Since Trey Sanders began his highly anticipated fall camp as a true freshman nearly 2 years ago, he made headlines on our site a total of 13 times. The very first one read “Nick Saban compliments Trey Sanders’ work ethic following first week of Alabama training camp.”

The next 12 weren’t as positive. Eleven of the next 12 headlines were related to injuries in some way. The only one that wasn’t was about Sanders trying to squash the rumor that he was transferring after 2 injury-riddled seasons.

To say that things haven’t gone according to plan for Sanders would be an understatement. The former No. 6 overall recruit in the 2019 class famously predicted at National Signing Day that he’d win the Heisman Trophy as a true freshman, and has since suffered a season-ending ankle injury in fall camp that wiped out Year 1 before it started, and he was in a serious car accident that reportedly had him airlifted to a hospital and ultimately ended his Year 2.

Mind you, that car accident was a week removed from Sanders doubling his career-high in rushing yards against MSU, wherein he broke 4 tackles on 12 runs with multiple 10-plus yard plays that was good for a 84.1 Pro Football Focus grade.

The career numbers for Sanders for 2 seasons tell the story. In just 4 games, he has 30 carries for 134 yards with 1 catch for -2 yards. He has more season-ending injuries (2) than college touchdowns (0), heading into Year 3, he’s not first in line or even second in line for carries.

The good news? The injury gods might actually take a break from bullying Sanders. That’d be a welcome sight.

Nick Saban recently provided an update on Sanders, who wasn’t able to be a full participant in spring because of the car accident he was in last fall (H/T BamaOnline).

“Trey Sanders is actually doing some work,” Saban said. “He does some individual work. He’s making really good progress. He can dry-land run now. He’s not 100 percent but he’s getting there, and we’re very happy with the progress. He’s had a tough road to hoe and he’s had a great attitude about it and he’s worked hard. We’re really pleased.”

That’s good news.

So what makes Sanders different than any other oft-injured college running back? A couple of things. It’s not just that he’s the former No. 1 back from the 2019 class.

Sanders made decisions throughout high school to try and avoid the exact, oft-injured scenario he can’t seem to break out of.

In his freshman year of high school at Port St. Joe, Fla., Sanders was a 1,000-yard rusher and an all-state running back. He committed to Alabama after that season. Perhaps of equal significance was the other decision Sanders made ahead of his sophomore year. He left the Panhandle and transferred a few hundred miles south to IMG Academy in Bradenton. At the time, Sanders was focused on getting full use of the world-class facilities before college, as well as getting a heavier workload. At Port St. Joe, he never had more than 8 carries in a game.

At IMG, Sanders never became the bell-cow back he originally set out to be. Sure, he had the occasional high-volume game like his sophomore season against Long Beach Poly when he racked up 17 carries for 197 yards (that was a breakout performance after he returned from an ankle injury). But in his latter 2 seasons at IMG, Sanders had company in the backfield. Lots of it.

After that sophomore season, future Penn State running back and fellow 2019 classmate Noah Cain transferred to IMG, as did future Oklahoma running back (now at Utah) and fellow 2019 classmate T.J. Pledger.

Instead of going back home or finding another place to get the carries he once coveted, Sanders embraced the idea of not having to be a high-volume guy in high school. Cain became his best friend at IMG, and Sanders used to flash that big smile whenever he talked about his backfield mate. Both came from different places with different running styles, but they agreed that saving their bodies for college made all the sense in the world at IMG.

Don’t get it twisted. Sanders didn’t suddenly shy away from contact or take it easy in high school:

At IMG, Sanders’ running backs coach was Carnell “Cadillac” Williams (now at Auburn), who compared Sanders to former Auburn backfield mate Ronnie Brown. Williams and Brown famously formed what was arguably the greatest SEC running back duo ever. “I couldn’t think of a better running backs coach to have,” Sanders told SDS back in 2018.

That brings us back to 2021. Sanders’ new running backs coach is Robert Gillespie. Last year at UNC, Gillespie coached Javonte Williams and Michael Carter, who were the most prolific backfield duo in America. Both had 1,000-yard seasons.

In Sanders’ ideal world, that’s what he becomes alongside Brian Robinson, who is expected to be Alabama’s new RB1 in the first year of the post-Najee Harris era. Of course, it’s Alabama, which means the backfield options are plentiful.

Jase McClellan is vying for starter-like reps after a true freshman season in which he averaged 10.7 yards on 23 carries. McClellan’s 2020 classmate Roydell Williams was a top-100 recruit who got more reps after Sanders went down last year. And just in case that wasn’t enough competition, 5-star running back Camar Wheaton enrolled in spring.

It’s hard to know where exactly Sanders stands in the pecking order because even though he’s technically the second-oldest back of that bunch, nobody would call him “experienced” having only played 46 snaps in those 4 games. And he also didn’t get the benefit of a normal spring.

Even if Sanders’ role didn’t include a lot of snaps during meaningful moments, it still would be nice to see some of those 2020 flashes over the course of a full season.

Go back and watch him against Tennessee and against MSU. It’s not just that he had a combined 19 carries for 119 yards (6.3 yards per carry). It didn’t seem fair to those defenses that a player of Sanders’ caliber was considered the “garbage time” back. That patience? It’s there. That burst? He has it.

The combination of size (6-0, 214 pounds) with the vision to get behind his blocks and explode at the second level are why Sanders was once worthy of that No. 1 running back ranking, which he held throughout his high school career.

Cain used to compare Sanders to Le’Veon Bell because of his patience. Sanders was forced to be awfully patient so far in his frustrating college career. Maybe that patience will finally pay off in 2021.

And if the injury gods could lay off the guy this fall, that’d be a start.