Florida Gators vs. Alabama: Saban Updates Stud LB Will Anderson's Injury
The Alabama Crimson Tide are expected to be without one of their top defenders against Florida this Saturday and possibly for the remainder of the 2021 season after redshirt senior Christopher Allen fractured his foot in week one.
It looked like the Crimson Tide could have entered their matchup with the Gators without a second edge rusher, too, as sophomore Will Anderson took a shot to his knee in this past Saturday's matchup versus Mercer. However, Saban has only had positive updates regarding Anderson since the game and made it sound like the linebacker is on track to play in week three on Wednesday.
“Will did practice yesterday and we’re taking it day-by-day,” Saban told media in the SEC coaches teleconference. “If he continues to make improvement throughout the rest of the week, he could certainly play in the game."
The Gators are already slated to go up against an injured Alabama defense, however, it will still be a force to be reckoned with come Saturday in The Swamp. With an update on one of its other stud pass rushers from Saban, it will be interesting to see how the gameplan from the Crimson Tide may shift.
Florida running back Dameon Pierce feels it doesn't matter if Alabama has a couple of its linebackers out. To him, the team is so loaded that the depth will be just fine, and the Crimson Tide will be able to run whatever they had planned prior anyway.
"If they anything like us, I wouldn't imagine it would change their scheme much, because they got plenty of guys on scholarship, plenty of guys that make plays, just like we got plenty of guys that are ready to make plays," Pierce told the Florida media on Tuesday.
"I'm pretty sure depth isn't a problem for them. But, it doesn't change anything on our end, you know, we're preparing the same way. You know, 8-9 times out of 10 they gonna line up the exact same, you know, the exact same lineup or formation, whatever it may be."
That's precisely what Saban indicated today during his press conference, the team does have a couple of players that are ready to play such as Chris Braswell and Dallas Turner. Though, Saban admits that it will be tough to replace players such as Anderson and Allen.
"We’ve already lost Chris Allen at the position, and both those guys are unique players and I’m not sure you really replace them," said Saban. "But these other guys are capable. They’re young guys, don’t have the same amount of experience, but we’re certainly confident they can go in and do a good job for us.”
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