College Football

Alabama must replenish its receiving corps for 2022 season

Updated Jan. 11, 2022 9:17 p.m. ET

By RJ Young
FOX Sports College Football Writer

During the first half of the national title tilt Monday night, I could sense how Alabama quarterback Bryce Young missed receiver John Metchie for the second game in a row.

Through the first quarter, though, Young still had Biletnikoff Award finalist Jameson Williams.

But not really.

With Metchie’s injury in the SEC Championship Game, Williams had been asked by coach Nick Saban and offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien to move from the No. 2 spot to the No. 1 spot on Alabama’s depth chart, and that changed how Young could attack Georgia's defense.

For 13.5 games, Williams had been not a deep threat but the deep threat. He finished the 2021 season with 1,572 yards and averaged 19.9 per catch.

But he trailed Metchie, who missed the last two-and-a-half games, in catches. Metchie caught 96 passes; Williams caught 79.

However, O’Brien still found opportunities to take shots Monday, coupling Young’s tremendous arm strength and accuracy with Williams’ prodigious speed. The Tide dialed one up with 12 minutes left to play in the first half.

Williams split the safeties and caught a 40-yard pass but landed off-balance, and his knee buckled while he tried to stay on his feet. He left the game and did not return.

What does the national championship loss mean for Alabama?

RJ Young discusses what the Crimson Tide's loss in the national championship means for the program and Nick Saban's legacy.

At halftime, Saban was asked to assess the loss of Williams and what it meant for his team.

"Well, I think we've got other players that have an opportunity," he said. "There are a lot of young guys out there. They've got talent, so they have to play with competitive character and have a chance to make some plays. They’re capable. They don't have the experience, but they're going to get it tonight."

They got that experience against the best defense ever to win a College Football Playoff national title. The Georgia Bulldogs harassed Young, who threw the ball an astounding 57 times, and stayed in the hip pockets of a young, if talented, Tide receiving corps.

With Williams out, Slade Bolden led the team in catches with seven; he had just 35 receptions heading into the game at Lucas Oil Stadium. A tight end, Cameron Latu, led all receivers in yards, with 102.

This despite Young's completing passes to eight receivers over the course of the game and his receivers' catching 36 balls.

It’s the ones that fell incomplete or landed in the hands of UGA defenders that will haunt the Tide. True freshmen Ja’Corey Brooks and Agiye Hall each had chances to catch passes that hit them in the hands in tight coverage and could’ve changed the outcome of the game.

Tight end Jahleel Billingsley looked like he gave up on a route that resulted in Young’s first interception of the game, and Billingsley, an NFL talent, jumped into the transfer portal not 24 hours after the game ended. Sophomore Traeshon Holden did most of his damage — six catches for 28 yards — once the game was out of reach for the Tide.

RJ Young reveals his "Way Too Early" top 10

RJ Young shares his top 10 teams for 2022, with Alabama, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Georgia and Michigan leading the list.

Now, Saban and Tide receivers coach Holmon Wiggins must assess their young and depleted corps and ask questions of their wide receivers that they haven’t needed to in years.

Before this season began, Metchie was seen as a first-round selection in April, and short of suffering a knee injury, his play did little to dissuade NFL evaluators of that notion.

Williams blossomed into a future first-round selection after transferring to Tuscaloosa from Ohio State last year. While he has yet to announce his intention to stay at Alabama or enter the draft — it was announced Tuesday that he tore his ACL in Monday's game — Saban isn’t naive about how rare Williams’ ability as a receiver is, and the coach credited Williams with wanting to return to the game after his injury.

"He actually wanted to play in the second half, and the medical staff wouldn't let him," Saban said, "which I think was smart because he has a future as a football player."

"Look, this guy contributed tremendously to our team all year. He has great speed. He's a vertical threat. I think our offensive coaches did a great job of utilizing his talent this year. He has been very productive. Any time you lose players like this, it has an impact on your team."

Williams will now undergo surgery and a lengthy rehab. Regardless of what he decides to do with his senior season, there’s the question of what exactly Young, Wiggins and Saban will have to work with in 2022.

None of the receivers called into action during Monday's loss to Georgia recalled images of Alabama receivers past such as Heisman winner DeVonta Smith or Biletnikoff Award winner Jerry Jeudy.

For the first time since 2017, Alabama might not have one of the three best wide receiving corps in the country next year, and that could usher in a new reality for Tide fans — one that looks more like how the 2021 season ended and less like what came before.

RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the podcast "The No. 1 Ranked Show with RJ Young." Follow him on Twitter at @RJ_Young, and subscribe to "The RJ Young Show" on YouTube. He is not on a StepMill.