On Friday during Nick Saban’s first press conference of spring football, the seven-time national champion gave multiple injury updates to his team.
Saban shared that a total of five players will be limited throughout the team’s spring practices due to previous injuries from last season.
Those players include wide receiver John Metchie, defensive back Malachi Moore, defensive lineman Phidarian Mathis, offensive lineman Pierce Quick and offensive lineman Emil Ekiyor.
“Malachi Moore, Phil Mathis, John Metchie, Pierce Quick and Emil (Ekiyor), they’re not really expected to participate a whole lot in spring practice from the previous injuries that they had, things that needed to be fixed probably last season,” Saban said. “In some cases, the guys couldn’t finish last season, so we want to focus on getting these guys well.”
Four out of the five members of the team were key contributors to the Crimson Tide in 2020 with players like Metchie and Moore expecting to become marquee players this season.
Saban did note that most of the playing time for these players will not be affected and that it will be good for the younger guys to get involved during practice.
“A lot of these guys have played a lot of good football around here, and they really don’t have anything to prove here in the spring, so better for us if we can give more reps to somebody else and let them develop.”
Alabama will be back in action on Monday, March 23 as its spring practices continue.
This post will be updated.
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
