Alabama’s backfield already looks like a committee, and Saturday’s opener did nothing to simplify it.
In the Crimson Tide’s 48-10 win over East Carolina, four running backs handled the load in almost equal chunks: Daniel Hill, Trae'shawn Brown, and EJ Crowell each got seven carries, while Kevin Riley logged six. That’s before even factoring in AK Dear, the sophomore whose fall camp was interrupted by a leg injury. Dear was in uniform and warmed up before the game, but he spent the night on the sideline in sweat pants.
If that group eventually becomes five deep, Alabama could be working with as many as four “ors” at the position. That’s a lot of mouths to feed, and the opener showed exactly how the staff plans to approach it.
Hill led the way with nine carries, turned those into 47 yards, and finished with two goal-line touchdowns. Brown and Crowell also found the end zone on short scoring runs, while Riley chipped in six carries for 17 yards.
Brown finished with 15 yards and Crowell with 37. Taken together, the four backs combined for 29 rushing attempts and 116 yards, a 4.0 yards-per-carry average that matched Alabama’s team average from last season.
That number matters because last year’s running game was stuck at 4.0 yards per carry, a mark that ranked 128th in FBS. Saturday’s opener didn’t erase that history, but it did show the Tide spreading the work around early.
Alabama ran for 227 yards as a team, and quarterback Keelon Russell was the biggest piece of that total. He rushed 13 times for a team-high 86 yards, though most of those carries weren’t designed runs. Even so, his legs bring a dimension Ty Simpson didn’t provide last season, and they could also trim some of the available work for the backs, much like Jalen Milroe did two years ago.
That leaves the real question hanging over the next few weeks, starting with Saturday’s trip to Kentucky: how much will each back actually get?
Hill said after the game, "I feel like we're five to six deep. Anybody can go out and make plays for us."
The challenge is figuring out whether that depth can hold up in a meaningful rotation. Last season, Jam Miller, Hill, and Riley were the only Alabama backs to top 38 snaps against power conference opponents. And across DeBoer’s four seasons coaching at Washington and Alabama, no third-string running back has ever gone past 224 rushing yards in a season, while no fourth back has cleared 140.
For now, Alabama’s opener offered the same message everywhere you looked in the backfield: there’s plenty of talent, plenty of options, and not nearly enough touches to satisfy everyone.
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