Alabama injury updates: Kalen DeBoer provides latest on Ryan Williams, Jam Miller, more

Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer provided a welcomed update to the status of ailing sophomore receiver Ryan Williams during Wednesday’s SEC coaches teleconference. Williams, who missed last week’s game against Louisiana-Monroe after suffering a concussion late in the season opener at Florida State, is expected to play Saturday against Wisconsin.

But that wasn’t the only encouraging injury news out of the Crimson Tide. Senior running back Jam Miller, who has missed the first two games of the regular season with a dislocated collarbone suffered during the preseason, is a game-time decision, according to DeBoer. Joining Miller with that game-time designation are linebacker Jah-Marien Latham (lower body injury) and defensive tackle Tim Keenan III (ankle), per DeBoer.

“Jah-Marian Latham and Jam Miller and TK (Tim Keenan III) are all game-time decisions,” DeBoer said Wednesday. “They’re getting their work in and making some progress, so not much difference between all three of them even though they are all different injuries. Ryan Williams we expect him to play. (Junior tight end) Danny Lewis will be out this weekend still, but is making progress.”

Williams was ruled out of last weekend’s game while working his way through the team’s concussion protocol after he took a hard hit from FSU defensive back Earl Little Jr. in the second-half of their season-opener in Tallahassee. The sophomore remained on the ground for several minutes before he was helped to the locker room.

“Ryan Williams is coming along, day to day,” DeBoer said last week. “He’s been on the practice field going through — he’s doing the normal protocol and coming along nicely. That’s probably the best way to explain it.”

Miller hurt that collarbone in the final preseason scrimmage and underwent had a procedure that same day August 16th. There was hope Miller would only miss the non-conference portion of their schedule with their first game in SEC play Sept. 27 at Georgia. That would mean this weekend is ahead of that schedule for Miller. The senior running back has made considerable progress and was even sported warming up with the team ahead of Saturday’s 73-0 win over Louisiana-Monroe.

“Yeah, we’ve got a number of guys that are day-to-day, and he would certainly be one of them,” DeBoer said Monday. “We’re optimistic that there could be a chance. You know, I really don’t think we’ll know until we get later in the week. … You saw him in pregame. He was out there doing some things, aggressively trying to continue to push forward. You can see that with Jam. He’s chomping at the bit.”

Through three seasons in Tuscaloosa, Miller has 219 carries for 1,092 yards and 10 touchdowns. That’s after a career-year as their lead running back last season with 145 carries for 668 yards and seven rushing scores.