Alabama loses top running back recruit Trey Sanders for the season

ATLANTA, GA - JANUARY 08: A detailed view of an Alabama Crimson Tide helmet is seen during the College Football Playoff National Championship Game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs on January 8, 2018 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Alabama has lost true freshman running back Trey Sanders for the season, but as usual when they lose someone to injury they should be fine.

Alabama is one of the schools that selects, more than over the top recruits, football players. Five-star prospect Trey Sanders was one of the Crimson Tide’s top gets in this year’s class, and the freshman running back even drew praise from Nick Saban this past Wednesday for his work early in fall camp running as the No. 3 back.

But that early promise is gone, at least for 2019. According to Matt Zenitz of AL.com, Sanders suffered a “significant” foot injury on the last play of practice on Thursday and he will miss the entire season.

Rivals ranked Sanders as the No. 1 running back in the 2019 recruiting class (No. 3 overall), while 247 Sports had him No. 2 at the position and No. 14 overall prospect in the class as a whole.

Damien Harris and Josh Jacobs, Alabama’s top two running backs from last year, are gone to the NFL. So Najee Harris, the top running back in the 2017 class as it were, is in line to be the No. 1 back this year after putting up 783 yards on 117 carries (6.7 yards per carry) with four touchdowns last year. Junior Brian Robinson Jr. (63 carries for 272 yards and two touchdowns in 2018) is now seemingly locked in at No. 2 on the depth chart with Sanders out. Behind Harris and Robinson are three other incoming freshman, Keilan Robinson, Jerome Ford and AJ Gates.

It’s possible, however unlikely if he continued to show well in preseason camp, that Sanders would not have played much as a freshman. Alabama never really has to run a running back like a proverbial 20-carry per game workhorse, as most recently evidenced by Harris (150 carries), Jacobs (120 carries) and Harris (117 carries) last year, and Sanders would have been No. 2 or No.3 all season barring injury to Harris.

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Losing a dynamic talent is never a good thing. But Saban and the Crimson Tide will be just fine heading into their season opener against Duke on Aug. 31, and if nothing else the door is open for one of the lesser-known freshman backs to take on a larger role.

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