Alabama is coming off a convincing, season-opening victory over Wisconsin and will make its home debut against Middle Tennessee State as a huge favorite to take care of the Blue Raiders and improve to 2-0.

But Middle Tennessee might present a slightly greater challenge than its directional name and Conference USA affiliation might suggest. The Raiders have some talent and experience on offense, and while the Middle Tennessee players probably haven’t seen a defense that rises to the level of the Crimson Tide, they come in with a much different approach than the run-first Badgers.

So with Saturday rapidly approaching, here’s a look at five players in the game to keep an eye on.

1. Alabama RB Kenyan Drake — Derrick Henry is the feature back, but how head coach Nick Saban and offensive coordinator come up with ways to use the multi-talented Drake is an intriguing story line. Comparisons to Reggie Bush didn’t look too far off base as Drake rushed for 77 yards and a touchdown and caught two passes for 48 yards against Wisconsin. Opposing defenses have to be concerned with Drake as both a ball carrier and a receiver whenever he’s in the game.

2. Middle Tennessee QB Brent Stockstill — The coach’s son won the starting quarterback job as a redshirt freshman, dethroning an incumbent starter in Tuscaloosa product Austin Grammer. Stockstill was really good in his debut with 348 passing yards and four touchdowns, but even the Tide’s third-string defense is a lot better than Jackson State, so it will be interesting to see if Stockstill can keep his poise under more pressure. He’ll need to if the Raiders want to keep it close.

3. Alabama DB Minkah Fitzpatrick — The true freshman from New Jersey is looking right at home in the South and just might be Alabama’s next big defensive star. He got some significant playing time in his first game, making four tackles including a sack for a loss of nine yards. Middle Tennessee State will throw the ball more than Wisconsin and the Tide could use even more nickel and dime packages, meaning Fitzpatrick should be on the field a lot and moving around to different spots depending on the set.

4. Middle Tennessee WR Ed Batties — If Stockstill and the Blue Raiders passing game is going to be successful, they need receivers who can get open against a physical Alabama secondary. Batties is the most likely candidate to do just that. He had eight catches for 123 yards and two touchdowns last week and the junior college transfer from Texas has decent size (6-0, 198 pounds) and speed.

5. Alabama P JK Scott — The preseason All-American had one of his worst games in Alabama’s opener. The sophomore averaged just 36.8 yards per punt on four tries against Wisconsin and didn’t put one inside the 20-yard line. The field position advantages Scott created for the Tide last year were key to Alabama’s success and you can bet Saban and the coaches are hoping to see him work out any issues here in the non-conference portion of the schedule.