TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Nearly everyone at Bryant-Denny Stadium missed walk-on Gunnar Raborn kick the University of Alabama’s first extra point against Western Carolina on Saturday afternoon.

That’s because they were watching Amari Cooper on the sideline, one of four starters who limped off the field during the first half.

“We probably won’t play them (any more) in this game, but we think they’ll be ok,” Nick Saban told the sideline reporters on his way to the locker room at halftime with a 38-14 lead. “Hopefully we won’t get anybody else injured.

“We just weren’t ready to play. We were flat in the game. We didn’t have the energy in the pregame warm-up and we didn’t play with any energy in the beginning of the game. Making sure we have that energy is my responsibility. We didn’t play to our standard, which I’m very disappointed in. We got better in the second quarter, we started playing a little bit better. Defensively we woke up a little bit. We’ve still got a lot of ball to play, and hopefully we won’t get any more guys injured.”

He said after the game that Cooper has a bruised knee.

The junior wide receiver had set up a 4-yard touchdown reception by freshman Cam Sims, the first of his career, with a 27-yard gain, but appeared to take a helmet to his leg/knee and immediately reached down in pain.

After being helped off the field Cooper was examined by trainers, and after briefly rising an exercise bike headed to the locker room. However, just as Alabama got the ball back a couple of minutes later he came running back out on the field and rejoined teammates on the Crimson Tide sideline.

Coaches held him out the rest of the game as a precautionary measure, calling both his injury and the one sustained by defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson on a nasty chop-block as “lower leg.”

Freshman left tackle Cam Robinson (lower leg), senior fullback Jalston Fowler (shoulder), and reserve redshirt freshman wide receiver ArDarius Stewart (knee) also left the game in the first half. Sophomore kicker Adam Griffith (undisclosed) did not play.

Fowler did return.

The Crimson Tide hosts rival Auburn next Saturday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Alabama was already without junior running back T.J. Yeldon (ankles) and senior wide receiver (hamstring) DeAndrew White, who warmed up but did nothing else. Instead, Derrick Henry and ArDarius Stewart made their first career starts.

Cooper’s catch was his third of the game, giving him 194 for his career, trying the Alabama career record (DJ Hall).

With 1,349 receiving yards through 11 games he has one of the 10 best seasons in SEC history, and moved up to third in SEC career receiving yards.

All-time leading SEC receiving yards, single season
1. Josh Reed, 1740, 2001, Louisiana State
2. Alshon Jeffery, 1517, 2010, South Carolina
3. Jordan Matthews, 1477, 2013, Vanderbilt
4. Mike Evans, 1394, 2013, Texas A&M
5. Travis McGriff, 1357, 1998, Florida
6. Amari Cooper, 1349, 2014, Alabama
7. Cobi Hamilton, 1335, 2012, Arkansas
8. Carlos Alvarez, 1329, 1969, Florida
9. Jordan Matthews, 1323, 2012, Vanderbilt
10. Craig Yeast, 1311, 1998, Kentucky

All-time SEC receiving yards
1. Jordan Matthews, Vanderbilt, 2010-13, 3,759
2. Terrence Edwards, Georgia, 1999-2002, 3,093
3. Amari Cooper, Alabama, 2012-14, 3,085
4. Alshon Jeffery, South Carolina, 2009-11, 3,042
5. Josh Reed, LSU, 1999-11, 3,001

Note: This story will be updated after the game.