Alabama gets experienced player back for FSU game, will he make a difference?

The Alabama Crimson Tide had a series of injuries that impacted who would play against Florida State in the season opener on Saturday afternoon. They lost their starting running back and defensive tackle, and it looked like they would be without offensive lineman Jaedon Roberts.

Late Friday afternoon, news broke that Roberts would be available to play against the Noles. Roberts had been in concussion protocols for most of fall camp, but he finally passed those protocols just before the opener.:

What type of impact could he have on the game?

When healthy and in shape, Roberts is one of the better Alabama offensive linemen:

Does this mean he’ll absolutely play? I doubt it. If he does play, it’ll likely be a limited snap count. There’s no way he’s in shape to play a ton of snaps. Also, they will probably want to manage the snap count and collisions since it took him a lengthy amount of time to pass the concussion protocol.

It’s possible he could become a liability out there if he gasses early from not being in shape.

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I can see him going into the game if Alabama struggles to run the ball early, but if they look serviceable against the FSU front seven, they’ll probably try to save him for conference play. As good as he was last year, Alabama still underachieved running the ball compared to the talent they have on the offensive line. Jalen Milroe was their leading rusher, so it’ll be interesting to see what the Alabama running game looks like.

I believe they’ll lean on it to try and protect their inexperienced quarterback, Ty Simpson. We know FSU will go all out to stop the run. All in all, I don't think this news changes much regarding the game.