SEC Extra Points with Barrett Sallee: Prepare for Alabama's Freshmen Playmakers
Bama Freshmen Set to Explode
While the majority of the focus in Tuscaloosa has been on the constantly evolving quarterback battle, a funny thing happened—freshmen playmakers started to surface.
Running back Damien Harris and wide receiver Calvin Ridley, in particular.
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The former 5-star prospects in the most recent recruiting class both play in positions of need for the 2015 Crimson Tide, and head coach Nick Saban thinks that's a perfect storm for the two to be instant-impact youngsters.
"Running back and receiver are probably the two areas that are simplest for a guy to play, because you can minimize what he has to know," Saban said. "You can only play him on things that you know that he knows."
Both appeared on Alabama's first two-deep depth chart of the season when it was released on Monday. When asked specifically about how much they'll play, Saban didn't do anything to suggest a redshirt was in the future for either of his future stars.
"Damien Harris has had a really good camp, and certainly we have no apprehensions about using him in a game," Saban said. "Calvin Ridley has made progress. I think he needs to continue to improve and develop confidence in what he's doing. He's got a chance to be a real contributing player for us this year."
There's no doubt that the offense could use them. With running back Kenyan Drake likely moving all over the field, Harris might be forced to be the true No. 2 tailback behind junior Derrick Henry. At 5'11", 205 pounds, he has the size to be a force between the tackles and the speed to be dangerous in space.
Ridley is bracketed as a co-starter with Robert Foster at the "X" receiver spot entering the opener against Wisconsin. At 6'1", 188 pounds, he could become a key contributor to a receiving corps that is looking to replace the production of Heisman Trophy finalist Amari Cooper.
Keep an eye on the two stud freshmen in Tuscaloosa. They're going to be stars sooner rather than later.
A Little Help, Please?
Last season, Georgia running back Nick Chubb burst onto the scene and topped the 1,500-yard mark in essentially a half-season as the starting running back, filling in for suspended/injured star Todd Gurley as well as Keith Marshall and Sony Michel.
What will he do for an encore?
Not that, according to head coach Mark Richt.
"Having other healthy backs around him is going to help him," he said on Wednesday's teleconference. "I don't know if he'll carry it 37 or 38 times per game or whatever we had to do a couple of times—sometimes we just had to do it by virtue of the fact that we didn't have a lot of depth at that time. We do have more depth now, and guys know what they're doing and are quality backs as well."
With that said, though, expect "Chubb 2.0" to be much different than the first version.
Richt spent the majority of the offseason refining parts of this game that were lacking during his freshman campaign.
"He is a better pass protector now and he is a better route-runner," said Richt. "He does catch the ball better. We spent most of our time in the spring on those skills. We mostly scrimmaged him on third downs. We didn't give him a lot of first- and second-down snaps in the spring. We did try to get him better in those areas, and I think he has improved."
Gurley jumped from 16 catches as a freshman in 2012 to 37 as a sophomore in 2013. If Chubb can make a similar jump from his 18 receptions a year ago, it will go a long way toward stabilizing the Georgia offense.
Position of Strength?
LSU's quarterback position is one of the biggest mysteries in college football, as has been the case virtually every offseason since 2007—when Matt Flynn led the Tigers to their last national title.
This year, it will be sophomore Brandon Harris getting the first snaps over returning starter Anthony Jennings in Saturday's season opener versus McNeese State. Jennings completed just 48.9 percent of his passes a year ago, and has been behind Harris—who has one career start (at Auburn a year ago)—ever since the close of spring practice.
Did Harris actually win the job or simply not lose it to a guy who completes less than 50 percent of his passes? The former, according to head coach Les Miles.
"Brandon Harris will take the first snap," Miles said. "He's taken the first snaps in every practice throughout the fall. We look forward to seeing him participate against McNeese. That's not to say that at some point we might not put in Anthony Jennings. He's had a productive fall camp. We look at that position as it continues to improve to be a strength for us."
It better be.
LSU isn't going to be an SEC West contender if it's one-dimensional out of necessity, as it was a year ago. Harris has a big arm, is electric on the ground and can make throws on the run. Whatever held him back a year ago better be in the rearview mirror, because just a little explosiveness out of the quarterback could go a long way for the Tigers.
Duke On The Loose
Auburn wide receiver D'haquille "Duke" Williams' fall camp didn't start out great.
The 6'2", 224-pounder was suspended for about a week last month by head coach Gus Malzahn, and has "slowly been working his way up the depth chart" ever since.
With the showdown against Louisville looming, it seems like perfect timing that he's now a co-starter for the Tigers along with 6'4", 205-pounder Tony Stevens. When asked if Williams was running with the "ones" this week, Malzahn did his best to keep Louisville guessing.
"All of our receivers kinda mixed and matched. All of them have had opportunities to go with the orange and blue," Malzahn said. "On the depth chart, we listed 'or,' so we'll just see where we're at."
Since Malzahn is keeping the world guessing, I suppose it's appropriate to take a shot at what's going on myself. Williams won't start, might sit out a series or two, but will be a factor in the season opener at the Georgia Dome.
Write that down in pencil, and then erase it if I'm wrong.
How a Job Was Won
To the surprise of no one, Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze announced that junior college transfer Chad Kelly will take the first snap at quarterback on Saturday versus UT-Martin over sophomores Ryan Buchanan and DeVante Kincade.
That's a departure from where the trio stood coming into fall camp, when Buchanan was the leading the three-man battle.
How did Kelly seal the deal?
"It's solely based on us charting who's ahead," Freeze said. "We had 10 categories that we charted (in fall camp), and he was leading in seven of them. That's the reason he's scheduled to get the first snaps."
Seven out of 10 isn't too bad, especially for a newcomer up against a couple of veterans in the system.
With that said, all three will play.
"Ultimately, I have confidence that all three could do good things with our football team," Freeze said. "They each have some strengths. The ultimate deciding factor will be how they play on game day."
OK, fine.
But is it a coincidence that Freeze is playing coy with his quarterbacks headed into a cupcake in the opener and a lackluster matchup against Fresno State in Week 2 before the showdown with Alabama in Week 3?
Probably not. Ole Miss will be the first real test for the new-look Crimson Tide secondary, so expect Freeze to keep things under wraps until the showdown with the Tide.
A Step Forward
If Mississippi State is going to dance with the SEC West's big boys again in 2015, it's going to need help from one of its biggest defensive linemen.
Chris Jones came to Starkville with a ton of recruiting hype, but has been more of a rotational player for the majority of his two seasons with the program. With turnover in the trenches, head coach Dan Mullen is counting on his 6'6", 308-pound monster defensive tackle with cat-like quickness to become a stabilizing force up front.
"He had success as a freshman," Mullen said. "When you do that, and have success as a freshman, you don't understand the strain of what you have to put in to continue to develop. He kind of plateaued a little bit last year. We've talked about him being desperate. If you want to be a great player, you have to be desperate to be great. I've really seen him that way. His demeanor in practice has really picked up."
Watch out for Jones in 2015.
New defensive coordinator Manny Diaz intends to get Jones in one-on-one situations this year, and could move him over to end at times, according to Gene Swindoll of Scout.com.
He'll get to show what he's made of against Southern Miss in a late-night tilt in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on Saturday night, and could set the tone for his breakout season.
Saban Wants More
A lot was made of Alabama head coach Nick Saban's statement this week on how many national titles he feels that he should have under his belt.
Three at Alabama and one at LSU apparently isn't good enough.
"People talk about you won four national championships," he told ESPN's Paul Finebaum (via Connor Smolensky of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). "Well, I feel like we’ve had good enough teams to win eight. So I feel like we failed four times. I feel like I failed four times."
I'll say this once, and hope we can get it out of the way: What's the big deal?
It's the same reaction I had when Auburn's Gus Malzahn said he should have dropped 60 on Saban's Crimson Tide in last year's Iron Bowl. These are college football coaches who are brimming with self-confidence and confidence in their teams.
Of course they expect more, and think about what might have been.
It's not arrogance, it's confidence.
If you show me a head coach who doesn't have it, I'll show you a coach who will be out of work in the very near future.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Statistics are courtesy of cfbstats.com.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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