What Christopher Allen's injury means for Alabama LB Drew Sanders

Following the season-ending injury to outside linebacker Christopher Allen, Alabama head coach Nick Saban spoke on Drew Sanders, the sophomore who is taking over for Allen at the position.

“Drew has done a really good job for us,” Saban said. “He’s been a really good special teams player, now he’s going to have a chance to step up and start, although we’ve kind of rotated the three of those guys at outside linebacker all as starters. We’ve got a lot of confidence in Drew (Sanders), he’s a good athlete, smart, hard worker, plays with toughness, gives great effort. We’ll have to bring some guys along at that position as well, but we’re really pleased and confident in Drew.”

Drew Sanders is in his second year at Alabama. As a freshman, Sanders primarily contributed on special teams. Sanders was named special teams player of the week by the Alabama coaching staff for his play at Tennessee and Arkansas. In 11 appearances as a freshman, Drew Sanders finished with nine tackles.

In Alabama’s 44-13 win over Miami, Sanders recorded six tackles, good for third-leading on the team.

Coming out of high school, Drew Sanders was rated as the top athlete prospect in the country. Sanders played quarterback, wide receiver and EDGE at Denton Ryan.

As a senior, Drew Sanders completed 8-of-9 passes for four touchdowns, rushed for 280 yards and 13 touchdowns, caught 34 passes as a senior for 717 yards and 12 scores. On the defensive side of the ball, Sanders made 119 tackles on defense, including ten tackles for loss and eight sacks, to go with three interceptions.

Christopher Allen suffers injury

Saban commented on Monday on the injury to Allen

“Chris Allen does have a foot fracture that will require surgery so he’s most likely out for the year,” Saban said Monday.

Allen finished the game against Miami with three total tackles, one tackle for loss, one sack, and one forced fumble.

The redshirt senior linebacker had become one of the best pass rushers on the Alabama defense. In 2020, Allen led the SEC in tackles for a loss with 13 and tallied six sacks. Allen entered the season opening game with three career forced fumbles before adding another to his career numbers.

Allen’s injury could be a huge loss for Alabama’s linebacking corp, and to make matters worse, he wasn’t the only member to suffer an injury Saturday.

Tennessee transfer Henry To’o To’o racked up seven tackles against Miami, but suffered an elbow injury.

“Henry hurt his elbow, but he’ll be okay,” Saban said on Saturday in the postgame press conference.