Alabama Football: 3 bold predictions for Crimson Tide in 2022
Alabama football won the SEC title and a Heisman winner in 2021, but the Crimson Tide was still disappointed, and here are bold predictions for 2022.
The expectations are high for Alabama football heading into the 2022 season. But that’s nothing new under head coach Nick Saban.
It’s basically national championship or bust each season for Alabama football and after falling one win shy of winning it all in 2021, Alabama is the preseason No. 1 in the 2022 polls and the early favorite to win it all in 2022.
The return of Heisman-Trophy-winning quarterback Bryce Young certainly doesn’t hurt. Nor does having Will Anderson back on the roster. Anderson, an EDGE defender, might be the best all-around player in the country, and Dallas Turner, another pass rusher, is going to be a household name by the end of the season too.
Alabama’s defense is loaded and the offense should be stellar too. Jermaine Burton came over from Georgia to address the losses at wide receiver while transfer running back Jahmyr Gibbs is a legit Heisman contender in his own right.
The former Georgia Tech product should help bring balance to the offense. The schedule is also going to be interesting, but Alabama football won’t face Georgia in the regular season. That will be saved for the SEC title game (at least that’s what everyone expects).
Will it happen? We take a look at that and offer some other bold predictions for Alabama’s 2022 season, which is hard because this program has done it all in the last 10-15 years.
Bama will send two Heisman finalists to New York
There are a couple of predictions folded into one here. I do believe that Bryce Young will return to New York to be part of the Heisman ceremony. He’ll be a finalist, but I don’t see him winning the award. Gibbs and teammate Will Anderson could be part of the reason why.
Both could make a run at the award. We’ve seen multiple Alabama running backs win it and Gibbs should have a special season. But Anderson is just a freak. His production (101 tackles, 31.5 TFL, 17.5 sacks) was just unheard of.
Turner could cut into that sack total, but if the guy is pushing 20 sacks, how can he not get a bunch of votes? Take position out of it and Anderson is the best player in college football.
So I expect him and Young to reach New York. But I don’t see Young winning it for the second year in a row. His mission to do what Archie Griffin did at Ohio State, will be stopped, potentially by Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, as well as the contenders on Young’s own team.