As its position coach, JaMarcus Shephard is bringing more personality to Alabama’s wide receiver room.
Every time they step onto the pitch, he wants to take the ball and play a physical position. To be explosive, Shephard looks for physicality in blocking, mastery in routes, extraordinary speed, the capacity to get open, and a readiness to absorb the playbook.
Jalen Hale, a sophomore, will miss the remainder of spring practice due to a knee injury. Fans will see additional explosive wide outs for the Crimson Tide in the spring game, though. Following Alabama’s inaugural scrimmage at Bryant-Denny Stadium last week, head coach Kalen DeBoer gave a speech. He pointed out that one position that has adapted to the offensive concept is wide receiver. In order to learn the quarterbacks, DeBoer stated that everyone is switching between the first and second teams to get experience. Although Kendrick Law leads Alabama’s deep group of receivers, DeBoer is happy with the squad as a whole.
DeBoer stated last week, “We are giving a lot of guys chances to work with a different quarterback.” “They are picking up the offense, but it is a lot of repetitions. They have all rotated with the ones and the twos. Today we tried to keep things easy and let kids play, but when I thought back to past practices, we managed to fit in what we really wanted to do.
DeBoer desires the ball to be moved down the field by Alabama’s offense.
Wide receivers for Alabama have “found ways to win and then finish the play by catching the ball,” according to DeBoer. “They made some nice plays.” “They also broke a few tackles.” Impressive yards after catch can be attributed to the offensive line’s protection and the quarterbacks’ ball placement. We are quite happy with the development. Even if we are still far from where we should be, the progress is in the right direction.
Alabama’s last great wide receiver room was in 2019. There were four first-round NFL Draft selections in the room: DeVonta Smith, Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs III, and Jaylen Waddle. There was also a second-round pick, John Metchie.
This unit has potential, but we shall see what happens with it.