When they are not talking about Bryce Young, the other young player on offense that Alabama fans want to see excel is Trey Sanders.
He was ready to steal carries away from Najee Harris and Brian Robinson last season, unfortunately a foot injury in August camp forced him to miss the entire campaign. Hailing from Port Saint Joe, Fla., Sanders was impressing coaches and teammates before the injury. He had an incredible high school career at IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) and was drawing comparisons to running backs in the National Football League.
The 6-foot, 214-pounder arrived at Alabama as a five-star in its 2019 signing class and per Justin Smith of Touchdown Alabama Magazine, Sanders earned a diamond grade of one.
This meant he would be an immediate contributor and game changer for the Crimson Tide.
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Since his return from injury, Nick Saban worked Sanders in matchup against Missouri, Texas A&M and Tennessee yet he did not have a lot of success. In Alabama’s meeting with Mississippi State, fans saw a glimpse of everything they hoped for when Sanders came on campus.
As the Tide rested Robinson, the redshirt freshman received a huge opportunity and dominated.
Sanders ran hard, showed burst/quickness and displayed power against the Bulldogs.
He recorded 80 yards rushing on 12 carries, including long runs of 25 and 21 yards.
Upon getting into open space, people saw the confidence that he plays with and he was happy to be on the field. Despite his first career rushing touchdown being negated from him, Sanders averaged 6.7 yards per carry.
According to Saban, he said it was ‘really good’ to see Sanders have an impact.
“We have a lot of confidence in Trey,” Saban said. “We think he is a really, really good player. I think it was good for him to get out there and have some positive runs, made some really good cuts, and had a really positive night from my standpoint. I think that will help his confidence and that’s the kind of thing I have been talking about when I said we need more guys to step up and have roles on the team. B. Rob was kind of banged up tonight, so we were kind of just playing him on third down. We were trying to just spot play him. Trey did a nice job of filling in and he had a very positive performance.”
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When trust is earned, more opportunities are given. Sanders expects to build off this outing.
With the team hitting the bye week, he will be pursuing more ways to get into the action versus LSU.
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Stephen M. Smith is the managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
