There is a "Bo Over the Top" that Alabama football fans actually can celebrate this time.
Crimson Tide junior tailback Bo Scarbrough vaulted over Tennessee's defense twice last Saturday on fourth-and-goal situations from the 1-yard line, reaching the end zone on both occasions in the 45-7 cakewalk. Scarbrough may not erase Bo Jackson's vault over Alabama's defense during Auburn's 23-22 Iron Bowl triumph in 1982 any time soon, but the 6-foot-2, 232-pounder from the Tuscaloosa area certainly has given Nick Saban's Crimson Tide a short-yardage weapon moving forward.
"I like any role that they give me," a smiling Scarbrough said after Alabama improved to 8-0 entering this week's open date. "Coach Saban is putting his trust in me, so I've got to do my job and do it well. I get excited about going in the game, because I know that within fourth-and-4, I can get 4 yards.
"I can get 3 yards. I can get 2 yards. There is no doubt about it."
Scarbrough was Alabama's most dominant offensive player late last season in the drive to the national championship game. He rushed 19 times for 180 yards and two touchdowns in the 24-7 semifinal win over Washington in the Peach Bowl, and he added 16 carries for 93 yards and two scores in the first half of the title contest against Clemson.
A broken leg early in the second half abruptly ended Scarbrough's evening against the Tigers and hindered Alabama's offense in Clemson's eventual 35-31 win.
Scarbrough has yet to match his dynamic form from late last season, netting 377 yards and six touchdowns this season on 81 carries. He has a long run of 21 yards.
"I think Bo has played well for us," Saban said Wednesday. "He hasn't maybe made some explosive plays like he's made in the past, but we're thankful that he's healthy and we're hopeful that he's going to continue to develop confidence in what he's doing and make the right reads. Hopefully we can do a good job of putting a hat on a hat for him and block on the perimeter so he can have some of those plays in the future."
Scarbrough's average of 4.7 yards per carry is solid, but on Alabama's offense it ranks at the bottom. Fellow junior tailback Damien Harris is averaging 8.6 yards per rush, and he's followed among the running backs by sophomore Josh Jacobs (7.1) and freshmen Brian Robinson Jr. (6.8) and Najee Harris (5.8).
Even sophomore quarterback Jalen Hurts (6.8) and freshman backup Tua Tagovailoa (7.9) have higher averages, but Scarbrough isn't complaining.
"I think I'm having a great season," he said. "You've just got to trust what they want you to do, and you've got to believe in yourself and believe in your coaches. You've got to have the trust that they're going to put you in position to be the best player you can be and to do the right thing and dominate your box.
"They put full trust in us to be able to do that, and I'm excited about whatever role they want me to do. It's part of being a leader."
Alabama hasn't always been able to keep positions stocked under Saban. Running backs Alvin Kamara, Dee Hart and the late Altee Tenpenny left the program within a year of each other, and quarterbacks Blake Barnett, David Cornwell and Cooper Bateman transferred out at some stage of last season.
This season's running backs seem happy to spread the wealth, which has been plentiful in Alabama's 8-0 start that contains five league wins by a combined 200 points.
"I think you're always really pleased when you have players who sort of don't put their personal goals and aspirations ahead of the team," Saban said. "That's certainly the case with these guys at the running back position and at a lot of other positions on our team this year. We know that guys are always going to have personal goals and aspirations and things that they want to accomplish, and we certainly want players who have high aspirations for what they want to accomplish, but we also want them to keep the priority of not putting that ahead of what you need to do to try and help your team be successful.
"I'm really pleased with the way that chemistry has worked well for us at that position this year."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.