Alabama punished Louisville from all directions last Saturday night in Orlando, Florida, and that included a balanced rushing attack that was plenty effective in the 51-14 season-opening win.
Damien Harris, Najee Harris, Josh Jacobs and Brian Robinson Jr. combined to rush 28 times for 172 yards, averaging 6.1 yards per carry as a quartet. All four tailbacks had at least five carries, with Najee Harris leading the way with eight.
It’s among the many luxuries Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban has on his roster, but he is not about to speculate how carries will be divvied up this Saturday afternoon when Alabama welcomes Arkansas State to Bryant-Denny Stadium for its home opener.
“We’re not sitting here counting who’s carrying the ball,” Saban said Wednesday night in a news conference after practice. “If a guy has a hot hand and is playing well, we’ll probably get him the ball a little more, but I thought all the guys showed they could make some contributions to the team in some way, and we need to utilize all that talent.”
Damien Harris, who elected to return for his senior year after posting consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, led Alabama last weekend with 55 yards on seven carries. Jacobs had 45 yards on six rushes, and he added a 77-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
Hurts on hold
Crimson Tide junior quarterback Jalen Hurts came off the bench last Saturday for the first time since the 2016 opener, when he replaced Blake Barnett in the 52-6 shredding of Southern California and went on to become the Southeastern Conference offensive player of the year as a freshman.
Hurts was 5-of-9 for 70 passing yards against Louisville and added three rushes for 9 yards as Tua Tagovailoa’s backup, and he played just two series in the first half. Those two series occurred in the second quarter with the Crimson Tide already in command at 21-0, and any set plan for Hurts against the Red Wolves will not be made public.
“What we do with Jalen Hurts will be decided internally,” Saban said. “If I was going to tell you, then I would just call the other coach and tell them what we were going to do.”
Tide tidbits
Inclement weather forced the Crimson Tide indoors on Wednesday. … Saban on 16 players from last season’s national championship team making an NFL roster (12 active and four on practice squads): “It makes me proud that we have all those guys who are going to get an opportunity to play at the next level.” … Freshman linebacker Jarez Parks remained in Florida after last Saturday’s game due to a death in the family, said Saban, who said Parks would rejoin the team today.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.