Eleven months ago, I expected Bo Scarbrough to become Derrick Henry 2.0. I’m sure I wasn’t alone.

After all, Scarbrough was a monster in the 2016 postseason. Ask any Alabama fan why their team didn’t win the national championship, and more times than not, they’ll tell you it was because Scarbrough got injured in the middle of that game. He bruised the Clemson defense one carry at a time, just like Henry did a year earlier. The only difference was that Henry stayed healthy for the duration of the game and Scarbrough didn’t.

Eleven months later, I have no reason to believe Scarbrough will look like Henry 2.0 this postseason. I know I’m not alone.

For various reasons, Scarbrough has struggled to live up to the high expectations he created for himself at the end of last season. The guy who rushed for at least 90 yards in each of the Tide’s final four games of 2016 failed to reach that mark once in 2017. Scarbrough hasn’t reached the 16 carries that he got before his national championship injury, either.

Sure, Scarbrough still gained 5.1 yards per carry in 12 games this season, but the only times he exceeded that average with at least nine carries were against Colorado State and Vanderbilt in September.

Simply put, Damien Harris has been the better back. The fact that Harris rushed for 357 more yards on just two more carries than Scarbrough says a lot. The reality is that Harris has been too good to keep off the field. A guy who averages 8.2 yards per carry is going to be involved no matter what.

And much to the chagrin of some fans, Jalen Hurts also is going to get his fair share of designed runs. For what it’s worth, he’s actually averaging less carries per game this year (11.4) than last year (12.7).

There still might be some Alabama fans who wonder why Nick Saban won’t do what he did in 2016. Why not just give Scarbrough the rock 15-20 times and let him dominate the running back carries?

Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

For starters, the aforementioned Harris has been better in 2017 than he was in 2016, especially when it comes to breaking big runs. Scarbrough only has three carries of 20-plus yards all season. Harris, on the other hand, has three carries of 60-plus yards. For an Alabama offense that doesn’t really have much of an intermediate passing game, those big runs are key.

There’s also the 2016 national championship game. Alabama’s offense was built around Scarbrough, and it fell apart when he went down. Given his injury history and the amount of contact he absorbs on seemingly every carry, it’s not crazy to think that Saban would look to avoid rolling those dice again.

Alabama got to this year’s Playoff even though Scarbrough’s workload was limited all year. The fact that he’s been able to stay relatively healthy had a lot to do with the fact that he averaged just nine carries per game. Needless to say, it was a different approach than the one the Tide took when Derrick Henry averaged 26 carries per game (395 rushes on the season) en route to the 2015 title.

But it’s not exactly like Scarbrough’s play suggested he deserved to be getting more work. Have we seen this combination of power and speed from Scarbrough all season?

Maybe that run he had against Vanderbilt would fall into that category. But that was Vanderbilt, not Clemson. If you recall, it’s the latter that Alabama will face in the Playoff.

The Tigers have the best run defense (13th in FBS) of any team that Alabama has faced this year. Against Power 5 run defenses ranked in the top 50 (Auburn, Florida State, LSU, Mississippi State), Scarbrough totaled 37 carries and failed to rush for 50 yards against any of them.

And if Saban really was just “saving” Scarbrough for when he really needed him, don’t you think he would’ve had more than five carries in that nail-biter against Mississippi State and six carries in the Auburn loss? I do.

All of those reasons are why it’s hard to see a scenario in which Scarbrough runs to the phone booth and puts on his 2016 postseason cape. The offensive staff feels it can still move the ball having him in a limited role. It doesn’t have to worry about wearing him down and possibly shutting him down with the season on the line. It’s not like Scarbrough’s disappointing year held Alabama back.

The Tide still rank No. 12 in scoring offense and No. 10 in rushing. Averaging 39 points per game and 6 yards per carry isn’t exactly a reason to overhaul the offense before a Playoff semifinal.

Could it be tweaked to give Scarbrough slightly more work? Sure. Could we see him bust loose for a nice run or two against Clemson? Absolutely. There’s still value in the 2017 version of Scarbrough. That much is true.

But if you’re an Alabama fan holding your breath until Scarbrough recaptures his 2016 postseason self, it’s time to exhale.