Germie Bernard is “The Gold Standard” for Alabama

Alabama's 31-17 loss to Florida State had very few bright spots. From the lack of effort defensively, the poor scheme against Gus Malzahn's offense, and the inconsistency from the offensive line and wide receiving corps, Alabama fans have very few positives to take from the first season-opening loss since 2001.

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One bright spot on the day was senior wide receiver Germie Bernard, who caught eight receptions for 146 yards and, at times, single-handedly kept Alabama moving the ball offensively. Bernard also carried the ball once for three yards.

After the first week of college football action, Bernard is eighth in college football in receiving yards. His efforts on Saturday were what offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb called "the gold standard."

"I just start with Germie Bernard, and that’s what it’s supposed to look like," Grubb said. "If you’re watching the game, I mean, the guy’s running in and blocking their Aztec player that’s running down the middle of the field and smoking that dude. Then he’s running down the sideline and catching a play-action pass. His desire and passion for the game, you just see how he plays, whether it’s a run block or a pass play. We just set that as the gold standard, and if it’s not what Germ’s doing, it’s not good enough. "

It wasn't only Bernard who played with good effort on Saturday, with Grubb highlighting both of the true freshman receivers, Lotzeir Brooks and Derek Meadows, in addition to redshirt freshman Rico Scott.

“I know we’ve got some young guys. I thought Lotzier, it didn’t show up necessarily on the stat book, but I thought he was in there flying around. Derek Meadows was stretching the field a couple times. Those are guys that will continue showing up. And then Rico Scott, I thought, played really, really hard. His Catapult numbers, as always, were just really, really high— his player load, just how hard he plays. So I think those guys are doing a really good job flying around. I think that room understands what it takes to win a football game. I know Isaiah got banged up a little bit early on, so it was a little tougher for him to get out there and play like he normally does. They know what it’s supposed to look like.”

Alabama will have to put more pressure on the rest of the receiver group until Ryan Williams returns from the concussion protocol after he was hit in the head and left the FSU loss late in the fourth quarter.

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.