Alabama will be without a playmaker against Georgia in SEC Championship, and Ty Simpson needs someone to step up
Alabama needs a young tight end to step up in Josh Cuevas’ place.
The Alabama Crimson Tide took care of business in the most chaotic way possible after beating Auburn in another stressful Iron Bowl.
The team punched its ticket to the SEC Championship game in Atlanta against the Georgia Bulldogs, in what could likely be another must-win to get into the College Football Playoff. Alabama already beat Georgia on the road earlier in the season, 24-21, but the rematch won’t be easy with some key injuries.
Alabama is waiting to hear the status of Jam Miller, who went down in the Iron Bowl, but head coach Kalen DeBoer has already raised doubt about starting tight end Josh Cuevas playing.
Alabama will likely be without TE Josh Cuevas once again in the SEC Championship
Possibly losing Jam Miller is already a huge loss after his contributions in the first game against Georgia, but losing Cuevas means someone else needs to step up in the receiving game. Cuevas has been a reliable safety blanket for Ty Simpson when plays fall apart or the pass rush comes. We saw many times against Auburn that he could’ve used Cuevas to get out of pressured situations, and Simpson has to force a throw downfield. Well, the team has a week to figure it out, with Cuevas unlikely to play again on Saturday.
“Yeah, I would expect Josh to probably not be with us for the weekend,” DeBoer said. “Still don’t have much more information on Jam. He’ll continue to go through his testing here early this week, today and tomorrow.”
It’ll be next man up for the tight end room, but they really haven’t seen enough from anybody else to be confident that they can fill in Cuevas’ shoes on offense.
Alabama will rely on youth to step up
With Cuevas being out, the young depth in Alabama’s tight end room will have to step up against a tough Georgia team. In the Iron Bowl, freshman Kaleb Edwards led all tight ends with 60 snaps on offense, which was followed up by another freshman in Marshall Pritchett, who only had 15 snaps according to PFF.
They didn’t make much of an impact in a big game, as they very likely don’t have the trust of Simpson yet, as Cuevas did. All tight ends totaled only three catches on five targets for just seven yards. That won’t get it done in the SEC Championship, and somebody needs to show their potential and not their youth for a struggling Alabama passing game.
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