Hello and Roll Tide!

The Crimson Tide traveled North to Camp Randall on Saturday, defeating the Wisconsin Badgers in dominant fashion. Wisconsin did lose their starting quarterback in the first drive due to injury, however our defense dominated the line of scrimmage all day. The offensive line finally played well as Kaydn Proctor returned at Left Tackle. Alabama looked explosive and should have a lot of confidence as they train and game prep during the Bye week. Below are injury notes, depth chart updates, a week 3 review, and Season Storylines revisited. Lets go!

Depth/Injury Notes:

· Kaydn Proctor returned from injury and started at Left Tackle

· Elijah Pritchett lined up opposite of Kaydn at Right Tackle

· Qua Russaw suffered a lower leg injury and is still being evaluated

o Que Robinson and Keanu Koht saw increased roles as a result of the injury

· Malachi Moore exited with Concussion-like symptoms. He is expected to play against Georgia

o Devonta Smith moved over to safety; Red Morgan replaced Smith at Husky

· Richard Young sustained a lower-leg injury and was seen in a walking boot on the sideline. The timeline for his return has not been released.

Week 3 Review:

Offense: There have been 3 games and 3 different starters at Left Tackle. The pre-season presumed starter, Kaydn Proctor, finally made a start after dealing with a shoulder injury. Without the Iowa native at Left Tackle, the offensive line has been the biggest issue for the Tide so far this season. The unit played significantly better on Saturday as they bullied the Badgers in the run game and kept a clean pocket for Milroe. The Line gave up 2 sacks and only committed 2 penalties all game. This allowed Milroe to shine, scoring 5 touchdowns (3 passing; 2 rushing). Jalen did run the ball 14 times, which was a bit too often for my liking, though they continued to run outside as the wide receivers were very impressive blocking downfield. Kendrick Law (#1) had a few huge hits on Wisconsin defenseman that allowed openings downfield. Milroe was very accurate with the deep ball as he threw touchdowns of 31, 26, and 37 yards. It should not be a surprise that the leading receiver on Saturday was Ryan Williams. Ryan has 10 receptions for 285 yards and 4 touchdowns in his first three games at Alabama. His ability to create separation in man coverage is a huge asset. Similarly, Germie Bernard ran great routes and was able to find the endzone with 19 seconds left in the second quarter. The air attack was explosive and the line blocked incredibly well in the run game. Both Jam Miller and Justice Haynes averaged 8 yards per carry. Curiously, the pair only combined for 9 carries as the QB run was in full affect. Jalen averaged 5.4 yards per carry as he ran for 75. Overall, the offense had a dominant performance which was great to see after they struggled against USF.

Defense: Alabama’s defense walked onto that field angry. The front seven had 2 sacks, 3 tackles for a loss, 3 pass deflections, and 3 forced fumbles. This is the aggressive “Swarm” defense that Kane Wommack has been looking for. Tim Keenan and LT Overton terrorized Wisconsin quarterback Braedyn Locke all game long. The Badgers were never able to get anything going consistently as their line was beat inside, outside, and during pass protection. Deonte Lawson had his best game of the season making two huge plays for the Tide defense. Lawson forced a fumble and later stopped Wisconsin on a 4th down conversion. Fellow linebacker Jihaad Campbell led the team with 8 tackles. Que Robinson recovered Lawson’s fumble and had a strip sack of his own. The linebackers have shown incredible toughness and poise this season, making the game easier for everyone around them. The Secondary played well, led by safeties Malachi Moore and Keon Sabb. The two combined for 13 tackles and Malachi had a big-time forced fumble that Zabien Brown recovered. Wisconsin only completed 58% of their passes for 141 yards due to great pass rushing and good coverage on the back end. The only glaring issue remains to be true Freshman Red Morgan. Red has struggled all year in man coverage and that continued this week as he blew a man coverage assignment late in the 3rd quarter. Morgan entered the game at the Husky position after Malachi’s injury shifted Devonta Smith over to safety. If Malachi misses time, we will see a lot of true freshman Red Morgan in the Husky position. Morgan is very explosive which benefits quarterback blitzes and helps stop the run, but he has not shown any ability to cover one-on-one. I’d recommend keeping Devonta Smith in the Husky position and replacing the injured Moore with Brayson Hubbard.

Special Teams: After a down week against USF, James Burnip returned to form averaging just under 50 yards per punt. Burnip flipped the field in the second quarter with a booming 64-yard punt. The hang-time was so long that the gunners could have caught it if Wisconsin’s returner did not call a fair catch himself. Graham Nicholson did attempt his first field goal of the season on Alabama’s opening drive, but he missed the 46-yard attempt wide right. Graham was kicking straight into the hostile Wisconsin student section so nerves may have gotten the best of him. Graham did make all 6 PATs and will look to make his first field goal for the Tide is two weeks. With the injury to Cole Adams last week, Jaylen Mbakwe was the primary punt returner. Mbakwe did not attempt any returns. It appears that Ryan Williams is 3rd on the depth chart for punt return as he lined up with the special teams in the 4th quarter. Ryan had an impressive 20 yard return, but I’ll admit I was pretty nervous seeing him out there. I do not see the point in risking injury on punt return where we often see big hits. Alabama did not return any kickoffs as they were content each time to start the drive at the 25-yardline.

2024 Storylines revisited:

· The Kalen DeBoer “Bump”: We have yet to see an increase in passing attempts since DeBoer took over (23.2 attempts/game in 2023 vs 22.0 in 2024), but Jalen has been more efficient than a season ago. Jalen’s yards per attempt are up to 11.4 from 9.9 a year ago. He is averaging 2.67 TD’s per game, up from 1.8; Jalen is averaging 6.5 attempts per touchdown, a huge change from 12.3 a year ago. Of course, this is a small sample size and DeBoer has yet to ramp up the volume, but any improvement is good to see. We should track these metrics as the Tide start SEC play and Jalen finds himself in more passing situations.

· Who’s in the Secondary?: 3 games into the season and the secondary is still the question mark on the defensive side of the ball. The personnel seems to be taking shape, yet Wommack continues to rotate Cornerbacks throughout the game. Domani Jackson has been a great addition to the Tide as his starting role is not in question. True freshman Zabien Brown is holding the second corner spot, yet he continues to rotate with transfer DeShawn Jones and freshman Jaylen Mbakwe. Injury aside, there are no debates on the starters at Safety and Husky. Keon Sabb and Malachi Moore are better than advertised filling the safety roles. Their positioning in Zone and run support has been great. Similarly, Devonta Smith is playing the Husky position to expectations. The main questions remaining in the secondary revolve around the Cornerback positions.

· Crowded Receiver Room: Going into the season the Wide Receiver room looked deep and already after 3 weeks it is stronger than we thought it would be. Ryan Williams is already a super-star wide receiver. Many thought that he would be a big contributor later in the season, but he has already emerged as the best wideout on our team. Him matched with Washington transfer Germie Bernard, Milroe has a great one-two punch. Williams is on track to be the first 1,000 yard receiver since 2021 and first Freshman 1,000 yard receiver since Calvin Ridley in 2015. With a clear-cut top two receivers, how will Jalen be able to distribute the ball to keep everyone else involved? Junior Kobe Prentice has as many receptions as freshman Caleb Odom. Junior Kendrick Law only has one catch all year. The hierarchy is not defined past Ryan and Germie. Let’s continue to monitor who gets targets as SEC play starts.

· Jalen for Heisman: Through 3 games Jalen Milroe is keeping his name in the Heisman discussion. Jalen is responsible for 8 passing and 6 rushing touchdowns already. He has done everything that he can to remain in the Heisman conversation. As mentioned before, we should see how he performs once DeBoer ramps up the passing game. Jalen currently has the second-best odds to win the award (+700 according to Draft Kings). Georgia will be a huge test to see if he’s improved enough year over year to make a run at the Heisman. Carson Beck is 6th in Heisman odds, so the result will have huge Heisman trophy implications for both quarterbacks.

As always, reach out with any questions or comments. If you know anyone who would like to join the newsletter, send their email my way!

Roll Tide

-Jake