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Forty-four different players played a snap on offense or defense for Alabama in its home opener against Texas A&M on Saturday, up from 39 the week before. Seven players made their season debuts, and one player made his debut in a Crimson Tide uniform.

Below is a breakdown of snap counts for every player, first by offense and defense and then with additional observations by position:

Offense (55 snaps)
Mac Jones 52
Alex Leatherwood 52
Deonte Brown 52
Landon Dickerson 52
Emil Ekiyor Jr. 52
Evan Neal 52
DeVonta Smith 51
Jaylen Waddle 43
Miller Forristall 43
John Metchie III 40
Najee Harris 36
Brian Robinson Jr. 16
Carl Tucker 12
Kendall Randolph 8
Jahleel Billingsley 8
Slade Bolden 7
Xavier Williams 4
Cameron Latu 4
Bryce Young 3
Major Tennison 3
Chris Owens 3
Pierce Quick 3
Darrian Dalcourt 3
Tommy Brown 3
Trey Sanders 2
Jase McClellan 1

The first team played all but the final three snaps. The offense had three wide receivers (Blue personnel) on 37 of 55 snaps, two WRs and two tight ends (Silver personnel) on 17 snaps, and four tight ends (Tan personnel) on one snap.

Defense (77 snaps)
Dylan Moses 77
Patrick Surtain II 77
Josh Jobe 77
Jordan Battle 77
Malachi Moore 76
Christian Harris 74
Will Anderson 55
Daniel Wright 55
Justin Eboigbe 54
Chris Allen 51
Christian Barmore 36
Demarcco Hellams 32
D.J. Dale 31
LaBryan Ray 30
Phidarian Mathis 21
Byron Young 18
Drew Sanders 3
Jaylen Moody 3

The defense was in nickel (5 DBs) on 66 of 77 snaps. About two-thirds of those (45 snaps) had three linemen and one outside linebacker; the other third (21 snaps) had two DL and two OLBs. The team was in base (4 DBs) on one snap and dime (6 DBs) on 10 snaps.

QUARTERBACKS
Mac Jones 52
Bryce Young 3

Some might have been surprised or disappointed to see Young only play three snaps and not throw a pass. This wasn't a competition before Jones threw for 435 yards — the fourth-most in school history — and four touchdowns, and it certainly isn't after. Coach Nick Saban complimented Jones' ability to bounce back from a tipped interception in the second quarter, completing 9 of his final 10 passes entering halftime. He also completed his first seven passes of the game.

RUNNING BACKS
Najee Harris 36
Brian Robinson Jr. 16
Trey Sanders 2
Jase McClellan 1

McClellan, a true freshman from Texas, was the only player on the team to make his collegiate debut on offense or defense against the Aggies. The majority of the RB carries continue to go to Harris, as he doubled Robinson's snap count for the second week in a row. Offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian said during fall camp that he'd like the carries to be more evenly distributed than last year, so it remains to be seen if Harris' workload will remain this heavy.

Robinson had 10 carries on his 16 snaps since he mostly worked later in the game with a larger lead, while Harris had 12 carries on 36 snaps. Robinson also had four runs longer than 6 yards and four first downs/touchdowns; Harris had zero runs longer than 6 yards and two first downs/touchdowns.

WIDE RECEIVERS
DeVonta Smith 51
Jaylen Waddle 43
John Metchie III 40
Slade Bolden 7
Xavier Williams 4

Smith played all but one of the 52 first-team snaps, but it was Waddle and Metchie who blew the doors off the A&M defense with 10 combined catches for 323 yards and three touchdowns of 78, 87 and 63 yards. Jones continued to put up astronomical stats when throwing to Waddle. Bolden and Williams, who made his season debut, each did not have a catch.

TIGHT ENDS
Miller Forristall 43
Carl Tucker 12
Jahleel Billingsley 8
Kendall Randolph 5
Cameron Latu 4
Major Tennison 3

Tennison made his season debut after dealing with what Saban called an intestinal issue. The team continues to use its tight ends in multiple ways: catching passes downfield, pulling across the formation to run-block, as an extra offensive lineman in short-yardage, etc. Forristall is the only one who has caught a pass this season, but he made a nice outstretched grab near the sideline early against A&M.

OFFENSIVE LINE
Alex Leatherwood 52
Chris Owens 3
Deonte Brown 52
Pierce Quick 3
Landon Dickerson 52
Darrian Dalcourt 3
Emil Ekiyor Jr. 52
Tommy Brown 3
Evan Neal 52
Kendall Randolph 3

All five starters played 52 snaps, and all five backups played three snaps. We saw Owens as a backup center last week and Randolph as a tight end and backup lineman, but this was the season debut for Quick, Dalcourt and Brown. The pass protection held up better throughout the entire game than it did last week against Missouri, but the team struggled to rip off impactful runs. Saban said on Wednesday that Missouri and Texas A&M have both had very active defensive fronts that gave the O-line trouble, but Dickerson still called the run game "disappointing" and said there's no excuse for them to not control the game.

DEFENSIVE LINE

Justin Eboigbe 54
Christian Barmore 36
D.J. Dale 31
LaBryan Ray 30
Phidarian Mathis 21
Byron Young 18

Barmore came off the bench to make his season debut and ended up playing more snaps than two starters, Ray and Dale. That's partially because he plays so many third-and-long snaps due to his persistent pass rush. Twenty-five of his 36 snaps were in one of the team's "rabbit" packages, in which the defense wants as much speed as possible on the field to get after the quarterback. Alabama used "rabbits" personnel on 31 plays against A&M; he was on the field for 25 of them. Eboigbe again led the way by a wide margin.

Having six players up front who can each play at least 20 snaps per game is a luxury for the defense. They have six more scholarship players on the D-line: three who played last year and three true freshmen.

OUTSIDE LINEBACKERS
Will Anderson 55
Chris Allen 51
Drew Sanders 3

Anderson, the true freshman, leads the group again, but not by as much as last week. He continued to flash his speed off the edge and recorded his first career tackle for loss. Allen was named one of the team's defensive players of the week. Sanders, the other freshman, got into the game before fifth-year senior Ben Davis.

INSIDE LINEBACKERS
Dylan Moses 77
Christian Harris 74
Jaylen Moody 3

This would've just been Moses and Harris, but Moody entered for three plays while trainers evaluated Harris after a sideline tackle. The team listed three backup Will linebackers behind Harris on its depth chart — sixth-year senior Joshua McMillon among them — but it was Moody, listed as a backup Mike linebacker behind Moses, who relieved Harris.

DEFENSIVE BACKS
Patrick Surtain II 77
Josh Jobe 77
Jordan Battle 77
Malachi Moore 76
Daniel Wright 55
Demarcco Hellams 32

Surtain, Jobe and Battle are the only players on the team to play every snap on their side of the ball through two games. Wright, the starting safety next to Battle, had done so until the third quarter against A&M, when Hellams, who is usually the sixth defensive back and only plays in dime personnel, took his spot. To that point, Wright had played all 52 snaps and Hellams had only played the seven dime snaps. But after that, Hellams played the remaining 25 snaps and Wright only played three dime snaps. With a game against the pass-happy Ole Miss offense looming on Saturday, it's uncertain how permanent that switch was.

2020 SEC Football Coaches

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