College Football Playoff: 5 reasons Alabama wins 2017 national championship
3. Alabama is relatively experienced in 2017
Year in and year out, the Crimson Tide must replace a host of star players gone to the NFL, and year after year, another group of players fills those holes with little to no drop in production.
Nevertheless, Alabama has shown us that inexperience is overrated. The Crimson Tide won each of the last three SEC titles and advanced to the College Football Playoff all three years, winning the 2015 national championship and coming within a whisker of another title last year.
In all three seasons, Bama lost their starting quarterback. Over that span, 24 players were selected in the NFL Draft, and the Tide has repeatedly entered the season among the least experienced teams in the SEC, if not the country, in terms of returning starters and production. For instance, the 2016 Tide entered as the 104th most experienced team in the country (or 24th least experienced team), according to Bill Connelly’s calculations.
This year is different. Alabama is actually relatively experienced. Hurd is back under center as one of six returning starters on offense, including 1,000-yard rusher Damien Harris and arguably more talented ball carrier Bo Scarbrough, as well as dynamic wideout Calvin Ridley. Five starters return on defense, led by the top safety combo in the nation – Minkah Fitzpatrick and Ronnie Harrison – as well as the next great Alabama linebacker, Shaun Dion Hamilton.
Overall, the Crimson Tide ranks No. 73 in returning production by Connelly’s numbers. According to Phil Steele’s Experience Chart, Alabama ranks No. 67 in returning experience – roughly middle of the pack in both the SEC and the nation.
Ranking in the 60s and 70s in overall experience wouldn’t be notable for many programs, but it’s higher than Alabama was entering either of the last two seasons, and is worth mentioning as a reason to be optimistic about the Tide’s championship chances.