Alabama Hopes Roydell Williams, Jase McClellan Can Provide Depth at Running Back: "They're Competitors"

The Crimson Tide turns its eyes on two freshmen tailbacks to pick up the slack left by the injury to Trey Sanders

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It's next man up in the University of Alabama running back room after redshirt freshman Trey Sanders is likely to miss the reminder of 2020 due to injuries sustained in a car accident last weekend. 

The timing of injury is just awful because Sanders just had his career-best performance of the season against Mississippi State with 12 carries for 80 yards back on Halloween.

He has undergone surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.  

However, it does help that the Crimson Tide has the SEC leader in rushing with Najee Harris who has totaled 714 yards on 124 attempts and 14 touchdowns. 

But depth with the tailbacks is of upmost importance. 

Alabama hopes senior Brian Robinson Jr., who was a little nicked up last time out against the Bulldogs but it fine now according to coach Nick Saban, can continue to provide meaningful experience. 

He has 208 yards on 37 carries and two scores. 

Two true freshman, Roydell Williams and Jase McClellan, are expected to fill Sanders' role and Saban believes they both are ready to play winning football. 

"We think so," Saban said on Monday. "So we've been encouraged by both of those guys. They haven't got a lot of opportunity, you know so far but we certainly feel like they can contribute and they're very capable and now they're going to get a little more opportunity as running backs and in some situations on special teams.”

Starting with Williams, an in-state product, the former Hueytown High School standout finished his prep career with 5,929 yards on the ground and 84 rushing touchdowns, while he added eight more receiving. 

McClellan also had a prolific high school career at Aledo in Texas, carrying the rock 842 times for 6,468 yards and 122 touchdowns. 

Alabama cornerback Patrick Surtain II has taken notice of those two players' energy and effort throughout practice.

"They're competitors," Surtain said. "They're ready to get out there. They're antsy to play. You see it every day in practice. They compete every day and they run the ball hard."

McClellan has played all special teams all six games, while Williams has recorded two carries for three yards in mop-up time against Tennessee last month. He also made appearances against Georgia, Missouri, and Texas A&M. 

With the unexpected bye week due to the postponement of this weekend's previous scheduled bout with LSU, Alabama quarterback Mac Jones is hoping to build some more chemistry with the younger tailbacks.

"They are both workhorse-type guys," Jones said. "They’ve gotten a pretty good amount of reps in practice this year. Reps in practice are pretty much like games. You just have to make sure they know not to complicate things. I’m going to make sure they get some more reps just to make sure we’re in sync. They’ll both have to contribute and I think they’ll do a really good job because they work hard and I think it will show in the games."

Crimson Tide senior offensive tackle Alex Leatherwood likes what he has seen as well.

“Those two dudes have impressed me personally since fall camp because of the way they came in and just worked hard," Leatherwood said. "They take after Najee and B. Rob, two seniors on the team, and they’ve been working really hard just like everybody else.”

Whenever Alabama retakes the field, whether that's against Kentucky next week inside Bryant-Denny Stadium or if the schedule gets shaken up to makeup the date with the Tigers, Williams and McClellan are names to watch moving forward that could be vital for the Crimson Tide's final stretch of the regular season.