Alabama’s fabulous foursome at receiver has been more of a trio so far this season.
Jerry Jeudy leads the Crimson Tide with 38 catches through five games. DeVonta Smith set single-game school records in last Saturday’s 59-31 thumping of Ole Miss with 274 yards and five touchdowns, vaulting him into the team lead in both categories for 2019. Henry Ruggs III has averaged a team-high 21.2 yards per reception for the reigning Southeastern Conference champions.
Sophomore Jaylen Waddle hasn’t quite joined in on the fun those juniors are having.
“I certainly think Jaylen has a lot of ability, and we want him to be a very positive contributor and play with a great consistency in performance,” Tide coach Nick Saban said Wednesday during the weekly SEC teleconference. “We’re going to continue to work with him so that he can do that a little better, but we have a lot of confidence him in a lot of ways to do a lot of good things for us.”
Waddle has 12 receptions for 197 yards and has yet to reach the end zone after amassing 45 catches for 848 yards and seven touchdowns last season. He fumbled a punt early in last week’s game that the Rebels recovered, igniting a short scoring drive that enabled Ole Miss to pull into a 7-7 tie.
Smith has 537 receiving yards and eight touchdowns this season, when Jeudy has 488 yards and six scores and Ruggs has 361 yards and four touchdowns.
Top-ranked Alabama (5-0, 2-0) has an open date this week and visits Texas A&M on Oct. 12.
Reichard update
Freshman kicker Will Reichard is not practicing this week due to a hip-flexor injury.
“We’re holding him out until Monday,” Saban said Wednesday night in a news conference after practice. “We think he should be ready for the next game, but these things are day to day, and nobody can predict exactly how something is going to heal up.
“We’ll find out Monday.”
Reichard, the top kicker nationally in the 2019 signing class, is 4-for-7 this season on field-goal attempts and has punted three times for a 39.7-yard average.
Laughing out loud
Saban, LSU’s head coach for five seasons (2000-04) became amused during Wednesday’s SEC teleconference when asked about former Tigers quarterback Rohan Davey and whether he got nervous whenever Davey would go home and consume his mother’s Jamaican food, running the risk of rapidly putting on weight.
“That was an issue,” Saban said, beginning to laugh. “I can’t deny that. I don’t want to be negative about anything, but it was an issue.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.