3 Alabama football players that must step up to win the SEC

The Alabama football team needs these three players to step up to win the SEC again.

For the Alabama football team to repeat as SEC champions, they need to see several players step up into their larger roles.

Alabama went 10-0 in SEC-only play a season ago. The Crimson Tide beat Florida in the SEC championship, Notre Dame in the Rose Bowl and Ohio State in the national championship to navigate a perfect season. While the Crimson Tide have the talent to repeat as national champions, it all starts with taking care of business in conference play and then winning in Atlanta.

If Alabama hopes to repeat as SEC champions, the Crimson Tide needs to lean on these three guys.

Alabama football: needs these players to step up to repeat as SEC champions

Brian Robinson Jr. faces the tall task of replacing Najee Harris in the backfield

One of the biggest reasons Alabama was able to win every game it played last year was having an incredibly balanced offense. While the passing game was borderline unstoppable at times, the Crimson Tide also had a punishing rushing attack centered around Doak Walker winner Najee Harris. With him on the Pittsburgh Steelers, it is Brian Robinson Jr.‘s time to shine at Alabama.

This is Robinson’s fifth year with the program. The redshirt senior has 274 career carries for 1,361 yards and 15 rushing touchdowns to date. While he is the elder statesman of the Alabama running back room, he has never run the ball 100 times for 500 yards in his college career. The Crimson Tide are counting on him to approach 1,000 rushing yards as the team’s featured back this season.

Alabama will regress in the ground game, but Robinson must do his best to mitigate losing Harris.