they play with. And that'll go a long ways for us to make an evaluation of is this guy... where is he in his development relative to being ready to play winning football for us?"
