Alabama coach Nick Saban said on Thursday that wide receiver Jaylen Waddle would be a “game day decision” for Monday’s national championship game against the state of Ohio.
“He could practice some,” Saban said. “The status of the game is still relatively in the air.”
Waddle returned to practice on Tuesday after missing more than two months with an ankle injury. Teammates said on Wednesday that Waddle “looked good” on his first day back on the field.
“I have no crystal ball to know,” Saban said Thursday about Waddle’s status. ‘The problem with injuries is when a man exercises, how does he react to the workload? Sometimes when a man practices one day and gets hurt the next day, you can not exercise him the next day, so you just try to build up his workload to where he can play.
‘So it’s a work in progress. So you really can not predict where he may be. It seems like other guys are getting stronger as they exercise every day, they are getting a little better. So this is something we are trying to evaluate, but not something we can make any predictions about at this point. ”
Mike Rodak is a reporter for Alabama Media Group in Alabama. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.