Alabama Receiving Corps Still in The Process

When Alabama lost three senior receivers in 2007, most predicted a drop off in the passing game production and 2008 certainly met that expectation.  Let’s take a look at who did what this year and a few peeks ahead.

Looking at recruiting this year, our targets are outstanding but none are expected to have the instant impact like Julio Jones did.  What Jones did is rare, and of our current targets, only Louisiana product Rueben Randle seems to have the raw physicality to mix it up in the SEC right out of the gate, and he is probably LSU’s to lose.  Anyone else making an impact in 2009 would be purely a guess.

Brandon Gibson 6’ 1” 196

2008 was not kind to the former four-star recruit.  He began the year serving a two game suspension for a ticky-tack NCAA violation that happened when he was in high school.  After that, he failed to get on the field. Gibson did win the strength and conditioning award this fall.

BJ Scott 5’ 11” 188 

Scott was a big disappointment in a year with few.  He was a five-star recruit who failed to live up to the hype.  He failed to really get open or make catches. 

He played quarterback in high school, so this was an adjustment and he may have had a nagging injury that slowed him down.  Chances are high that he will move to Defensive Back this spring, so we may never see Scott on offense again.

Earl Alexander 6’ 4” 216

Earl appeared to be ready to step up be a big factor in 2008, even holding off Julio Jones from the starting spot for a few weeks of camp, but an ankle injury slowed him all season. 

Earl, like Jones, is physically imposing, and the idea was to get these two guys on the field to cause match up problems.  Alexander never made an impact.

His best play of the year resulted in a fumble and touchback as he tried to stretch the ball too far for a score.  Alexander has loads of potential, so it would be no surprise to me if he became a dangerous weapon next year.

Darius Hanks 6’ 0” 172

Hanks was lightly recruited out of high school, but Saban wanted him.   Hanks had a great junior season in high school, but injuries cut out most of his senior year, so he had fallen off the radar with many schools and recruiting sites.

This spring it appeared Saban had hit the bull’s eye once again when Hanks secured a starting spot, but this fall he promptly lost it and dropped from sight. 

Only in the final third of the season did Hanks once again claw his way back onto the field and seemed to be hitting his stride late only to drop off again against Florida and Utah. 

Who knows what 2009 holds for Hanks, 2008 was too up and down to even guess.

Marquis Maze 5’ 9” 171

Maze had a forgettable year in 2008. He roasted the secondary this spring and continued to break open deep during the season but Wilson simply didn’t have the touch or accuracy to drop it in to a small receiver. 

Two of the best three receptions he had this year were from walk-on Quarterback Thomas Darrah in the spring and backup Quarterback Greg McElroy in the Iron Bowl.

If the demoralizing throw by McElroy against Auburn is any indication, look for Maze to have some Prothro-ish moments in 2009, but he will need to get more separation in traffic to get many balls thrown his way.   

Mike McCoy 6’ 2” 205

For the second season in a row, McCoy started the season and for the second season in a row his production faded as the season wore on.  This year he lost many of his late season snaps to Hanks.  McCoy is a great downfield blocker, and he will remain in the rotation for that reason.  

Brad Smelly 6’ 3” 218

The 218 pounds is from the athletic department website.  If Smelly weights 218 my wife’s got a triple D rack!  My guess is Smelly is pushing more into the 228 to 230 range and it ain’t shakin' when it runs.

Smelly really should have red shirted but our receiving corps was just not getting it done and Saban pulled the shirt to try and help the situation.  Smelly made numerous clutch catches, many on third down. 

The decision was clearly the right one, as we may not have made it to the SEC title game without him.  Look for much more of the same from Smelly in 2009, as he goes through the conditioning program and uses his increased size and strength to maul secondary players after the catch.

Smelly is another player that Saban wanted that the recruiting sites were not in love with, but his abilities present a very difficult match up for defensive coordinators. 

Julio Jones 6’ 4” 210

Jones had the most prolific year a freshman receiver has ever had at Alabama.  Unfortunately there are few comparisons in Alabama history.  Alabama historically made its living on the ground and since those glory days, Alabama has never gotten the bluest of blue chip players. 

But all that changed when Julio Jones signed with Alabama last February.  Sometimes the blue chippers fail to reach the overblown expectations, but in only one area did Jones fail to exceed expectations, and that was touchdowns.  Jones snagged 58 passes for 924 yards for a 15.9 yard per catch but only 4 touchdowns.

To his defense, Jones was mobbed by the defense fearing no other Alabama receiver.  The other reason was that the tight end was used in goal line situations effectively and there was no reason to get away from something that was working.

How good was Jones?  He was 132 yards and four receptions from breaking the all time Alabama record held by DJ Hall in 2006.   He was 76 yards and three receptions from knocking down David Palmers second-place position from 1993 and he blew past names like Dennis Homan, Ozzie Newsome, Freddie Millons, and Albert Bell for third place in Alabama history. 

But stats do not express how dominant Julio Jones was.  Quite simply nobody could cover him, not even the national champion Florida Gators.  Once Jones got the ball in his hands he was very difficult to bring down and got loads of RAC yards. 

The only thing that held Jones back was his conditioning, and that will not be a problem going forward. Barring injury, Jones will most likely continue his assault the record books and SEC secondaries.

To get more production in big games Alabama desperately needs a second receiver to take some pressure off of Julio and some depth.  Wilson had a poor year with the deep ball and once again failed to spread the ball around as much as he should. 

Hopefully whoever wins the QB job next year will be better overall even if he does have to make some rookie mistakes. 

Adding more receiver talent via recruiting should help, if for nothing else but to make it that much harder to win a starting job and to keep it as competition under Saban never ends from the first day of practice to the last.

Things look good going forward, but the receiving corps is definitely still in the process of getting where they need to be.