Alabama received some unfortunate news coming out of Thursday’s scrimmage, and it involves one of the players I was most excited to watch take the next step this season.
Sophomore running back AK Dear suffered a lower-leg injury during the scrimmage and is expected to miss an extended period of time.
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The good news, and it is important to start there, is that the injury is not expected to be season-ending.
That matters.
But there is also no reason to sugarcoat the other side of it: this is a tough blow for Dear and for an Alabama running back room that was already going to be fascinating to watch this season. Especially because Dear appeared to be taking a major step forward.
According to Kalen DeBoer, Dear actually found the end zone during Thursday’s scrimmage before suffering the injury. It is another reminder of just how cruel football can be sometimes. A player can spend an entire offseason working, developing and positioning himself for a bigger opportunity, only to have an injury temporarily interrupt that momentum.
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And make no mistake, Dear had momentum.
After spending most of his freshman season buried in a talented Alabama backfield, the former four-star prospect entered his sophomore year with a legitimate opportunity to become a much bigger piece of the Crimson Tide offense.
As a freshman, Dear only played 38 offensive snaps and finished with 19 carries for 140 yards. Most of those opportunities came when games were already decided against Louisiana-Monroe, Wisconsin and Eastern Illinois.
But we did get one particularly interesting glimpse of him late in the season. In the SEC Championship Game against Georgia, Dear received three carries and picked up 10 yards. Three carries obviously aren’t going to tell us everything about a running back, but the fact that Alabama trusted a true freshman enough to put the football in his hands in an SEC Championship Game told us something.
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There was potential there. And entering his second season, it sounded like Dear was beginning to turn that potential into something more.
Earlier this month, Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb discussed Dear’s development and specifically pointed to his growth in pass protection and his overall maturity.
That is huge.
We spend so much time talking about what running backs can do with the football that we sometimes forget everything else required to actually get onto the field at Alabama.
Can you protect the quarterback? Do you know your assignment? Can the coaching staff trust you on third down? Can you recognize what the defense is doing? Can you execute when the ball isn’t coming to you? Those things matter, and according to Grubb, Dear had made significant progress in those areas since the spring. That is why this injury is so frustrating.
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Dear wasn’t simply fighting for a handful of carries in garbage time anymore. He was pushing for a legitimate role in this offense. Now, Alabama will have to adjust.
Juniors Daniel Hill and Kevin Riley have been leading the running back room throughout fall camp, and Dear’s absence will likely put even more responsibility on their shoulders.
For Hill and Riley, this is their opportunity.
That is one thing about playing at Alabama that hasn’t changed regardless of the era, coach or roster.
When somebody goes down, somebody else has to be ready. There is no pause button on the season. And with Alabama preparing for another season with championship expectations, the Crimson Tide needs Hill and Riley to establish themselves as dependable options in the backfield.
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But this injury could also accelerate the timeline for Alabama’s freshmen.
Five-star EJ Crowell is one of the most exciting young players in the running back room, but he has dealt with injury issues of his own. Crowell missed much of the spring and has recently missed practice time with an undisclosed injury.
Then there is three-star freshman Trae’shawn Brown, who could suddenly find himself with an opportunity to earn meaningful snaps earlier than many expected.
That is the reality of college football. Opportunities don’t always arrive according to schedule. Sometimes they arrive because somebody graduates. Sometimes they arrive because somebody enters the transfer portal. And unfortunately, sometimes they arrive because somebody gets hurt.
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Alabama’s young running backs now have an opportunity in front of them, but replacing what Dear was potentially becoming won’t simply be about finding someone capable of carrying the football.
They have to earn the coaching staff’s trust. That is what Dear had apparently been doing. And I think that is the part of this story Alabama fans shouldn’t overlook.
Yes, the injury is disappointing. Yes, it creates legitimate questions about Alabama’s running back depth. But I’m also not ready to turn this into some catastrophic situation for the Crimson Tide.
Alabama still has talent in that room. Hill and Riley have an opportunity to step forward. Crowell has enormous upside when healthy. Brown now has a chance to show what he can do.
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And Dear’s season isn’t over.
That might be the most important part of all of this.
“Extended time” is never something you want to hear when discussing an injury in August, but it is significantly better than hearing that Dear’s season is finished.
His opportunity may have been delayed. It hasn’t necessarily been taken away. For Dear, the focus now becomes recovery. He has already shown that he can grow. He has already gone from a freshman who needed improvement in areas such as pass protection to a sophomore who was earning praise from his offensive coordinator for his maturity and development.
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Now comes a different kind of challenge.
Patience. Rehab. Staying mentally engaged even when he can’t physically be on the field. And eventually, working his way back.
For Alabama, meanwhile, the challenge is depth.
Championship teams aren’t built around 11 starters on offense and 11 starters on defense. They are built around having players throughout the roster who are prepared when their number is called.
Alabama would obviously rather have AK Dear healthy. There is no question about that. But football rarely gives teams a perfectly healthy roster and a perfectly smooth road through a season.
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Adversity comes. Injuries happen. Plans change. And somebody has to respond.
Alabama’s running back room just got its first major test of the season.
Now we get to find out who is ready to answer it.
