Alabama wide receiver Jaylen Waddle wants to play at an even faster speed
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — If there's one thing that Alabama sophomore wide receiver Jaylen Waddle is known for it's being fast.
His speed was on display all of last season, only now he wants to play faster.
It's been a focus of his offseason, working on his technique and honing his route running to make him even tougher to defend. According to his teammates, it's paying off.
"A lot," senior defensive back Shyheim Carter said about Waddle's improvement. "His route running. He’s quick, so you’ve got to be on cue covering him. If he runs anything quick, your reaction has to be just as quick as his. He’s quick and he’s fast, so it’s got to be like a bang bang."
As a freshman, Waddle caught 45 passes for 848 yards with seven touchdowns, and 30 of his receptions went for a first down or touchdown.
While those numbers are impressive, they really stand out when you consider that Alabama also had three set starters with Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs III an DeVonta Smith.
He also 16 punt returns for 233 yards and one score. His 14.6 yards per return average ranked second in the SEC and was fifth nationally.
In Thursday, his first time in the Crimson Tide's media room for interviews, Waddle confirmed that he's in the mix to return kicks and he called Steve Sarkisian's offense "creative."
Here are five other things he said:
1] How did fall camp go for you?
"I think it went pretty good. I think camp, we jelled offensively really well. Sark put his plays into the playbook so we had to adjust a little bit from last year, but I think camp went really well."
2] What have been your biggest adjustments to Sarkisian's offense?
"Me personally, just getting in and out of my routes a little faster. And just clearing up my releases and making them more believable."
3] How have your off-field races with Ruggs gone?
"It can be a split, but Ruggs won the last one so you gotta go with the last one."
4] Did returning punts get frustrating? It seemed like at the beginning of the season, you got a lot of opportunities, and then teams started kicking away from you.
“I had to adjust because it was first year back there, so everything was new to me. So, when they started kicking away and stuff, I wasn’t really aware of that kind of thing, especially being new to college kickoffs, punt returns. It was new.”
5] There's been a lot of talk about four-receiver sets. Is that something that excites you, getting a chance to be on the field with Jerry, Henry and DeVonta?
“Yeah. I mean, that’s pretty exciting, just us four being all on the same field. So, I think it’s pretty cool.”
