JoJo Earle injury: Status of Alabama wide receiver for Cotton Bowl vs. Cincinnati

Update 2:45 p.m. Earle is on the field and receiving punts for the Tide during warmups.

The Alabama Crimson Tide find themselves in the College Football Playoff once again as they’ve been invited to this event seven times in the event’s eight years of existence. They will take on the Cincinnati Bearcats in the Cotton Bowl on Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and it can be seen on ESPN.

Alabama has plenty of weapons in their passing attack, which is why they rank No. 6 nationally in yards per pass attempt against FBS opponents, but they could be without JoJo Earle once again.

JoJo Earle: Cotton Bowl injury updates

Earle missed each of the last three games for the Crimson Tide, and Nick Saban said Earle is a game-time decision for Friday’s game. Earle has practiced, and he warmed up prior to the SEC Championship Game against the Georgia Bulldogs but did not play.

On the season, Earle caught 12 passes for 148 yards with a ton of those numbers coming in the Week 2 game against Mercer when he hauled in seven balls for 85 yards.

While the numbers do not jump off the page, Earle could see an increase in production if he’s deemed healthy enough to play because Alabama will be operating without one of their top wide receivers John Metchie III, whose season ended against Georgia with an ACL injury.

Alabama is a 13.5-point favorite on DraftKings Sportsbook with the over/under set at 57.