During the course of its 2014 Southeastern Conference championship season, Alabama tried to set an early offensive tone with a big play to Amari Cooper.
With one notable exception.
In one of Alabama’s most thorough performances of the year, a 42-21 drubbing of Florida in late September, Crimson Tide offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin designed a play for running back Kenyan Drake. It was used 61 seconds into the game, which followed the Tide forcing a three-and-out by the Gators.
“I was definitely nervous,” Drake said. “It was a play we had prepped for in the week leading up to that game, and we knew that when a running back is lined up wide, they tend to have a linebacker on him. Coach Kiffin saw an opportunity to put me out wide with a linebacker and if he had played off of me, it was going to be a slant.
“Once he was up on me, we ran a slant-and-go, and it worked to perfection.”
Drake got past talented Florida linebacker Antonio Morrison down the right sideline and caught an 87-yard touchdown from Blake Sims. It was the longest play of Alabama’s season, a season Drake wouldn’t come close to finishing.
The 6-foot-1, 210-pound senior from the Atlanta suburb of Powder Springs was averaging 5.1 yards on 22 carries and 31.8 yards on five receptions when he sufered a leg fracture at Ole Miss in early October. He was injured after a 10-yard reception on the second play of the second quarter, and although Alabama led 14-3 at one point, the Drake-less Tide faltered in the second half and lost 23-17.
Could Drake staying healthy have made a difference in that outcome?
“That’s neither here nor there, obviously, because there is no way to know if I would have been the deciding factor,” he said. “I definitely wish I had been able to help my team in such a dire situation, but we came back the next week and won at Arkansas. If we had lost that one, too, we would have been out of the national championship hunt.”
Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban is not second-guessing last season, either. He just know Drake is entering his final go-around in Tuscaloosa as much more than a primary backup to starting tailback Derrick Henry.
“Kenyan Drake has tremendous diversity as a player,” Saban said. “He has so many things that he does well. He has great speed. He has very good running skills and running instincts, but he’s also a fantastic receiver. It’s a little bit easier almost to create mismatches for him as a receiver, and if we played him there, he would be one of the better receivers on our team.
“He’s going to be a very, very effective player for us in the future, and he will be a really good professional as well. He was an outstanding playmaker for us last year, and I think Lane does a good job of featuring players like Kenyan Drake in our offense so that they can be very productive.”
Drake has worked at tailback and receiver during preseason practices.
Kiffin was Southern California’s offensive coordinator in 2005 when the versatile Reggie Bush won a Heisman Trophy he later had to vacate as a result of NCAA sanctions. As last season wound down, Kiffin compared Drake to Bush, and said his biggest wish from last season is that Drake had stayed healthy.
Alabama’s offense produced a school-record 484.5 yards per game, and Kiffin is convinced the Tide would have been more formidable with Drake down the stretch. Drake has rushed for 1,087 yards in his three-year career, including 694 yards in 2013, when he averaged 7.5 yards per carry.
“When I was younger, Reggie Bush was definitely a running back I looked up to,” Drake said, “and it’s very humbling to even be mentioned in that way. I also know that I’m Kenyan Drake, and I’m trying to accomplish something that I want to accomplish. I felt very comfortable with what Coach Kiffin was doing last year, because I feel like I’m a very versatile player.
“I accepted whatever role he put me in, and I was very thankful for Coach Kiffin putting the trust in me to do all those roles. I’m looking forward to what he has up his sleeve this year.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.