Trevon Diggs reportedly out for year, leaving Alabama thin in secondary (Updated)
UPDATE, Wednesday, Oct. 10
According to Al.com, Diggs will miss the remainder of the season. He needs surgery on his broken foot and could be sidelined for up to six months.
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Not much has gone wrong for Alabama this season, but injuries on defense are beginning to pile up.
The latest Tide defender to go down is starting cornerback Trevon Diggs. Diggs suffered a broken foot against Arkansas on Saturday. He is out indefinitely, Nick Saban said Monday.
Diggs, a first-year starter as a junior, has played well to this point in the season, compiling 20 tackles and an interception. He also leads the team with six pass breakups. Diggs is the third defensive back to go down with a serious injury.
“We now have five defensive players that are out for an extended period of time that were starters or in the two-deep. Three of those guys are defensive backs,” Saban said.
Saban is a bit concerned about the depth of the Tide’s secondary.
“It’s going to be challenging. We’re obviously very thin. We need some other guys to step up and develop. The next guy up’s got to take the challenge and play well for us,” Saban said.
Saban pointed to true freshman Patrick Surtain II as a player who will likely see increased playing time.
“Patrick has played quite a bit at his position, so we do have two guys that have some experience. We just don’t have a lot of depth right now,” Saban said. “We’re going to have to work to get some other players to develop and be able to play for us.”
BamaInsider.com has a few other potential replacements for Diggs:
JUCO transfer Saivion Smith and freshman Josh Jobe have served as the two cornerbacks on the second-team defense. Junior Shyheim Carter, who serves as the Star out of the nickel package and safety out of the dime package, is also an option to replace Diggs.
Surtain and whoever else sees an extended workload on Saturday is going up against one of the SEC’s better offenses with Missouri visiting Bryant Denny Stadium.
“I think this is by far the best offensive team that we’ve played to this point,” Saban said of the Tigers.
Missouri, which dropped to 3-2 over the weekend in a wacky, rain-soaked 37-35 loss to South Carolina, ranks No. 9 nationally in total offense (530 yards per game) with Drew Lock running the show at quarterback.
“They were always explosive, but now they have great balance on offense. They’re running the ball for over 200 yards a game and they’re one of the leading passing teams in the country. Drew Lock is an outstanding quarterback,” Saban said.
Saban wasn’t very happy his team gave up 31 points against Arkansas. Mizzou figures to be a tougher challenge. Alabama hasn’t faced many challenges thus far in 2018.
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