This was clearly going to be a different Alabama offense entering a season after losing five first-round draft picks from last fall.
The playbook, scheme and personnel were all going to look little like the Mac Jones, Najee Harris, DeVonta Smith, Jaylen Waddle version. Through five games, we’re starting to see some of the ways perception became reality.
Among them, the distribution of passes from first-year starting quarterback Bryce Young. There are nine different players with at least five catches through five games. A year ago, there were six through the fifth game with Smith’s 45 catches for 566 yards leading the way.
This year, it’s John Metchie’s 27 catches leading the way with 275 yards as Alabama’s worked the ball to a multitude of running backs and tight ends. Where only four receivers caught passes in the four five games last fall, seven have this year.
“Well I think that it’s what we want to do,” Saban said. “We’ve got a lot of players that are capable. I think when you play a team like we played last week who drops eight guys a lot, the quarterback has to do a good job of reading the defense. So it’s not so much about trying to get the ball to a particular player as it is to read the defense and hitting the soft spot whenever possible. And I think Bryce did a really good job of that. A consequence of that is we had a lot of guys involved in the passing game.”
At this time last year, Metchie’s 499 receiving yards were third on the team. Now, the team-high is Jameson Williams’ 364 as the big play threat changed. Last year’s group averaged 16.2 yards per catch while this year is getting 13.1 a pop with Jameson Williams owning the only two catches of more than 50 yards.
| 2021 | 2020 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WR | Rec. | Yards | WR | Rec. | Yards | |
| John Metchie | 27 | 275 | DeVonta Smith | 45 | 556 | |
| Jameson Williams | 17 | 364 | Jaylen Waddle | 25 | 557 | |
| Slade Bolden | 13 | 148 | John Metchie | 21 | 499 | |
| JoJo Earle | 11 | 129 | Slade Bolden | 6 | 94 | |
| Traeshon Holden | 5 | 73 | ||||
| Javon Baker | 5 | 80 | ||||
| Agiye Hall | 1 | 10 | ||||
| TE | TE | |||||
| Jahleel Billingsley | 10 | 178 | Miller Forristall | 9 | 127 | |
| Cameron Latu | 9 | 122 | Jahleel Billingsley | 1 | 13 | |
| RB | RB | |||||
| Jase McClellan | 10 | 97 | Najee Harris | 14 | 147 | |
| Brian Robinson | 5 | 17 | Trey Sanders | 1 | -2 | |
| Trey Sanders | 1 | 3 | Brian Robinson | 1 | -2 | |
| 114 | 1496 | 123 | 1989 |
Two different receivers -- Waddle and Metchie -- had two receptions of 60-plus yards and nine total that gained 40-plus compared to just four this year.
Spreading the ball around can have its positives too, said Williams, a transfer from Ohio State.
“I think it’s a real challenge for the defense when they can see multiple guys touching the ball, so they can’t play just for one person, can’t game plan for just one person,” he said. “Have to game plan for a bunch of receivers touching the ball, multiple running backs touching the ball. I think that’s real good for us and creates a problem for the defense.”
Three different players have led the Tide in receptions this season with Metchie doing it twice.
Tight end Jahleel Billingsley’s reemergence from the early-season doghouse included nine catches over the past two games for 152 yards as Alabama’s taken advantage of his mismatch in secondaries. And fellow tight end Cameron Latu leads the team with five touchdown receptions among his nine catches.
The challenge moving forward will be to replace the production Alabama got from Jase McClellan in the passing game. The running back’s 10 catches ranked fifth on the team while scoring three touchdowns as a critical safety valve out of the backfield. A year ago, Najee Harris had 14 catches for 147 yards as the only running back to have a significant impact in the passing game.
“Next man up,” Williams said. “You know how that goes.”
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.
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