After rushing for 66 yards off 12 carries in Alabama football's 59-3 rout of New Mexico State, redshirt-sophomore running back Trey Sanders is poised to take on a larger role in the Crimson Tide's offensive backfield.
With Jase McClellan out for the season and Roydell Williams suffering a leg injury with no given timeline to return, Sanders was able to step up when his team needed him on Saturday. While he hasn't been utilized as much as fans thought he would heading into this season, Sanders has done nothing but impress in his limited carries in 2021.
“He’s just been showing focus," redshirt-senior running back Brian Robinson said. "Just going out to the practice field and wanting to get all the little things right. He gets upset sometimes when he makes a mistake, but it just shows that he always wants to do things the right way. The coaches just build more confidence in him just to see how much he wants to go out and play the game the right way.”
Sanders has played in eight of Alabama's 10 games so far this season. In those games, Sanders has carried the ball 39 times for 195 yards and two touchdowns. Heading into the final stretch of the season, Sanders is averaging exactly five yards per carry.
Robinson, who has been Alabama's starting running back all season, noted that Sanders will likely get even better when he's given the ball more frequently.
“I think with Trey, the more opportunities Trey gets, the more confidence he’s going to gain," Robinson said. "The more reps you take at practice, the more you go over to the meeting room, just the more he continues to just study and just go out and work hard, the more he’s going to gain confidence, especially when he gets in the game. He’s excited to get in the game. He just want to go in there, and he want to compete all the time.
"So I think Trey’s going to continue to come along, and he’s going to continue to gain confidence for us throughout the rest of the season.”
Sanders suffered a season-ending injury prior to his freshman season in 2019, then was injured again in a car wreck during the bye week of the 2020 season. Despite all of those circumstances, Sanders has still waited patiently for his turn on the field.
Alabama players are known for their 'next man up' mentality, and for Sanders, the situation is no different. While he hasn't received as many carries as he likely would have hoped heading into this year, the time has come for the young running back to position himself as the No. 2 back in Tuscaloosa.
Sanders' teammates know that he has the right mentality to do so. Robinson expressed nothing but confidence in his backup, and the positivity surrounding Sanders' ability has spread to the Crimson Tide defense as well.
“We all know that he’s a great talent with just an unfortunate series of events," defensive back Jalyn Armour-Davis said. "But we all know the type of player. We all know the type of person he is. I think that we’re starting to see more confidence from within himself and him really getting back to the Trey that we all know that he is – not that he was but that he still is.
"So we look forward to seeing him continue to grow into it, seize the moment, which we all know he can do, and hopefully, everyone else will see everything that we’ve been seeing. So I think that he’ll continue to grow into this, his situation.”
This story will be updated with video from Tuesday's press conference.
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