‘Imposing’ Kendrick Law brings physicality to Alabama wide receiver room
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Before Alabama’s 2024 A-Day Game, wide receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard received a call from Kendrick Law. The returning wideout had a request for the White team’s first play at Bryant-Denny Stadium. You may think it would have been for the ball to be thrown Law’s way, but the junior sought out contact rather than a target.
“He called me and said, ‘Hey, Coach. On the first play of the game, I wanna crack.’ And he did,” Shephard said. “He went and cracked the guy, and we got a huge run out of it.”
Lining up on the left side of Alabama’s offensive formation, Law crashed inside to block safety Keon Sabb, a spring transfer from Michigan. Executing his assignment on the play allowed for running back Jamarion Miller, the A-Day Game MVP, to break free for a big gain.
Overlooked by some receivers, the physicality of the game is something Law embraces.
“Running routes and catching the ball is my job, but at the same time, I do want to hit guys,” Law said on Saturday. “Everybody can’t say the same thing, but I can say it for myself.”
Law is entering his third year at Alabama and is poised to take on a larger role, potentially as a starter for the Crimson Tide offense. He caught 15 passes for 135 yards last season, but with Alabama having to replace three players with the most starts from its 2023 squad, there will be more opportunities for a player like Law to see an uptick in involvement.
It will be interesting to see what the new coaching staff does with Law, who was a Swiss Army Knife for the Tide last fall. We saw Law line up out wide, as an H-back and even in the backfield as a sophomore – in addition to returning kickoffs – and with a brand new play-caller, he could continue to wear multiple hats on offense in his third year at Alabama.
“There’s a couple of positions in football – usually running back and wide receiver – and I refer to them as positionless players that you don’t know where they’re going to line up,” said Alabama offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan. “And that always makes it a challenge.
Alabama WR Kendrick Law (Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY Sports)
“We’ve always done that in our offense to try to move people around. That’s how you can create leverage and create mismatches. It’s important that (Law and Germie Bernard) are able to do both. They can carry the football and do some things that way or detach and run routes, whether it be a running back or a wide receiver.
“The more you do well as a position group or as an individual player or as a unit, I think the more you do well the harder you are to defend and that will certainly be the case with those two guys.”
Law is listed at 5-foot-11, 201 pounds, but he is one of the most freakish players on the Tide’s current roster. He can bench-press 450 pounds, according to new head coach Kalen DeBoer, in addition to being one of the fastest players on the 2024 team – hitting a top speed of 23.6 miles per hour during summer workouts. Law stands out in a talented room.
“There’s some other guys in the room that can run, and there’s some other guys in the room who are strong and can do some high-level things,” Sheridan said. “But physically, Law is somebody that looks very imposing. I appreciate his physicality in practice, in all things that he does. He just has a knack for wanting to do that.
“… I’m just proud of how he approaches everything that he does in his entire life. He’s just a great human being.”
Law may be calling his position coach to request contact, but he’s also making his voice heard on and off the field. Alabama has now held three preseason practices, and the junior has been more vocal in the wide receiver room, and in general, ahead of the 2024 season.
“I definitely feel myself speaking up more, saying stuff that my freshman self wouldn’t have said,” Law said. “Because if I don’t correct it or somebody else doesn’t step up and say it, who will say it? I tell these guys the same thing every day – it’s a great day to be a Crimson Tide, it’s gonna be a great year to be a Crimson Tide and we gonna continue to believe that.”
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