Alabama’s depth chart for Florida State confirms a lot of suspicions that Crimson Tide fans have had about multiple positions
Alabama released its first depth chart on Saturday ahead of the Crimson Tide’s season opener against Florida State.
The Alabama Crimson Tide have finally released a depth chart. It wasn’t released until the media arrived to the press box at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee as Alabama prepares to open its season against the Florida State Seminoles, but the depth chart was revealing nonetheless. Below, I share some of my biggest takeaways.
*Note: For anyone interested, here are my offensive and defensive depth chart projections from two weeks ago.
-Florida transfer Kelby Collins isn’t listed anywhere on the depth chart. That’s really interesting. Otherwise, the NT/DT depth chart looks exactly like we suspected. I’m not sure if his absence is injury related, but we should note that Tim Keenan III is included despite his recent injury. Maybe it’s the timing, but this is at least something to keep an eye on. No Justin Hill or Noah Carter. You might see one of them get some meaningful action, but this looks like it’ll be a three-man rotation to start the year. We should note that no position had more than three players listed, so we probably need to wait and see how it plays out on Saturday.
-Justin Jefferson seems to be getting the start alongside Deontae Lawson with Nikhai Hill-Green acting as the second-team Stinger behind Lawson. This could mean that Lawson and Hill-Green will platoon with Lawson coming off a major injury, but that remains to be seen. It’s also possible that it’s just listed that way to get both Lawson and Jefferson to the top of the depth chart. I originally had Lawson sliding from Stinger (boundary linebacker) to Mike (field linebacker) this season, mostly because I thought Hill-Green would be listed as a starter and he feels more like a pure Stinger playing to the short side of the field (so he doesn’t have to cover as much space). Jefferson is easily the most athletic linebacker in that room, so with him being a starter, it makes way more sense to have him at the Mike spot, which is more of your space linebacker. He could be in for a monster season.
-Ryan Williams is listed as the starting H-receiver (or slot) while Germie Bernard continues to serve as the starting Z-receiver, which is where he was listed last year. I had those two flipped in my projections, but I did acknowledge that Williams could be the primary inside guy. You’ll see both of them playing inside and outside. Horton, as expected, is listed as Alabama’s starting X-receiver. Freshman Lotzeir Brooks isn’t included, but everything else is listed as we expected. This room is one of the strongest on the roster.
-They were even more selective with the offensive line depth chart than I was anticipating. The two true freshmen, Jackson Lloyd and Michael Carroll, are listed as the primary backups at left and right tackle respectively, but it’s still possibly that third-year OL Olaus Alinen, who’s only listed as the backup right guard on the depth chart, is the first guy off the bench. I can see it going either way. Each player was only listed at one spot, so Geno VanDeMark wasn’t included with the centers, but make no mistake, if Parker Brailsford misses time, the former Michigan State transfer will slide inside with either Jaeden Roberts or Alinen coming in at right guard.
-As expected, Dijon Lee is listed as a backup. Expect to see the true freshman a lot on Saturday though, especially with a big-bodied matchup against Duce Robinson (6-foot-6, 223 pounds) looming. It’s interesting that Red Morgan is listed as the second-team Husky. Granted, no one was included more than once, and Calhoun was included behind sophomore Zabien Brown on the perimeter. Calhoun is primarily an outside guy, so it makes sense to list him there first. If DaShawn Jones has to miss time, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Utah transfer comes in to replace him in the slot.
-Danny Lewis Jr. and Josh Cuevas are the two starting tight ends, but I was surprised to see Brody Dalton listed as the second-team H-tight end behind Cuevas. He feels like more of an inline guy, but at the same time, you’ll see all of these guys do both. It was probably an easy way to get both Dalton and Lindsey listed with the second-team. Kaleb Edwards and Marshall Pritchett were the third guys, but I’d expect at least one to see some meaningful snaps on Saturday. West Virginia transfer Jack Sammarco wasn’t included.
-With Jam Miller out, the pecking order at running back was as we expected with Richard Young being listed first, but sharing an “OR” status with Daniel Hill and Dre Washington. All three are likely to get opportunities against the Seminoles. How it shakes out from there could depend on each player’s performance.
-It looks like Cole Adams will get the first crack at returning punts, but former five-star Jaylen Mbakwe should see some opportunities there as well. Interesting that Mbakwe is listed with the second kick return group along with Washington while Rico Scott and Adams are acting as the first group. While there are “OR” statuses for both placekicker and punter, it looks like it’ll be Conor Talty and Blake Doud getting the first nod. Those are your likely starters this season with David Bird at long snapper.
