Making sense of snake-bit Alabama’s season of bizarre injuries, why it’s not like 2017

Saban discusses his reasoning for playing Tua
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In a way, Alabama has been here before.

The 2017 team had an injury outbreak on the defensive side of the ball that spanned from the season opener through the Iron Bowl. A total of 35 starts were missed leading up to the Sugar Bowl semifinal against Clemson after slipping into the field as the No. 4 seed.

A November loss to Auburn didn't sink that national championship run, a Houdini act this Crimson Tide team would like to repeat. Only this second act has a few complications not experienced in the recovery that ended with the iconic 2nd-and-26 final bow.

This 2019 team, snake bit by injuries from the first week of preseason camp, has a few more obstacles and a roster not as experienced as 2017. Both sides of the ball were hit hard since August with six starters on both offense and defense missing time along with highly-regarded freshman kicker Will Reichard.

They've come in waves and in frankly bizarre circumstances.

Tight end Miller Forristall is currently out six weeks for an injury to his voice box. His … voice … box.

Tua Tagovailoa dislocated and fractured his hip -- something associated with traumatic car accidents, not football.

These just aren't the traditional kind of knee, ankle and foot injuries that football players suffer on a more regular basis. There were still plenty of those with three big contributors going down with those before even kicking off in Atlanta against Duke. The season-ending foot injury to No. 1 running back recruit Trey Sanders was followed by torn ACLs by both first-team middle linebackers -- All-American Dylan Moses and fifth-year senior Joshua McMillon -- in the weeks that followed.

Then defensive end LaBryan Ray aggravated a foot/ankle injury in the South Carolina game Week 3 and hasn't played since.

And that's where some of the key differences between 2017 and 2019 come into play.

Experienced players were in line to take over crucial positions. When safeties Eddie Jackson and Hootie Jones were lost for the year, future draft picks Deionte Thompson, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Ronnie Harrison were there to step in.

Starting middle linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton was lost for the year against LSU but Mack Wilson and Rashaan Evans -- who also missed games -- were healthy enough to play in the national title game win over Georgia. In fact, nine of the 11 defensive starters from that 2017 team have been drafted in the last two years. That doesn't include cornerback Levi Wallace who has started all 17 games he played in the NFL and linebacker Terrell Lewis who will be drafted next year.

That kind of experienced safety net wasn't there this fall.

Four of the six defensive starters up front at Mississippi State were true freshmen. And one of the two seniors who joined them, Raekwon Davis, sprained his ankle just before halftime to put his availability for the next two weeks in question.

There wasn't a single start between the middle linebackers left in the wake of Moses and McMillon's matching knee injuries so it's been mostly up to freshmen Christian Harris and Shane Lee. The transfers of five-star recruits Eyabi Anoma and Antonio Alfano further thinned a front seven that took a hit from early NFL exits following last season.

Gone were nose tackle Quinnen Williams and Mack Wilson, a middle linebacker who would have brought stability to a position that hadn't landed a truly elite recruit in a few years.

Wilson and Lewis were the only two second-year defensive starters in that championship game against Georgia.

The offensive side of the ball wasn't hit nearly as hard that year. Forristall tore his ACL early in the year but there was depth there to replace him. Linemen Ross Pierschbacher and Lester Cotton missed a game or two but nothing serious.

There was nothing even remotely similar to losing Heisman runner-up Tagovailoa for the season.

In fact, no Tide starting quarterback had missed a game due to injury in Saban's entire Alabama run before Tagovailoa's high-ankle sprain in October. The hip injury at Mississippi State that ended his season is only the second such problem over the past decade plus in Tuscaloosa, joining C.J. Mosley who dislocated his hip being tackled in the BCS title win over LSU following the 2011 season.

Alabama also had high hopes for Sanders before the five-star running back went down his first week on campus. Najee Harris has 144 carries to Brian Robinson's 87 in what's a two-man rotation that's increasingly becoming a one-man show. The 2017 team had three running backs drafted since then with Najee Harris as a freshman in a four-man wheel.

Tight ends were already thin with Irv Smith in the NFL when Forristall went down with the throat injury. Offensive linemen Chris Owens and Kendall Randolph have chipped in while linebacker Cameron Latu shifted over before spring practice.

At running back, Najee Harris has 144 carries to Brian Robinson's 87 in what's a two-man rotation without Sanders. The 2017 team had three running backs drafted since then with Najee Harris as a freshman in a four-man wheel.

Bottom line, it looks like Alabama's self-regenerating depth chart reached its breaking point this season. The injuries, paired with transfers and early NFL draft exits, caught up to Alabama and it'll take more than a little help to sneak into the playoff this time around.

Saban drew laughs last August with his comment after Chris Allen and Terrell Lewis tore ACLs in the preseason.

"You just think, whatever happens, we just shit another player, all right," he said, not laughing, "and everything is gonna be perfect."

They were still good enough to go unbeaten in the first 14 games and unchallenged in the first 11 before losing to Clemson in the national championship game.

This year, the young defense had its moments but allowed the most yards in five years in a loss to LSU, the first one to the Tigers in eight years. The offense will have to beat Auburn without Tagovailoa for any outside shot at the playoff with Western Carolina still left to play on Saturday.

This year just feels different.

So far, 49 games have been missed by starters/key contributors due to injury. Four are out for the season.

Regardless, they aren't quitting in the Alabama football complex. How does right tackle Jedrick Wills feel about talk Alabama should drop now that Tagovailoa's out?

"I feel like it’s stupid," he said. "From my standpoint, we have the best players that come here, best quarterbacks that come here. So no matter what, we’re still going to compete."

Michael Casagrande is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.

Starters/key contributors who missed games with injuries

2018 underclassmen went to NFL early

  • DL Quinnen Williams
  • OL Jonah Williams
  • RB Josh Jacobs
  • TE Irv Smith
  • DB Deionte Thompson
  • LB Mack Wilson

Transfers

Suspensions

  • OL Deonte Brown for the first four games (NCAA suspension)
  • RB Najee Harris, LB Terrell Lewis, WR DeVonta Smith suspended first quarter of opener against Duke for missing team function. (Alabama suspension)
  • WR DeVonta Smith for the first half for punching Texas A&M player (Alabama suspension)
  • DB Scooby Carter, one game, for missing class (Alabama suspension)

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