Wisconsin kicks off its season this Saturday with a highly anticipated matchup against the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Daily Cardinal caught up with Tyler Waldrep, assistant sports editor for the University of Alabama's student newspaper The Crimson White, to discuss this weekend’s showdown in Dallas.
Q: Nick Saban has left the door open to playing more than one quarterback in the opener against Wisconsin. Who do you expect to start and get the majority of snaps?
A: Well I do think it’s interesting because when you look at the guys that are competing with Jake Coker for that job — obviously Jake Coker has been the consensus favorite in the national media’s eyes — Alec Morris has always been kind of a guy that’s perceived as a reliable backup. In the spring game, he punted as much or more than he threw. He’s taken duties as the backup punter. And then if you look at Cooper Bateman, he was taking snaps with the wide receivers in the spring, so it’s surprising how the quarterback race ended up shaking out, that those two are the ones who are still in it with Jake Coker. With that being said, Jake Coker in practice has always kind of taken the lead spot in the drills. I expect Jake Coker to start this weekend, and I expect if he doesn’t flounder, if he can keep his composure, I expect him to stay in there for a majority of the time, especially if the game is close. If Coker looks overwhelmed or if for some reason Alabama jumped out to a huge lead, I could see Saban rotating in Cooper Bateman or Alec Morris, depending on which guy is the No. 2 and a good fit in this opener. But I would say that Jake Coker is going to get the majority of the meaningful snaps Saturday, if I had to guess.
Q: T.J. Yeldon is gone at running back, but there’s been plenty of buzz surrounding new starter Derrick Henry. Just how good do you think he can be this season?
A: You know that’s an interesting question. I think that Derrick Henry has the potential to be just as good [as Yeldon]. Just like Wisconsin has that list of running backs — Melvin Gordon, Montee Ball and those guys — Alabama has had Mark Ingram, Trent Richardson, Eddie Lacy and then T.J Yeldon. Not all of those guys may have had success in the NFL, but they’ve all been very good collegiate running backs, and I expect Derrick Henry to continue that tradition, much like he already has. Derrick Henry saw a lot of the workload last year; Yeldon sat out a couple games to rest and didn’t start every game. Henry has always kind of been viewed as a power back, maybe capable of running through some of those tough, short yardage distances that other running backs weren’t capable of getting. I expect Derrick Henry to have a lot of success this year, but I’ll say that backup running back Kenyan Drake, I expect to him to have just as much if not more success than Derrick Henry. Because with Drake, much like he did briefly last year before his season-ending injury at Ole Miss, he’s going to be used not only as a running back, but as a wide receiver. He’s a little more versatile than Henry and capable of being used in more situations, so I expect [offensive coordinator] Lane Kiffin to take advantage of that this year, and I believe that Drake could end up seeing the field as much as Henry before the season’s out. And if Drake is able to excel as a receiver and a running back, I think that at the end of the year we might be talking about him just as much as Derrick Henry.
Q: The Crimson Tide lost three of their top four wide receivers from last year, including Amari Cooper. Who’s going to step up to fill that void?
A: Well I’ll say that there’s been a lot of competition to fill those spots. Like you said, losing Cooper and losing DeAndrew White were huge losses for the Crimson Tide. I think ArDarius Stewart has shown a lot of potential in the spring game, in the scrimmages and in the practices. I expect him to start and really step up and take on that lead receiver role. Alongside him, I expect Oregon State transfer Richard Mullaney and Robert Foster to also support there. There’s a list of receivers who could jump in and help out — Calvin Ridley, Chris Black, Cam Sims — Saban’s mentioned all those guys. Instead of maybe just having three reliable receivers, it seems more like a carousel of reliable targets that whoever the quarterback is can count on these guys to really step up this year.
Q: From talking to players, do you have a sense of what their perception is of the Big Ten?
A: When the players are asked about the Big Ten, they have said that they respect the conference. More so, the players focus on Wisconsin and this game. The general consensus among the team is that they do respect Wisconsin. They’re not looks at this as “this is a Big Ten game and this is an easy win for us”. The defense has been very complimentary of what they’ve seen from Wisconsin’s ground game and they’re expecting a fight in the trenches, and the same goes for the offensive line. The offense, they expect to have to work if they’re going to run the ball on Wisconsin. So I don’t know necessarily how the team perceives the Big Ten as a conference, but from what they’ve told me and what they’ve told the other media members, they expect this to be a game that they’re going to have to fight for.
Q: Staying on the topic of the Big Ten. After last year’s College Football Playoff, with Ohio State winning, did that change the perception of the conference among Alabama fans at all, or not so much?
A: That’s a difficult question to answer. With any fanbase, especially one that’s been successful, you do have fans that tend to maybe lose their sense of reality in terms of where the teams are at. There’s a general consensus among the fanbase that the SEC is the best conference and that the Big Ten has not caught up to them yet. But with the success Urban Meyer has had at Ohio State, it’s impossible for the fanbase to dismiss the Big Ten now. Beating Alabama on the field for a spot in the championship game, despite what some fans may want to believe, most seem to accept that they can’t dismiss the conference like they might have in years past. Then there’s the hiring of [Jim] Harbaugh, Wisconsin has always been a ranked team that’s been competitive and Michigan State has had success. There is a general consensus down south that the Big Ten is trending upward.
Q: Name a player on both offense and defense that should really have the Badgers’ attention going into this game.
A: On offense, Derrick Henry is the obvious choice for someone that Wisconsin should be focusing in on, because if Wisconsin can’t slow down or limit Derrick Henry’s ability to run the ball, then I don’t think Wisconsin is going to be able to stay in the game. Alabama has always been, traditionally, a run first team, so I expect them, especially with the new quarterbacks, to run the ball early. And if they have success doing that, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, so I expect them to continue to run the ball late in the game. On defense, I’d have to say that [linebacker] Reggie Ragland’s probably the most important player for this game, but that entire front seven really deserves their attention. A’Shawn Robinson, Jarran Reed Reggie Ragland, Reuben Foster, the list of people who could cause Wisconsin trouble goes on, but Reggie Ragland’s probably the heart of this defense. He decided to return for his senior year, and I think that’s going to be huge for him and huge for Alabama, especially in this game playing linebacker. I expect Wisconsin to try to run the ball just like Alabama will, and if Alabama does win the game, especially if they perhaps blow Wisconsin out, I think it’s going to be because the front seven, including Reggie Ragland, just shut down the run game.
Q: Lastly, what are your thoughts on how the game will turn out?
A: I think it really does have the potential to be a more competitive game than I think the average fan expects looking at the rankings, with Alabama being No. 3 and Wisconsin being No. 18 or No. 20 depending on the poll you look at. I think especially early, the game could be close, but in the end I do expect Alabama’s front seven to maybe limit Wisconsin’s run game not completely, but limit its effectiveness more than Wisconsin can shut down Alabama’s run game. And I think in the end, Alabama literally runs away with it.
