Rico Scott Steps Up to Pull Tide Offense Out of Slump

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Last week, the Alabama offense struggled without Ryan Coleman-Williams, who was the leading receiver when he departed the lineup on October 10 against Georgia in the fourth quarter. Tennessee was able to key in on Lotzeir Brooks, the second-leading receiver, and limit Keelon Russell's playmaking with his arm.

Get our free mobile app

Through one half of Saturday's contest with Texas A&M, it looked like it was trending the same way, with Alabama tied 17-17 with the Aggies. Then, third-year wide receiver Rico Scott stepped up with six receptions for a career-high 156 yards. The funny thing? Rico Scott initially wasn't going to be at Alabama in 2026.

Scott entered his name into the NCAA transfer portal on January 4 before withdrawing just a day later. He had opportunities to leave Alabama after two seasons in Tuscaloosa, but chose to return and put in the work, earning the WR3 spot in Tuscaloosa before emerging as a reliable target for Russell to help pull Alabama's offense out of its two-game rut it had been in.

"It was huge. I thought Rico came up in a big way. I know just coming off of last week, had a couple plays that I knew he’d like to have had, and he’s developing those expectations for himself above and beyond," head coach Kalen DeBoer said of Scott's performance.

"And Keelon has a lot of confidence in him, and him and Lottie made some big plays for us tonight. And so, those are things and moments where, as we do get guys back, we just become a stronger team. And so, there’s a lot of winnable, teachable moments that are happening today that can make us even better as a football team through the second half of the season.”

Coming into the day, Scott had just 22 receptions for 278 yards. His emergence as a consistent weapon for Alabama's offense adds another wrinkle to Ryan Grubb and Kalen DeBoer's offense - a much-needed one after the run game stagnated on Saturday, with just 68 rushing yards.

"Disappointed, disappointed," DeBoer said of Alabama's run game. "The stats, that’s all you gotta really look at, and we needed more out of that run game to open up some things for us. And so, we gotta get back to work and make sure we’re continuing to execute, first of all, and be able to stack some plays on top of each other. It’s OK for a couple yards. When we get some negative yards and have guys that are unblocked at the point of attack, or falling off blocks, those are things that we gotta get back to the basics, and we gotta get better at.”

Despite the Tide's inability to run the ball, Russell found Scott on a couple of bootleg passes, and Scott made the most of his opportunity in his biggest game of his Crimson Tide tenure so far. Scott's biggest catch of the day came on the final play of the third quarter, when he made what felt like a season-saving 38-yard catch on a third-and-eight.

Alabama improves to 6-2 (4-2 in SEC play) in the 2026 season. The Crimson Tide will take a bye week next week before traveling to Baton Rouge to face the LSU Tigers on Saturday, November 7.

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.