There has been a progression of great running backs at Alabama since the mid-1990s.
It has been a trademark of Nick Saban’s era in Tuscaloosa. It actually started before Saban came to Alabama to rescue the Crimson Tide. But it was Saban that perfected the art of the apprenticeship. It was beginning to take shape as Shaun Alexander gave way to Kenneth Darby to Dennis Riddle and then Glen Coffee.
Saban inherited Coffee and then he put his plan into place. As Coffee was the lead back, he was backed up by Mark Ingram. Then when Ingram was the lead back, he became Alabama’s first Heisman Trophy winner and he was backed up by Trent Richardson.
Then Richardson became the main man running the football while his backup was the next candidate for lead back, Eddie Lacy, a 6-foot, 220-pounder from Geismar, LA.
With Lacy ready to take up the responsibility as the Crimson Tide’s top running back, he immediately went down with a toe injury in the fourth game of last season and had to have surgery, which cost him the entire spring practice session.
He was back and ready to go when fall camp started and that fit right in with Saban’s plan for having running backs fresh and ready to go.
“I do think that we have a couple running backs that will probably create some competition,” said Saban this summer. “But we’ve always played more than one running back. I mean, we’ve never been just a one back. We had Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson sharing time as players. Hopefully, we’ll be able to find somebody as productive as those two guys who will be able to share that role again sometime in the future.”
Of course, for the plan to work, the lead back has got to be healthy. And with Lacy’s penchant for nagging injuries, there are slight concerns.
Last Saturday in Alabama’s scrimmage, Lacy was hit again with slight injuries to his knee and ankle.
“Not a serious thing. Probably going to be day to day but probably be a little bit slow next week, said Saban, “I think in five to six days he’ll probably be ready to go.”
With Lacy slowed, that opens the door for running backs like Jalston Fowler, Dee Hart and T.J. Yeldon to show their wares in competition for the backup running back position, which is a position of honor at Alabama.
Lacy is an easy going young man who seems to have a perpetual smile on his face and credits his mother for getting him to Alabama in the first place.
“Discipline,” he said. “My Mom liked Coach Saban right off the bat. He’s very strict and when she found that out, it was Alabama from then.”
He has fit in well with his teammates who look to Lacy to keep them laughing.
“It helps me out, actually,” Lacy said. “By me playing around, most of the time it actually helps me out throughout practice and things like that. It keeps my mood good. We joke, we go out and have fun, but at the same time, it’s a business. We have to do what we have to do and at the end of the day we go out and do it.”
Saban was cautious in throwing Lacy back into full contact drills this fall.
“Eddie Lacy did a good job,” Saban said after Alabama’s first scrimmage of the fall. “He had limited reps. We only wanted him to have six or eight carries, and he had eight carries.”
Lacy racked up 57 yards on those eight carries and everything was on track until the Saturday nicks and bruises slowed his progress — but only slightly.
Lacy’s teammates have confidence in him and don’t expect to see any decrease in Alabama’s ground game.
“Eddy Lacy is going to become that marquee back. He was banged up last year and didn’t get a chance to show what he can do,” center Barrett Jones said. “He’s unique, a hard worker, and I’ve enjoyed playing with him. The whole position is like having a stable. I think the second spot is up for grabs right now, and I think we’ll play a lot of guys early in competition for that spot. But there won’t be a lot of drop off, I can tell you that.”
Lacy was the second- leading rusher behind Richardson last year with 631 yards on 95 carries. He has already 13 rushing touchdowns to his credit over his first two seasons.