Nick Saban provides injury update on Jam Miller

Sophomore Alabama running back Jamarion “Jam” Miller is in the mix among nearly half a dozen running backs to get big-time carries this season. However, he’s been hung up with a short-term injury, head coach Nick Saban said on Saturday.

Miller has a thigh bruise or something similar, Saban said. He managed to scrimmage some on Saturday despite the injury. Saban thought Miller had been excelling prior to the injury slowing him.

“Jam’s got a little thigh bruise or something so he’s been a little limited for a couple days. But he’s working through it. He actually scrimmaged some today. I don’t think he was probably 100%. But before he got hurt he was doing really, really well,” Saban said.

By Saban’s own estimation, Alabama has four or five running backs capable of earning playing time this season. Miller is among them comfortably among them, but his injury is a caution to Saban about what will be critical with the running back room this season.

With the luxury of depth, he hopes to pace things out in a way that keeps players healthy for the duration of the season.

“And I think, again, running back is — we’ve got four, five guys that can play there. The key to the drill is keeping them healthy so they can continue to develop and progress and complement each other,” Saban said.

Saban had some sharp words for his receivers after the scrimmage

Following an apparently inconsistent showing from the Alabama wide receivers in a scrimmage on Saturday, Saban harped on the need to cut down drops. As he sees it, wide receivers shouldn’t have drops.

It will certainly be a point of emphasis for the Crimson Tide wideouts to cut back on drops. And Saban even worked in some wry humor while offering up his critique.

“But what is the level of consistency? I mean, if you’re a receiver, why do they call you a receiver? Supposed to be able to catch the ball, right? That’s what receiver means,” Saban said. “So, you should never drop a ball. That’s something that we gotta stay focused on.”

However, it wasn’t all bad during the scrimmage.

Several of the receivers made a number of nice catches and good play, Saban said, but just not on a snap-to-snap basis as necessary.

“Well we made some good plays today, too. So I think that we had some guys make some really good catches. I think the quarterbacks made some really good throws at times,” Saban said.