TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama knew it was going to be without its leading receiver and team captain in Saturday's rivalry matchup at Tennessee, which subsequently meant that some of the backup receivers were going to have a bigger opportunity to step up and contribute to the offense.
Head coach Kalen DeBoer told the Crimson Tide Sports Network during his pregame radio interview that transfer receiver Noah Rogers was "more than likely" getting more opportunities than he'd had. Rogers finished with two total snaps and was not targeted.
"Honestly, when I heard how many snaps he got after the game, I was a little bummed," Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said during his Monday press conference. "Some of that was just you know due to lack of length of drives, you know, just not being sustainable and staying on the field and poor performance on third down. So that part was was a little bit tough. But when guys are rested and they come back to the sideline, you're going to put Rico [Scott] back out there first, and that's kind of how it played out."
Rogers was one of Alabama's best receivers throughout the spring after transferring in from North Carolina State, but he suffered a leg injury during A-Day that kept him out of the Crimson Tide's first few games.
Rico Scott and Lotzeir Brooks, who have both been starters alongside Coleman-Williams this season, carried the majority of the load at wide receiver. Scott was targeted 11 times and finished with four catches for 54 yards.
Sophomore Derek Meadows saw the biggest jump in playing time and finished with over 50 snaps on offense. He only had two catches for eight yards.
With Coleman-Williams out, it seemed like this might be the game that highly-recruited freshman Cederian Morgan got his breakout performance, but he also only played two snaps. Morgan has just one catch on the season, a 21-yard touchdown against Florida State. Grubb revealed that he had been working through an injury throughout the week leading up to the game.
"Cederianwas nursing a hamstring and missed a couple days of practice, so it was a little tougher to get him out there," Grubb said. "He was going like crazy trying to get himself ready. He's a tough kid, but you know, he had that thing wrapped, and you know, we were just a little hesitant on on how much he was going to be able to do."
DeBoer didn't exactly provide an encouraging update on Coleman-Williams on Monday, and he likely won't play against Texas A&M this Saturday. Alabama's offense has a lot of issues it is trying to fix after back-to-back losses and low-scoring performances, but this weekend will be another opportunity to try and get Rogers and Morgan more involved in the offense.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/alabama as Why Cederian Morgan, Noah Rogers Didn't Play More Against Tennessee .
