Alabama junior Najee Harris could be the Crimson Tide’s showcase running back this season after averaging 6.7 yards per carry last year.EXPECTATIONS
Given that half of the past decade’s worth of college football seasons have ended with Alabama Crimson Tide national championships, the expectations don’t waver. The Crimson Tide’s ability to win all 12 regular-season games last season by at least three touchdowns was unprecedented, but the last three games against Georgia, Oklahoma and Clemson revealed a secondary that never could fully replenish the sizable losses of Anthony Averett, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Ronnie Harrison, Hootie Jones, Tony Brown and Levi Wallace from the 2017 national champs. Alabama averaged 323.6 passing yards a game last season, and the chief components return with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and receivers Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs III, DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle. The return of Terrell Lewis from a lost year due to a torn ACL could give Alabama one of the nation’s premier outside linebackers.
CONCERNS
When Tagovailoa got injured last season, there was a quality backup in Jalen Hurts, who was the 2016 SEC offensive player of the year and last December rallied the Crimson Tide to the league championship over Georgia. Mac Jones and two true freshmen, including Tua’s younger brother Taulia, now back up Tagovailoa, so keeping Tua healthy is way more important this season than last. The offensive line lost consensus All-America left tackle Jonah Williams as well as four-year starter Ross Pierschbacher, and the reliable Damien Harris and the versatile Josh Jacobs are no longer in the backfield. Depth at both tight end and outside linebacker must be developed. The biggest difference between Alabama and fellow superpower Clemson right now is in the coaching stability, as Nick Saban has hired 13 new assistants in the past two years. Can Steve Sarkisian and Pete Golding take a stellar program and make it stronger?
WHAT’S NEW
The two coordinators are new, though Sarkisian was with the program as an offensive analyst to Lane Kiffin in 2016, while Golding coached the Crimson Tide’s inside linebackers last season. Not having a quarterback competition for the top spot is new as well, with Hurts having gone to Oklahoma as a graduate transfer. A newcomer who could make an immediate impact is five-star running back Trey Sanders from Port Saint Joe, Florida, who could team with junior Najee Harris to provide Alabama its latest tailback tandem. Another new aspect to this year’s team is a Sept. 14 trip to South Carolina, which is the only Southeastern Conference program that owns a current win streak over the Tide. Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks defeated Saban’s Tide 35-21 in 2010 inside Williams-Brice Stadium in the most recent meeting between the two. This year’s contest will be at Williams-Brice as well.
OUTLOOK
Due to the return of Tagovailoa and an elite receiving group and a tight end position that is rebuilding, the Tide could present plenty of sets in which they use four receivers to challenge defenses to cover all four. Sarkisian wants to run the football as well, pointing out that as a college play-caller he always has had a 1,000-yard rusher. Alabama should be stout up front defensively with Isaiah Buggs and Raekwon Davis, and Anfernee Jennings, Dylan Moses and Lewis give the Tide an elite trio of linebackers. Safety Xavier McKinney headlines what should be an improved secondary, and don’t discount the fact Alabama can break free via Waddle returns on special teams. The opener against Duke in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium is not as steep as some other neutral-site games in recent years, leaving Texas A&M and the Iron Bowl as the biggest games away from home.
KEYS TO SUCCESS
Alabama’s run of recruiting classes under Saban has resulted in the Crimson Tide either being superior or vastly superior to everyone they play. The football world last season witnessed a hobbled Tagovailoa at times, so the importance of keeping him healthy can’t be stressed enough. The marriage of Sarkisian with the Alabama offense needs to be seamless, which would be aided by offensive linemen Alex Leatherwood and Jedrick Wills leading an effective quintet. The team with the closest talent base on Alabama’s regular-season schedule is LSU, so the Tide must take care of the Tigers for a ninth consecutive time. On the national landscape Clemson has proven to be on par with Alabama, while Georgia has proven to be very close. A lot can happen between now and the new year, but this could be another season in which Alabama has to beat both Georgia and Clemson in order to hold up another trophy.