Who Will Catch the Ball in 2012?
Chris Low on Bama’s receivers for 2012:
The questions will revolve around who he’s going to throw the ball to with Alabama’s top four pass-catchers from a year ago gone.
Kevin Norwood and Kenny Bell will both be juniors next season, and Norwood, in particular, made a strong case in the national championship game that he can be a go-to guy next season. He led the Crimson Tide with 78 receiving yards on four catches and made an acrobatic grab over LSU’s Tyrann Mathieu.
What Alabama was missing this past season was that big, physical receiver who could go over the middle and keep the chains moving on key third-down plays. Obviously, Julio Jones was that guy in the past, and he was also an explosive big-play threat.
It’s premature to think that anybody is ready to fill his shoes, but the wild card next season is Duron Carter. He wasn’t eligible to play this season and redshirted, but wowed more than once in practice with his ability to go get the football. The 6-4, 210-pound Carter figures to make an immediate impact next season as long as there are no more snags with his eligibility. This will undoubtedly be a big spring for him.
In my opinion, receiver was Bama’s weakest team position in 2011. We missed Julio Jones and while there aren’t many receivers of his caliber running around, if we had just one that was kinda close to him, the season would’ve looked even more impressive.
Like everyone else, I was impressed with Norwood in the BCS title game, but was left to ask, “Hey, where’s that been all season?” Bell played well at times also had a nice game against LSU in the rematch, so I’m left to think he and Norwood will be fairly solid in 2012.
With Carter, I’ll believe it when I see him on the field. So until then, I don’t have much to say about his prospects.
DeAndrew White was also a bit of a conundrum this year, but he definitely has the potential to be a game-changer.
And though I’m loathe to start assigning superstar status to incoming freshmen who haven’t played a down, we cant forget these guys:
This signing class features three highly-rated receiver prospects, and two are already enrolled in school and will go through spring practice — Chris Black of Jacksonville, Fla., and Amari Cooper of Miami. Both are ESPNU 150 prospects and ranked among the top seven receiver prospects in the country by ESPN.
The other guy the Alabama coaches can’t wait to get on campus is Eddie Williams of Panama City, Fla. The 6-4, 210-pound Williams is ranked by ESPN as the No. 2 athlete in the country. He could play a number of different positions in college, but it sounds like receiver is where he’ll land at Alabama.
Overall, the talent level at receiver should be upgraded in 2012, though we’ll lose key experience.
