Running back Jase McClellan ran for 17 yards on five carries in his NFL debut for the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, extending an Alabama streak that dates to 2007 for another year.
Since the Crimson Tide’s 17-12 loss to Mississippi State in an SEC contest on Nov. 10, 2007, every Alabama conference or postseason game has been started by a running back who either went on to carry the football in an NFL regular-season game or is not yet eligible to do so.
Terry Grant served as the Tide’s starting running back against Mississippi State in 2007.
Since then, the Alabama games started by running backs who have not had a rushing attempt in the NFL are two non-conference contests, two games by current Florida State running back Roydell Williams and the seven games this season, with six starts for Justice Haynes and one for Jamarion Miller.
The two Alabama games in that stretch that have featured starting running backs who are no longer in college but didn’t play in the NFL are a 21-14 loss to Louisiana-Monroe on Nov. 17, 2007, and a 40-14 victory over Florida International on Sept. 12, 2009. Grant continued as Alabama’s starting running back for one more game against ULM, and Roy Upchurch started at running back against FIU.
The Tide’s other starting running backs between the 2007 Mississippi State game and the start of the 2024 season have included Damien Harris for 40 games, Najee Harris for 25, T.J. Yeldon for 21, Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson for 19 apiece, McClellan and Derrick Henry for 17, Glen Coffee for 15, Eddie Lacy and Brian Robinson Jr. for 14 each, Jahmyr Gibbs for 11, Kenyan Drake for six, Josh Jacobs for three, Bo Scarbrough for two and Jerome Ford and Jalston Fowler for one apiece.
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All those players have recorded rushing attempts in the NFL:
· Henry has 10,206 yards and 98 touchdowns on 2,149 carries entering the Baltimore Ravens’ game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
· Ingram had 8,111 yards and 65 touchdowns on 1,817 carries.
· Jacobs has 6,085 yards and 47 touchdowns on 1,425 carries.
· Drake had 3,866 yards and 33 touchdowns on 869 carries.
· Najee Harris has 3,747 yards and 24 touchdowns on 951 carries.
· Lacy had 3,614 yards and 23 touchdowns on 857 carries.
· Damien Harris had 2,188 yards and 21 touchdowns on 472 carries.
· Richardson had 2,032 yards and 17 touchdowns on 614 carries.
· Yeldon had 2,005 yards and six touchdowns on 492 carries.
· Robinson has 1,926 yards and 13 touchdowns on 468 carries.
· Ford, who transferred to Cincinnati after two seasons at Alabama, has 1,089 yards and five touchdowns on 262 carries.
· Scarbrough had 408 yards and one touchdown on 95 carries.
· Coffee had 226 yards and one touchdown on 83 carries.
· Fowler, who was a fullback in the NFL, had 20 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries.
McClellan joined Atlanta from Alabama in the sixth round of the NFL Draft on April 27. During his four seasons with the Crimson Tide, McClellan ran for 1,981 yards and 18 touchdowns on 355 carries.
The Falcons have used 2023 first-round draft pick Bijan Robinson as their starting running back, with former 1,000-yard rusher Tyler Allgeier as his backup this season. Until Sunday’s 34-14 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, they had been the only running backs who had carried the football for Atlanta in 2024.
McClellan joined the Falcons as a sixth-round selection in the NFL Draft on April 27. He had been designated as a game-day inactive for Atlanta’s first six contests. But with McClellan in uniform for Sunday’s game and the games out of hand, the Falcons let the former Alabama ball-carrier and first-round quarterback Michael Penix make their NFL debuts on Atlanta’s final possession.
McClellan played the closing six snaps on the game and got the football on five of them.
Atlanta plays the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at noon CDT Sunday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The NFC South rivals squared off on Oct. 3 in Atlanta, with the Falcons taking a 36-30 overtime victory.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
