What Trey Sanders' injury means for Alabama in 2019 and why Derrick Henry comes to mind
Trey Sanders came to Alabama ready to hit the ground running.
Much was made about the 5-star’s comment on National Signing Day that he planned to win the Heisman Trophy as a true freshman. It didn’t matter to him that he was set to share a backfield with fellow former 5-star recruit Najee Harris. Sanders became the top-rated running back recruit in the country despite the fact that he shared backfields with fellow blue-chip recruits like Noah Cain and T.J. Pledger at IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.).
So no, Sanders didn’t plan on letting a shared backfield slow him down. But as we found out Saturday morning, Sanders won’t have a chance to deliver on his Heisman hopes as a true freshman. He’s expected to miss the entire 2019 season because of a foot injury that was suffered in Thursday’s scrimmage.
With the loss of Sanders, as well as the NFL departures of Josh Jacobs and Damien Harris, the workload of Najee Harris now becomes one of the big questions of Alabama’s season.
We know that from a depth standpoint, Alabama is in a very different place that it’s been in recent memory. We also know that Brian Robinson is expected to take on a bigger role, just as he did last year. Saban praised his strides as a sophomore, and now more than ever, it seems inevitable that he’ll see an increase in the 63 carries that he got last year.
But I’m starting to wonder if 2015 Derrick Henry might be on the minds of the Alabama coaching staff.
Let me explain.
You see, Henry’s Heisman Trophy campaign was the backbone of the Alabama offense that year. Everyone knew the 6-3, 242-pound back could handle more than the 172 carries that he got playing alongside T.J. Yeldon in 2014. Needless to say, 395 carries for Henry that year was quite the bump.
With the Sanders injury, the question is worth asking — are we in for something similar with Najee Harris?
The knee-jerk reaction is to say “of course not. It’s 2019, man. Alabama has Tua Tagovailoa and the best receiving corps in America. Why put so much of that responsibility on Harris?”
(If I just took your comment word-for-word, my bad. I’m sure you have another way to trash this take.)
Well, here’s why. And for the record, I’m not saying “Najee Harris is about to get 395 carries this year.” But could he get 300? I’d put some odds on that.
If the expectation is that the former 5-star recruit is off to the NFL after 2019, Alabama could decide that this is finally a situation that calls for a true feature back, unlike the past 3 seasons when the most carries a Bama back had for the year was when Damien Harris had 150 in 2018 (that’s the only time an Alabama back averaged double-digit carries since Henry’s 2015 season). Could the fresh, motivated Najee Harris double that? Absolutely.
He’s listed as 10 pounds less than Henry, who obviously was a specimen even for an Alabama running back (just ask Mark Ingram about that). In Henry’s first 2 seasons playing in shared backfields, he had 207 carries. Harris had 178. In that 2-year, pre-Heisman stretch for Henry, he averaged 6.6 yards per carry. Harris averaged 6.5.
Ah, but what about the passing game, you ask? Doesn’t that suggest there won’t be that many carries to go around?
Not exactly. It’s easy to forget that as much work as Henry got in 2015, Jake Coker threw the ball 393 times. Compare that to 355 for Tagovailoa last year. Granted, Tagovailoa was far more efficient.
Still, the point remains. Tagovailoa’s pass attempts don’t have to take some steep decline in order for Harris to step into a Henry-like role (it’s also easy to forget that Kenyan Drake still had over 100 touches from scrimmage that year). I actually wouldn’t be surprised to see Alabama try to run the ball more as a whole this year in order to keep Tagovailoa out of as many empty-backfield sets. That, I believe, could have happened with or without Sanders.
This could be a development that happens more organically than we think. That’s what happened in 2015 when Henry only averaged 16.8 carries in the first 4 games, including an average of 18 against a pair of Top 25 teams.
Now I know what you’re thinking. Wouldn’t that be risky to put that much wear and tear on Harris? Is there a chance that he’ll break down at the end of the season? Sure. There’s a chance that he’ll do that with 200 carries, too. Alabama didn’t let any late-season fatigue concerns curb Henry’s workload in 2015. He averaged a whopping 36.5 carries in those final 4 games, which obviously fueled Alabama’s national title.
(Well, let’s never forget the brilliant game that Lane Kiffin called with Coker in the Cotton Bowl against Michigan State when the Spartans completely sold out on stopping Henry and still managed to get blown out.)
In a perfect world, Alabama doesn’t need Harris to tote the rock like that. Conventional wisdom suggests that the passing game will move the ball downfield more than enough so that Harris isn’t getting 40-plus carries in a given game.
But I keep thinking back to what Harris said after the 28-point loss to Clemson in the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship. Here’s what I wrote about that subject earlier in the offseason:
Nick Saban told Harris that he was saving wear and tear on his body by keeping his workload limited in his first 2 years (Harris has yet to carry the ball more than 13 times in a game). When Harris was asked about that philosophy after Alabama’s national championship drubbing to Clemson — he had 9 carries — he didn’t hold back on his desire to get more touches.
“That’s what people say,” Harris said via the San Francisco Chronicle. “It might be right, but at the same time I feel like not everybody’s the same. The way I train my body for certain stuff, to take hits … I understand why people are saying that, but I guess we have two different ways of thinking.
“I know what comes with this position and I know what happens if I get a lot of carries at an early age. My future (later in life) could be barely walking. But not everybody’s the same. There are a lot of examples of people walking now and doing good, and they had a lot of carries when they were my age.
“Again, it’s nothing I can control. But if it was me, I’d carry 20 times a game.”
Call me crazy, but that sounds like someone who’s chomping at the bit for this opportunity. And if you don’t believe that, perhaps you missed Harris trying to hurdle dudes in the open field during Alabama’s spring game.
With this injury news to Sanders, it finally makes sense for Alabama to get back to having a true feature back and not simply riding the hot hand. Harris was a benefactor and a victim of that. Now, he can be the biggest benefactor of Alabama’s new backfield situation.
If he has it his way, he’ll follow Henry’s 2015 footsteps to New York … and to the top of the college football mountain.
In other words, Alabama will have a fairly mundane “starting runningback” that gets the bulk of carries and not the “half dozen co-starters getting 4 touches a game” stuff from last year.
In hindsight, Damien Harris coming back for his senior year made things overly complicated.
I don’t think it plays any impact on the amount of carries Harris gets… The split carries was going to be between Robinson and sanders. Now Robinson’s load will pick up some but I expect Ford to step in now..
If there’s any back talented enough and big enough to handle that kind of workload responsibility, it’s Najee Harris. I still firmly believe had he not made those explosive runs in the 2017 NCG, that victory for Alabama would definitely have to have been earned a different way.
@KirbySmart………….. I don’t share your sympathy for Alabama!!!!!! Sanders yes, but bama NO!!!!!!!!!! They are probably doing STEROIDS!!!! I’m sick of bama and you should be to!!!!
If the shoe was on the other foot. You would get no sympathy from them!!!! WE SHOULD BE NATIONAL CHAMPIONS 2 STRAIGHT YEARS and would be if not for INJURIES and THE REFS!!!!!!
King Negan
ExcuseU….
@BamaTime……..ExcuseU??? Why don’t you try TRUTH!!! Better yet why don’t y’all try winning without the REFS in your corner!!! It seems they were absent in the CLEMSON GAME and you got your a$$ handed to you!!!
What did y’all do??? Made excuses that’s what. Well at least our excuse was not that we were tired. Although we probably were considering the fact. THAT THE SEC CHAMPIONS HAD TO TRAVEL ACROSS THE COUNTRY TO PLAY AN OU TEAM THAT WOULD BEAT BAMA!!!!
They weren’t the OVERRATED fly wait y’all played last year.
But why were the SEC CHAMPIONS forced to travel across the country???? Come on and tell me BamaMouth!!!!!!! Y’all traveled next door while we traveled across country on a short week. They weren’t about to let COACH SABAN lose on their watch!!!!
It was a TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE for the SEC CHAMPIONS WHO PLAYED THEIR WAY IN. TO have to travel. While the SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME VIEWERS AKA ALABAMA WATCHED SIPPING TEA. AND HAVING TO BE VOTED IN BY THE COMMITTEE.
Being voted in is fine. But being given the PRIVILEGE to play close to home. And play a Clemson team that SUCKED!!!! That is ALL PRIVILEGE PERIOD!!!!!
Then if that’s not bad enough. We kicked your a$$ all over that field. But those zebras made sure they kept you in the game by bad CALLS and NO-CALLS BY THE DOZENS!!!!!! I sometimes wonder how y’all even enjoy some of your wins, I really do. As BLATANTLY AS YOU CHEAT AND GEAT AWAY WITH IT. LIKE I BELIEVE IT WAS R DAVIS THROWING A PUNCH!!! Yet he wasn’t ejected so explain that!!! It’s not the first time either. HE IS KNOWN FOR THROWING DIRTY PUNCHES and getting away with it.
Since you live close to him. Tell that BIG UGLY BEAR that I’ll be more than happy to throw punches with him if he has the ball$!!!! Only he won’t have no helmet or teammates to protect him. So I doubt he would take the challenge!!!
King Negan
Fly weight not wait
So much crying… Bama beat the pups in Georgia… The Conference Championship is played in your state you crying bit$h….
That obviously didn’t help…
So many excuses….
I’m a “hate bama” fan as much as the next Vol but I have been a fan of Najee since his recruitment from HS. I still am and look forward to watching him as the primary/feature back. I don’t pretend to know much about the backs behind him so that may change my perspective but I expect they are good backs and will split the reps that sanders would have gotten as BT stated. Sanders looked like he was going to be one of those special backs and I also looked forward to seeing him except on the 3rd Saturday in October. It’s a real shame when these kids get these serious injuries. I wish him a speedy and complete recovery.
Thank you for being mature about it. There are too many fans of ALL teams that get too wrapped up in the game that they lose their perspective. Sure, I don’t like Auburn or Tennessee but that doesn’t mean I want a young man to be injured just because of a game. BTW, UT got a really good coach in Pruitt and if Fulmer will leave him alone, he’ll get y’all back to the top tier of the East.
@BamaHeel……..No he won’t because Kirby Smart ain’t going anywhere!!!! He MIGHT get them back to second place. But nobody but UGA is taking the east for a loooooooooooong time to come!!!!
As for the other. I didn’t hear anyone say that they were glad Sanders got hurt. Heck I told him to transfer to UGA long before that happened. He wasn’t gonna get more than 4 games anyway and you know it!!!! It’s the TUA SHOW IN TUSCALOOSA NOW. I’m surprised you even keep a running back. Nobody is happy about Sanders injury.
But there were sure a whole lot of TENNESSEE FANS that made fun of Nick Chubbs injury. I guess that don’t count does it?????? They even held signs poking fun of his injury!!!!! But they got what was coming to them twice now. This year will make it 3 years!!!!! IT SEEMS THAT 3 IS GONNA BE THE CHARM THIS SEASON. IF BAMA CAN MAKE IT BACK, AND I MEAN ” IF. ”
Then make sure to keep your perspective after we kick your a$$!!!!!! Because you got it coming and your gonna get it!!!!! UGA DON’T FEAR ANYBODY AND WE WANT BAMA AS A WARM UP!!!!
UGA has a running back over here that will run circles around Najee any day of the week. He has been injured 2 years in a row now. Where is the sympathy for him????
PS. You bama and Tennessee fans have a strange love affair lately. I think I know why. It’s called, Tennessee hates georgia and Alabama is afraid!!!!
King Negan
Still crying? UGA has one thing in common with the Vols… Bama is spanking that a$$
I think this changes things for Alabama and they will go much more to a featured back offense instead of all the splitting of carries. Harris certainly seems capable of handling the load, but their depth took a hit. Bama fans seem to like Robinson and maybe they are correct, but he just seems like an average SEC back to me. Not that that is a bad thing as the conference has a ton of good backs, but he doesn’t seem elite.
Personally I think Sanders was and is better than Harris right now!!!!! Much faster for one thing!!!! To bad about his injury!!!! Regardless, Saban would not have played him past 4 GAMES!!!!! He tells them what they want to hear and them leaves them out to dry!!!!! It’s the Saban trademark!!!!!!
PS. Still sorry to hear it. But hey if we had Zeus last year, bama does NOT win the SEC TITLE GAME even with the REFS help!!!!
King Negan
Tissue?
@BamaTime……….You know by nature I’m a peaceful man. But your the type that I would jap SLAP!!! Y’all will need a tissue this year.
Try coming and playing ALONE!!! As in leave your REFS somewhere else and see how you do.
You need the tissue. CLEMSON HIT Y’ALL SO HARD THAT SABAN NEEDED A NEW HIP!!!!! LOL. THAT OLD FOSSIL FART OF A COACH NO LONGER MAKES ANYONE NERVOUS!!!! Really he needed an excuse to get more drugs!!! Now he’s a MORPHINE ADDICT!!!!!
PS. Do you have a Trevor Lawrence poster???? THE TIDE GOT ROLLED!!!!
KING NEGAN
Maybe next season UGA won’t lose to a team that couldn’t beat Maryland…
3 losses… That’s impressive. I mean UK only lost 3 games last season….
So much crying..
@TREY SANDERS……….. Sorry for what happened to you. But I’m being honest. I doubt you would be injured had you got in that transfer portal like I begged you to!!!!! But who knows? God knows we have had our share at UGA to. I just hope Saban don’t have you on STEROIDS!!!!! I heard foot injuries can result sometimes from that. God bless you with your rehab. I pray a speedy recovery and you’ll be fine!!! IT COULD HAVE BEEN MUCH WORSE!!!!!
King Negan
LMAO… What a dumba$$..
A UGA fan shows up talking out his a$$.. Go figure..
Oh you mad? Too bad he didn’t see that list that Saban had out. He Should of came to Georgia.
“Should of”?
off my tip.
Lol Bamatime so mad. He was bamas last hope…
Hey a new UGA troll…
Oh you don’t remember me now? N do you know what happen to Ole reb
New UGA trolls are common these days..
U need to look ur self in the mirror your the troll here. N this ain’t nothin new I’m on you like white on rice boi
Tick tock….
Lol U too mad bout trey sanders.