Nick Saban pleased running backs can pass protect, Justice Haynes limited by bruise

Alabama is more than halfway through fall camp at this point, so coach Nick Saban has gotten a pretty good idea what his team can do. He’s been able to see the running backs pass protect, too, which is a key aspect of their game that sometimes gets overlooked.

Rarely at Alabama, though. Saban is too intense about every detail to allow it to be missed.

Saban discussed his confidence level in the unit’s ability to pass protect on Saturday, revealing a minor injury to someone in the unit in the process.

“Jase (McClellan) does a good job, Roydell (Williams) does a good job with it. Jam (Miller) does a good job with it,” Saban said. “Justice (Haynes) didn’t practice today, he’s been out for a few days, quad contusion. So I think all of them can do it.”

The confidence Alabama will have in its ability to drop back to pass will be much improved based on the running back unit’s ability to pass protect.

That’s no small deal.

There’s really only one player who is still working to get acclimated to pass protecting at a high level, and that player is a true freshman. So it’s perfectly normal to be a little behind in that regard.

“I think Richard Young is probably, having not been here, doesn’t have as much confidence in understanding the protections and all that kind of stuff,” Saban said. “But all three of those guys do a good job.”

Alabama O-line still building depth

Speaking of blocking well for the quarterback (and the running backs), one of the points of emphasis for the offensive line coming out of a recent fall scrimmage was on creating better depth up front.

Alabama feels comfortable in its top handful of players on the offensive line but wants to become deeper.

“You know, we had a couple explosive runs,” Saban said after the scrimmage. “But you know, when you’re playing against each other, was the explosive run because of great execution or was it because of terrible execution on the other side? So until you watch the film, it’s kind of hard to evaluate.

“I just think we need to get more guys in the offensive line to be able to play winning football and we need to add depth to the group. You know, we got maybe six or seven guys that I think can play. But we need a lot more than that to get through the season.”

Alabama will open its season looking to show how well it can pass protect on Sept. 2 against MTSU, but a much bigger game against Texas looms in Week 2.

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