Alabama’s running game has been one of the best in the SEC for the last couple of years. Nothing has changed this year as the Crimson Tide is the No. 1 rushing team in the SEC and the No. 3 rushing attack in the country with 2,118 yards.
The three-headed monster that is Jalen Hurts, Damien Harris and Bo Scarbrough gets the most attention by far. But there’s another member of the team that’s beginning to make a name for himself.
Coming off his freshman year, where he finished with 567 yards, Josh Jacobs hit a bump in the road when he injured his hamstring, causing him to miss the first two games of the year, and to have limited participation in his first game back.
“[The Arkansas game] probably was the healthiest I’ve felt, just trying to get back in the motion and everything,” Jacobs said. “Get a feel for it.”
So far in his five games, Jacobs has 124 rushing yards and 72 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown.
Coming in Jacobs was ranked as a three-star recruit by the 247Sports composite. At 5-foot-10, he is a smaller back who didn’t receive many offers till the month before national signing day.
Running back coach Burton Burns came and visited Jacobs in high school while he was at basketball practice.
“I heard him walk in because we had closed basketball practice so you see him,” Jacobs said. “The first thing I noticed was the ring as soon as he came in.”
When the season started last year, he had to share the spot with a pair of five-star recruits in Harris and Scarbrough. Once he got a chance, he took it, finishing the year with 6.7 yards per rush, which was second on the team, and four rushing touchdowns.
“I’ve kinda been [playing with a chip on his shoulder] all my life in a way. I came from a not-too-good of a football program in high school,” Jacobs said. “My senior year, that’s the furthest we’ve been in like a decade. So, it was kind of proving a point to everyone, including myself.”
Jacobs isn’t like the two-featured backs. While Harris and Scarbrough are dragging people across the field, Jacobs’ first instinct isn’t always to try and run someone over.
“Really, I strategically do certain things,” Jacobs said. “Like if I have a player and I try to run him over, next time I see him I might try to juke him. It’s all like mind games really…. It definitely helps because you don’t know what to expect, so it always will keep the defenders on their toes.”
Since joining Alabama, Jacobs has the most receptions by a running back with 18, and yards with 228 yards. When Jacobs comes in the game, Harris, Scarbrough, Hurts and sometimes freshman back Najee Harris have physically punished the defense. This opens up doors for Jacobs.
“He’s not a slow guy, he’s a lot quicker than the guy you were trying to tackle before,” cornerback Anthony Averett said. “It’s just different, definitely you can do more things with a guy like Josh Jacobs. He can catch screens, anything like that.”
The 5-foot-10, 212-pound back presents problems for every defense, even Alabama’s, which is ranked No. 1 in the NCAA against the rush.
“Well, you know, Josh, he is a really good back and presents a lot of problems for us at practice,” Shaun Dion Hamilton said. “He’s the reason why you get cussed out a lot of times. He can do it all. He can run you over. He can make you miss. He can do it all. He’s the total package.”
