Stock Trending Up(All Players, Not Just Draft Eligible): Jahmyr Gibbs, RB; Jase McClellan, RB; Traeshon Holden, WR; Jaylen Moody, LB
Stock Trending Down(All Players, Not Just Draft Eligible): Trey Sanders, RB; Jermaine Burton, WR; Eli Ricks, CB
Potential Draft Steals: DeMarcco Hellams, S
In-Depth Team and Season Preview:
Coming in at the No.2 spot in the CFB AP Poll for the second straight week is the Alabama Crimson Tide. Since the National Championship back in February everyone made it sound like this year it was supposed to be Alabama and everyone else. Now three weeks into the season, we think there are many college football fans who would argue otherwise. Alabama just doesn’t look like this program that fans and analysts alike have hyped up. The thing about Alabama is that most of their losses came on the offensive side of the ball, and they are pretty much the same defensively. Alabama is going to need the defense to step up and be the foundation of this team if they are looking to make another championship run this season.
Offensively, the Crimson Tide lost just about every skill position starter from last year’s team and both offensive tackles: Jameson Williams, John Metchie, Slade Bolden, Brian Robinson, Jahleel Billingsley(Transfer Portal), Agiye Hall(Transfer Portal), Evan Neal, and Chris Owens. Despite the losses, Bama as always was able to reload with help from the transfer portal. Jahmyr Gibbs, Tyler Steen, Jermaine Burton, and Tyler Harrell transferred in to try to replace all that was lost to the NFL.
Just like every other team though, it all starts up front for Bama. Despite 3 starters returning on the offensive line, just two of them have earned the right to keep their starting spots. Darrian Dalcourt at center and Emil Ekiyor Jr. at RG are the only two familiar faces for QB Bryce Young and the RB room. Seth McLaughlin who had to step in at the end of the year for the injured Dalcourt also returns for this season. Starting LG Javion Cohen was unable to earn his starting spot back. It was taken by 6’4”, 298 LB, converted TE Kendall Randolph. Taking over for 7th Overall Pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, Evan Neal, is Vanderbilt transfer Tyler Steen. Taking over for 2021 RT Chris Owens is Sophomore JC Latham, who was one of Bama’s top reserves last season. This new look offensive line through three weeks has proven that they can maul in the run game as Bama has 95 total carries for 712 yards, which is an astounding average of about 7.5 yards/carry. However, the line has given up 4 sacks through the first 3 games on starting QB Bryce Young. Now, many people may sit here and think 4 sacks isn’t bad in 3 games, and we completely agree with you. However, the issue is look at who they’ve played. Two of their three games are against Utah State and UL Monroe. It’s also interesting to note that in what I’ve been able to watch of the Alabama offense, Young seems to be under pressure… A LOT! He makes a lot of throws with someone in his face or as he’s getting hit. I’m not entirely blaming the pressure on the line because some of it could be on Bryce Young rolling out, holding the ball too long, or just not feeling/seeing the pressure as well as last year but the point is we don’t remember Young being under that much pressure last year or this consistently. Again, they also have yet to play an SEC opponent. Maybe the line gets better and builds better chemistry throughout the year, but for now we’re worried for Young as they begin to head into SEC Play.
The running backs room doesn’t have a name in it like Henry or Harris this year, but these backs are playing lights out so far. Georgia Tech transfer, Jahmyr Gibbs, had a strong rushing performance week one against Utah State, but since then has been held in check from a rushing perspective. Gibbs, however, has been able to make his presence felt through the air as most of his yards have come via catch in the last two weeks. Junior back Jase McClellan has also made his return for the Crimson Tide as he missed a chunk of last season due to injury. McClellan looks extremely explosive and looks to have taken on more of the running work. Fellow Junior Roydell Williams seems to be the third back in the rotation for the Crimson Tide. Every year it sounds like there’s a story about an older Bama back who takes over the backfield after waiting patiently for their opportunity, and many believed that Trey Sanders could be that guy this season. Unfortunately for Sanders, it seems like he has been getting “garbage time” carries and phased out of the primary offense. A guy who was a part of the rotation last year, now seems to be buried four deep.
This is the first year in what seems like 10 years that the Tide don’t have “the guy” at WR. Julio Jones, Amari Cooper, Jerry Jeudy, Devonta Smith, Jameson Williams, just to name a couple guys throughout the years. Bama doesn’t seem like they have one of those elite route runner/homerun threat guys this season. There was some hype around Louisville Transfer Tyler Harrell that he could be that guy this season, but he has yet to see any field time due to a foot sprain. Georgia transfer Jermaine Burton is another WR who has yet to make an impact despite being a starter. He showed that he is a really good route runner and a fairly reliable target during his time with the Dawgs, so its pretty head scratching why he hasn’t made an impact yet. Junior Traeshon Holden through three weeks seems to be one of Young’s favorite targets, but the most effective of the primary WR trio. He’s averaging 4 receptions and 5 targets per game, in comparison to Burton’s 3 receptions and 5 targets per game, and Prentice’s 3 catches and 3 targets per game. Despite their numbers looking similar, Holden has almost 2x as many yards as Prentice and about 2.75x more yards than Burton. It is interesting to note that Gibbs does have the most receptions of any offensive player. The Alabama receivers are going to need to step up their game before SEC play comes and around, and especially if they are planning to make a championship run this season. Just watch Young and the Tide’s offense in the National Championship once JaMo goes down. We aren’t sure where our take stands amongst the consensus, but we had a feeling that the Tide’s offense was going to show signs of struggle this season if they didn’t find their next elite receiver. We know we are in the minority on this take, but we do not believe that Young is the QB people hype him up to be. We believe that he is a product of JaMo and Metchie in particular. This year is showing us so far that he is borderline average without an elite receiver.
Speaking of which, it’s time to discuss the reigning Heisman winner, Bryce Young. Young is a QB prospect that many would say has a chance of being the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. We would have to argue otherwise. We are not in love with Young as a QB prospect. We have already released our 2023 Prospect Profile on Young (https://thegridironreview.com/prospect-profile-bryce-young/), so we will not go too in depth in this article. As stated above, we believe Young is a product of his receivers. Bama doesn’t have that big bruising RB they’ve had in the past like Henry, yet it seems like they are trying to get the offense to run through the running backs. Bama is averaging about 32 carries/game through the first three weeks and that’s not including the roughly 6 targets/game for the RB room. This is not your stereotypical Alabama offense, and we think it is going to expose Young’s issues such as having an above average arm, throwing mechanics, and accuracy/ball placement. Before the start of the 2022 season, we agreed that based on his 2021 tape, Young’s best trait was his pocket presence, and through three games we believe that it has gotten pretty bad from last year. Young is still atop the list for the Heisman this year, but he’s played one legit game against Texas, and he didn’t look that good. Young has a lot to prove as they slowly head into SEC play. We don’t believe that Young will take home back-to-back Heisman Trophies.
Defensively, they lost Phidarian Mathis, Christian Harris, Jalyn Armour-Davis, and Josh Jobe to the NFL back in April. They also lost backup/situational linebackers Shane Lee and Drew Sanders in the transfer portal. The truth is Alabama returns pretty much its entire defense from last year except for Christian Harris and Armour-Davis/Jobe who were not really every down CBs by the end of the year. There is a ton of experience and leadership who returned for another season, particularly in the secondary. McKinstry, Khyree Jackson, DeMarcco Hellams, Jordan Battle, Brian Branch, and Malachi Moore all came back for the Tide. While talking about the secondary, there is one player that we want to discuss, and that’s Eli Ricks. Ricks is a Junior cornerback who played at LSU and entered the transfer portal back on November 23 of 2021. Ricks was a 5-star coming out of high school and was one of the most coveted players in the portal. The reason Ricks is such an interesting topic for us is because he isn’t starting for the Tide. From what we were able to find he is “part of the rotation”, and played significant time against Utah State, but was limited to special teams’ reps against Texas. We were unable to find out if he saw the field at all against UL-Monroe, but we’re under the assumption that he didn’t because he didn’t have any stats. I watched some of Ricks’ 2021 LSU film, and I was under the belief that Ricks play style and playmaking ability fell victim to LSU’s extremely soft coverage scheme. Based on what I’ve seen from Bama’s CBs so far this season, they play a lot more press and close coverage than not, and I think that is the perfect type of scheme for Ricks. Ricks was selected as a preseason first team All-American by the Associated Press. He was also put on the watch list for the Nagurski Trophy and Walter Camp Player of the Year. Ricks will not be able to live up to these “nominations” being part of a rotation. Ricks is highly considered as one of the best CBs, if not the best, in the country. We are doing our preview from an outside perspective so obviously there is probably stuff within the team that we don’t know or understand, but from the outside it is extremely head scratching how he did not win a starting job. Maybe things will change as we get further into the season, but we think Ricks could be the difference between the Tide having A top secondary and THE top secondary. With minimal personnel losses, we would love to see the Tide defense take that next step up and help carry what we believe will be a struggling offense to compete for another championship.
Overall, we believe that Alabama has proved absolutely nothing so far this season. They opened up with Utah State and two weeks later played UL-Monroe. Now, here’s where it gets interesting. Week 2, the Crimson Tide played the Texas Longhorns. The Tide came out with a 20-19 victory; however, many fans believe that the refs handed the game to Bama on a silver platter. Texas was under heavy scrutiny after their decision to leave the Big 12 for the SEC. Many believed that this was going to be a bloodbath and the beginning of regret; however, that’s not how the game went at all. Texas stood toe-to-toe with one of CFB’s powerhouses in a game they could’ve come out victorious. The significance of this game will be re-evaluated as the season goes on. If Texas falls apart then this is not going to look good for Alabama. If Texas continues to win, and prove they are a legit contender this year then it’s not as bad for Alabama. This is a game that people are going to come back and look at down the line, it’s just a fact. Alabama begins their SEC play this weekend as they take on Vanderbilt. Our eyes will be on Alabama starting in two weeks when they head to Arkansas to take on the currently 10th ranked Razorbacks. The two opponents to follow are Texas A&M and Tennessee. As we’ve said multiple times already, “Alabama has a lot to prove”. This is a team we are going to keep a close eye on to see if they are truly a contender or a pretender because through three weeks, they are not the clear cut best team in college football.