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Glen Coffee and Mark Ingram.
Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson.
Trent Richardson and Eddie Lacy.
Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon.
T.J. Yeldon and Derrick Henry.
Derrick Henry and … Kenyan Drake?
Henry was not literally the only running back to carry the ball for the Tide last season. But force-feeding him nearly 400 carries during the 2015 season was a departure from the usual script since coach Nick Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa. No other back even reached 80 rushes.
Consternation is the wrong word, but there’s some curiosity as to how Bama will distribute the carries in 2016. The team’s backfield depth took a major hit prior to the ’15 season. Henry and Drake are headed to the NFL.
The most experienced returnee, Damien Harris, is a true sophomore with 46 carries in throwaway time last year. A five-star signee who chose the Tide over the Kentucky Wildcats, Harris has yet to show the sort of potential that got Alabama fans excited early in the careers of players like Henry and Yeldon. But you don’t become a five-star player without athletic ability, and there’s still time for him to become a strong player.
Bo Scarbrough is a name that has excited the houndstooth-wearing fanatics since committing to Alabama way back in September 2012. After tearing his ACL and also enduring a four-game NCAA suspension, he carried 18 times in four games. He also played at 240 pounds, which the team decided was 10 pounds too heavy.
A lighter Scarbrough, healthy and involved in every spring practice, has generated all sorts of buzz in 2016. Scarbrough has managed 243 yards and four touchdowns on just 21 carries in two scrimmages. Keep in mind this is against a Alabama defense that outside of one carry managed to shut down Leonard Fournette and Nick Chubb last season. (Reggie Ragland and Jarran Reed are gone from that group, but it’s still a deep, talented run-stopping defense.)
The weight loss may curtail a fraction of the comparisons to Henry — at 240 pounds, he was listed just two pounds apart from Henry’s 2015 playing weight — but at 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds, running a 40-yard dash in 4.60 seconds this spring, some fans and media members won’t be able to resist.
Despite his talent, Scarbrough barely has cracked the 100-yard mark in terms of career rushing yards. Henry spent an entire season as tag-team partners with Yeldon (990 yards in 2014) before his Heisman Trophy season. So to expect Scarbrough to replicate Henry’s 2,219 yards and 28 touchdowns from a year ago is unfair.
But if Alabama returns to its familiar buddy system, even if Scarbrough is the “featured” back, he’ll have help.
That’s why it was such an important flip when Alabama was able to pry B.J. Emmons from Georgia (he de-committed from the Bulldogs one month before pledging to the Tide). Emmons, the second-ranked running back in the 2016 class according to the 247Sports composite, will have every opportunity to make an immediate impact. Considering how unusually thin the running back group was in the ’16 class, as well as Alabama’s need at the position, that was a crucial get.
Emmons can either push Harris to be better or leapfrog him to become Scarbrough’s primary partner. Listed at 5-foot-10 and 232 pounds when he signed, he may be even thicker than Scarbrough, who is four inches taller.
Whatever Scarbrough’s level is this fall, he’s done enough this spring to prove that he’s worthy of becoming part of the next generation of Alabama running backs. The thing left to determine is who will help him, and how much.
That’s why Harris’ performance in Saturday’s A-Day game may be more significant than Scarbrough’s. And why Emmons’ fall practices are so noteworthy.
The other factor to consider is that Alabama’s offense has been much more dynamic since Lane Kiffin became coordinator prior to the ’14 season. Kiffin has a history of getting his No. 1 offensive playmaker a disproportionate number of touches , and more often than not that’s been a receiver (see: Amari Cooper in ’14).
Take a look at the pass-catchers this team will feature:
- Calvin Ridley topped 1,000 yards as a true freshman last year.
- O.J. Howard finally showed up in a major way in the national championship victory against Clemson.
- Robert Foster projected as the potential No. 1 receiver last spring before tearing his rotator cuff against Ole Miss, and he’ll get a chance to show out this year.
- ArDarius Stewart was a very athletic No. 2 last season, contributing 700 receiving yards.
- And the team is going to have to get some touches for graduate transfer Gehrig Dieter, who wracked up 94 catches and 1,033 yards last season for Bowling Green.
Assuming a competent quarterback emerges from a physically gifted but inexperienced group of passers, Alabama is going to be able to move the ball effectively through the air. There are plenty of reasons to believe the Tide won’t need to give the ball to a single workhorse running back 40 times a game to win, as it began to do late last season.
If Harris and Emmons can offload 100, maybe 150 carries from Scarbrough, avoid fumbling and gain 3 and 4 yards at a time, that should be all the help this team needs in the backfield. Anything more and this offense may be every bit as good as it has been the last two seasons.
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
