Jalen Milroe watched from the sidelines as Alabama’s offense sputtered against South Florida last season. Kalen DeBoer was coaching at Washington. And Ryan Williams was a high school junior at the time.
Now, they are central figures in trying to make sure the fourth-ranked Crimson Tide’s offense avoids similar struggles when the Bulls (1-0) visit on Saturday night.
Flashback: Milroe was benched after throwing two interceptions in a loss to Texas. He watched as two backups failed to produce a first-half touchdown and Alabama (1-0) struggled to a 17-3 win over South Florida that eased nobody’s concerns.
Milroe reclaimed the starting job, then led Alabama to 10 straight wins and a Southeastern Conference championship, completing the circle from spectator to star.
“I think there’s a piece they probably remember, but I didn’t experience that with them,” said DeBoer, who took over the Tide this season after the retirement of Nick Saban. “So it’s not like I’m really drawing on that, reminding them that it was a closer game. And that falls in line with what one of our pieces of our program is, is to respect all and fear none.
“So that respect factor was there this last week. It’s gonna be there again this week.”
Last week was Alabama’s 63-0 demolition of Western Kentucky when Milroe and his freshman receiver, Williams, connected on two long touchdown passes.
Alabama will honor Saban by officially renaming it Nick Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The school will unveil the new stadium sign in a pre-game ceremony. Saban, who led the Tide to six national championships, will also be recognized at halftime.
“It’s gonna be an awesome night, having the field named in honor of Coach,” DeBoer said. “That’s really, really something special.”
Alabama fans get their second look at the speedy freshman Williams in a Tide uniform. The first would be hard to top. A five-star prospect, Williams took his two catches 84 and 55 yards for touchdowns in his collegiate debut. It was a high receiving yardage mark among FBS freshmen on the week.
Keon Sabb received much of the attention, but a number of new Alabama defensive backs had significant playing time in the opener. Sabb, a Michigan transfer, picked off two early passes. Freshman Zabien Brown and USC transfer Domani Jackson started in the secondary and others like freshmen Red Morgan and Jaylen Mkabwe played a lot too.
Brown and Mkabwe were both five-star recruits and Morgan a four-star prospect.
“That’s a hard transition to make in eight months, going from playing high school ball to playing at this level in college,” said Tide defensive coordinator Kane Wommack, praising secondary coach Maurice Linguist.
DeBoer said the status of Alabama left tackle Kadyn Proctor is uncertain for the game. Proctor missed the opener after injuring his left shoulder in pre-game warmups. Elijah Pritchett, who had been working at right tackle, took his place.
Like Milroe, South Florida quarterback Byrum Brown is a threat to run. Brown passed for 3,292 yards and led the team with 809 rushing yards last season. Brown passed for 152 yards and ran for 74 in a 48-3 opening win over Bethune-Cookman.
“He has a great command of the offense, understands what the coaching staff is trying to do with their play calls and all the little wrinkles,” DeBoer said. “He executes very well. We’ve got to be very aware of him taking off and running the football.”
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