Freshman/newcomer participation tracker

Freshmen

• Evan Neal - LG, started
• Christian Harris - WLB, started
• Shane Lee - MLB, started
• D.J. Dale - DT, started
• Will Reichard - K/P, started
• Scooby Carter - DB
• Keilan Robinson - RB
• John Metchie - WR
• Byron Young - DL
• Jordan Battle - DB
• Taulia Tagovailoa - QB
• Darrian Dalcourt - OL
• Pierce Quick - OL

Offense: 6 (1 starting)

Defense: 6 (3 starting)

Special teams: 1

Newcomers

• Landon Dickerson - RG, started

13 of the 27 member Class of 2019 played against Duke, with four of them starting. At least two (Trey Sanders, Justin Eboigbe), were out with an injury. So more than half of the available freshmen played. Last year, 12 of the 21 members of the Class of 2018, 10 of whom were true freshmen, played against Louisville in the season opener.

We can try to glean some information about possible redshirts, though we do only have one year of the new rule to go on.

In the opener last season, only three of the 12 newcomers ended up redshirting (Slade Bolden, Cameron Latu, and Jerome Ford). The 13 freshmen who played against Duke aren’t guaranteed to play in more than four games, of course; and several are likely to still end up getting a redshirt. However, we will likely see most in more than four games.

What about the freshmen who didn’t play?

Of the nine true freshmen who didn’t play in the opener in 2018, only one, Eddie Smith, did not redshirt. Of note is that Smith did not play until Week 5 against ULL. There is a chance Jalyn Armour-Davis would have burned his redshirt had he not suffered a season-ending injury before the Week 2 game; but, as it stands, Smith is the only one.

Now, the Louisville game was out of hand a lot faster than the Duke game; so maybe more freshmen would have seen the field if Alabama had raced out to a quick lead. But it is something to watch for against New Mexico State with the 13 members of the Class of 2019 who did not play against the Blue Devils (not counting Trey Sanders since he’ll be out for awhile).