SEC Extra Points: Could Jalen Hurd's Return Help Tennessee Upset Alabama?
He's back!
No, not Tennessee linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin or cornerback Cameron Sutton.
Running back Jalen Hurd will be back this week alongside fellow junior Alvin Kamara in the backfield when the Volunteers host top-ranked Alabama in Neyland Stadium. It's a game that could make or break the College Football Playoff chances for the 5-1 Vols.
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"He’s practiced," head coach Butch Jones said on Wednesday's teleconference. "It’s been great to have him back on the practice field. He’s back full strength. I’ve really liked the way he’s approached the week. We’re excited to have him back. He’ll be back and ready to go."
Hurd leads the Vols with 407 rushing yards and has two touchdowns on the season, but he missed last week's Texas A&M game after suffering an undisclosed injury in the second half of the previous week's win over Georgia.
Will he make the difference? He could, as long as his return comes with a couple of other offensive tweaks.
Kamara only has 19 carries in the first halves of games this season, as opposed to 37 in the second halves and overtime, according to CFBStats.com. Five of those first-half carries came against Texas A&M, when Hurd wasn't even in the stadium.
Quarterback Joshua Dobbs hasn't been as much of a factor early in games, either. He has taken off on the ground 35 times in the first half, as opposed to 47 carries after halftime this year.
If Tennessee can balance out its rushing attack a little bit better in the first half, it'll make the offense less predictable and could prevent the first-half malaise that has plagued not only the offense, but the entire team in virtually every game this season.
What's more, Jones seems to like how his offensive line has come along, even though center Dylan Wiesman is doubtful to play against Alabama. Coleman Thomas replaced Wiesman at center and Venzell Boulware stepped in for injured Jashon Robertson in College Station.
"Venzell is a guy who's very calm and very poised," Jones said. "Never too high, never too low. He's got a great businesslike approach. We thought he did some very good things, along with Coleman Thomas as well. Coleman has worked very hard to get his health back and get ready to play winning football for us."
Tennessee is beat up, but nothing it does will surprise me anymore. If the offensive line can hold up and Jones can play a little looser with his running-game distribution in the first half against Alabama, don't count the Vols out.
After the first six games of the season, why would you?
Hurts So Good
Alabama true freshman Jalen Hurts has become one of the SEC's best surprises in 2016.
The Texas native is fourth in the SEC in rushing among quarterbacks with 296 yards, and his five rushing touchdowns on the season are tied for third. Through the air, he is fourth in passing efficiency (149.73), is fifth in yards per attempt (8.2) and has tossed only two picks on the season.
Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban said on Wednesday:
"He's got to be the commander in chief out there pre-snap. He's got to be the field general after he gets the ball in his hands and make good choices and decisions with what he does with it because he's always distributing the ball to somebody, whether he's handing off or throwing. He's shown pretty good poise doing that, but this will be the most challenging situation he's faced all year.
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While that's not necessarily wrong, this Vols defense will be without Sutton and Reeves-Maybin, could be without linebacker Darrin Kirkland and dismissed tackle Danny O'Brien on Sunday. The dismissal came one day after he was carted off the field.
This Vols defense, while solid, is a shell of its former self.
That said, Vols defensive coordinator Bob Shoop is known for bringing pressure from all over the place, which will certainly be part of the plan as Hurts makes his third career road start on Saturday afternoon.
The true freshman performed well when put into a three-score hole at Ole Miss a month ago, but that's the only real adversity he's faced as a starting quarterback in college. Can he do it consistently? The Vols will do their best to find out.
Not Rushing Things
The Leonard Fournette watch evidently will continue until further notice.
The superstar running back for the LSU Tigers has been nursing an ankle injury since late in the season-opening loss to Wisconsin, and he reaggravated it late in the loss to Auburn two weeks later.
He won't be around to help out interim head coach Ed Orgeron this week against Southern Miss.
"I don't think he's going to play," Orgeron said on Wednesday. "He hasn't practiced, and I would not expect him to play this Saturday.
"It's just taking a little longer than we thought. I'm sure if he were ready, he'd be playing. He's just not able to practice right now."
Even though Fournette is draft-eligible following the year and LSU's chances at making the College Football Playoff are slim, we will get to see Fournette in the purple and gold at some point prior to the end of his season (and possibly his college career).
"He's a team player," Orgeron said. "He's a tremendous team leader. He's around us every day. I know he wants to play when he's ready to go. When he's fully healthy, I expect a great rest of the season."
Fournette, a New Orleans native, has shown he cares deeply about bringing joy to people in the state of Louisiana—a state in which he grew up. When he's ready, he's going to give everything he has to LSU.
Better Late Than Never
A lot has been made of Florida quarterback Luke Del Rio's playing status over the last two weeks, due in large part to the ridiculous theory that gained traction after the LSU-Florida game got postponed about the Gators ducking the Tigers.
"He got back on the horse today and I thought looked pretty good moving, side-stepping and doing some things moving in the pocket and stuff we need to do to be successful," coach Jim McElwain said, according to Florida's athletic website last Wednesday, one day before the postponement. "Nothing definitive there. He'll be prepared to play."
The second-year head coach of the Gators reiterated that this week:
"He was ready last week and obviously the swelling comes and goes, but that’s normal with a lot of those injuries. So he’ll be ready to go, and I know he’s excited to get out there. Austin [Appleby] has had a good week as well, as far as preparation goes, but we’re going to move forward with Luke and see how he handles it. His recovery off of each practice has been a little bit better every day, and that’s a good thing.
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That's big news for Florida, which faces Missouri this week in Gainesville. Del Rio has completed 61.4 percent of his passes this year (62 of 101) for 762 yards, six touchdowns and only two picks, and prior to being named the starter this summer, he has held the lead in Florida's quarterback race since essentially Week 1 of spring practice.
His return couldn't come at a better time. With an opportunistic Missouri pass defense coming into town and a bye week following, it's a perfect time to refine the offense heading into a stretch run when the Gators face Georgia, Arkansas and possibly LSU.
Nothing More Than Memories
On 4th-and-25 in overtime of last season's game between Arkansas and Ole Miss in Oxford, a miracle happened.
Arkansas tight end Hunter Henry caught a short pass, appeared to be stopped prior to the first down and heaved up a lateral prayer while being tackled. Teammate Alex Collins picked up the lateral, ran across the field and down the sideline for a first down to keep the eventual game-winning drive alive.
Rebels head coach Hugh Freeze tries not to think about that play, which kept his team out of the SEC Championship Game. No matter how hard he tries, though, he can't.
"I don't voluntarily go and watch it, I can assure you," Freeze said. "If I were to see it, it would still make my stomach turn. It was a crucial play in that game that ultimately cost us going to Atlanta."
Despite the heartbreak, the Rebels aren't using it as motivation.
"We put everything in the trash," Freeze said. "We're not going to talk about last year's game to our team. We're just going to talk about this year's opponent."
This year's opponent is a reeling Arkansas team that is 0-2 in the SEC, doesn't have either of the players involved in that lateral, is struggling up front to protect quarterback Austin Allen and is facing an Ole Miss defensive front loaded with stars, including pass-rush specialist Marquis Haynes.
While last year's ending leaves a memory Freeze would like to forget, the focus for his Rebels this year is on the current Arkansas team—not revenge for last year's overtime classic.
Redshirt Burning?
How bad is South Carolina's offense?
It's 123rd in the country in total offense (304.5 yards per game), 120th in yards per play (4.78), dead last (128th) in scoring offense (14 points per game) and 123rd in red-zone scoring percentage (68.75 percent).
Could the solution be true freshman Jake Bentley—who reclassified from the 2017 class to the 2016 class this spring? Maybe.
Head coach Will Muschamp said on Wednesday's teleconference that Perry Orth and Brandon McIlwain are still getting reps with the first-stringers, but he didn't rule out the possibility of burning Bentley's redshirt.
"We haven’t gotten enough production from the position," he said. "Multiple issues offensively, but we need to get better at the position. So we repped all three guys."
For a team that's 2-4 and doesn't have much of a shot at a bowl game based on the way that it's played through the first half of the season, playing Bentley now would be the panic move of all panic moves.
But it's clear that South Carolina needs something different offensively because what Muschamp has done thus far isn't working.
Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Statistics courtesy of CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted. All recruiting information is courtesy of Scout.com. Odds provided by Odds Shark.
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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