re: Bama Football Tidings

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Saban praised his receiving group Saturday, crediting them for being “great competitors.” The head coach’s M.O. has always been to get his best players on the field in positions to make plays. However, he expressed some caution when talking about the switch to four-wide sets.

“I think when you get in that situation you are very limited to some degree,” Saban said. “When you have a tight end in the game, the multiples of what you can do — you can do two-back runs, you can do four-open, which is the same as having 10 personnel in the game — and you can do a lot more things from a protection standpoint.”

More receivers on the field likely means less players to block for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. The junior spent a good portion of last season on the ground following big hits and suffered the side effects of some of those blows late in the year. Although, while keeping Tagovailoa upright will be one of Alabama’s chief concerns, the Heisman finalist isn’t worried about the lack of protection the “red” formation might present.

“I don’t think it’d be any different than if we were in a blue personnel, silver personnel,” Tagovailoa said, referring to 11 and 12 personnels. “It’s still going to be a six-man protection or even a five-man protection because we might need the back to go out. I mean, it’s a lot different. It’s just how we game plan for whatever team we’re playing.”

In fact, Tagovailoa is intrigued by the possibilities the formation might bring.

“I think it could open up a lot of things," he said. "Sometimes they can’t change their personnel in the game, and if we’re going fast it can open up the run game. If they’re in nickel, I mean it could definitely open up the run game. It all depends on how we game plan for the team.”

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