Report: Alabama hoping to get explosive receiver back for national title run

275133747_4796292347117549_592518599057046758_nby:Jonathan Wagner•12/05/21•

Jonathan Wagner

Alabama’s offense could be getting a huge boost back very soon. According to Marty Smith on ESPN 2 on Sunday morning, Alabama is hoping that wide receiver JoJo Earle will be ready to return for the College Football Playoff.

Earle, a freshman wide receiver for Alabama, had 12 receptions for 148 yards in five games this season before suffering an injury in Week 5 against Texas A&M. He came to Alabama ahead of this season as an On3 consensus four-star receiver.

Earle’s potential return comes at a very opportunistic time for Alabama, as the team has likely lost wide receiver John Metchie for the remainder of the season. Metchie went down with a non-contact knee injury in the second quarter, and early reports suggest that he likely suffered a torn ACL. Metchie had six receptions for 97 yards and a touchdown before going down with his injury in the SEC title game.

Alabama was hopeful on Earle’s return ahead of the SEC Championship

Prior to Saturday’s SEC Championship game against Georgia, Alabama head coach Nick Saban was optimistic that Earle would be able to return soon.

“JoJo is making progress, but I don’t think enough to be able to play in the (SEC title) game at this point,” Saban said earlier in the week. “But probably will be back sometime shortly.”

Losing Metchie will be a big blow to Alabama’s offense. He leads the team with 96 receptions and is second on the team with 1,142 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. Jameson Williams has 68 receptions and leads the team with 1,445 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Having Metchie around forces teams to split their attention between Alabama’s top two receivers. Now that Metchie is out, opponents will likely focus more on taking Williams out on the plan. That could be problematic for Alabama, as only one other player on the roster has more than 300 receiving yards. If Earle is able to return and provide Alabama with another explosive playmaker on offense, the Crimson Tide will hope to be able to offset the loss of Metchie.