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Fresh off a sixth appearance in the National Championship Game in the College Football Playoff era, Alabama's job is once again to retool and reload for another shot at college football's greatest prize. After another round of Nick Saban's players went off to the NFL Draft, graduation, or the transfer portal, there is a good deal of roster turnover for the Crimson Tide to deal with. With all this turnover, focus has shifted from recruiting to spring practices, which began last week, and will finish with the Spring Game on April 16. Here's the three position groups you need to watch the closest across spring practices in Tuscaloosa.
Alabama spring position battles
1. Running Back
Two of Alabama's returning backs, Jase McClellan and Roydell Williams, are coming off significant knee injuries. So, it's not clear if they'll even participate in spring ball, though if they can it makes the battle a bit more interesting. Beyond them sits Trey Sanders, Georgia Tech transfer Jahmyr Gibbs, and true freshman Jamarion Miller. Gibbs was a very highly rated transfer according to various recruting services, so it's probably not unfair to consider him the earliest of frontrunners to start.
Alabama suffered at times last season, albeit few and far between, with inconsistency in the run game placing too much on the shoulders of Bryce Young, making production out of this group key to the Crimson Tide's success in 2022. The battle in the spring appears interesting, though with McClellan and Williams' injuries along with the summer enrollment of true freshman Emmanuel Henderson, this competition will very likely remain unresolved this month, though it is still worth keeping an eye on.
2. Wide Receiver
All three of the team's starting receivers from last season are set to be selected in the NFL Draft, in addition to Javon Baker's transfer to Kentucky. This leaves a wide-open competition for a number of faces to claim their spot as Bryce Young's favorite target. Ja'Corey Brooks is the only returning receiver who has logged a single start, and he should begin high up on the depth chart early in the spring. Another name to expect high on the depth chart is Georgia transfer Jermaine Burton, who likely transferred with the expectation of premier playing time that he wasn't receiving in Athens.
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Also competing for reps are returning players Traeshon Holden, JoJo Earle, and Agiye Hall, in addition to two true freshmen who enrolled early to participate in spring practices, though it's not expected either will really push for first team reps out of the gate.
If Bryce Young is to pick up where he left off last season, this receiver room needs to step up and fill the gaps left by the likes of John Metchie and Jameson Williams. Burton appears to be, on paper at least, the first gap filled. The rest remain an open competition for the moment, as any of the other receivers named could reasonably work themselves into a larger role in Alabama's offense.
3. Offensive Tackle
The other position on the offense that saw all of its primary starters depart the program, offensive tackle offers a similar group of players with little experience but much promise. Obviously, having mentioned Bryce Young so much already, it's potentially most important that he actually has time to get the ball to any of the players already named. Both sides of Young's pocket need to be covered, and perhaps the most eyes will be on this group above all others.
Returning to the fold for Nick Saban are the likes of JC Latham, Dameion George, Tommy Brockermeyer and Amari Kight, any of whom could make either tackle spot their own throughout the spring and into the fall. However, they are not alone. Kendall Randolph has also played tackle before, but he's more often used as a tight end in recent times. Javion Cohen has also played tackle before, but he's more typically used on the interior of the offensive line, though with two open tackle spots he may get pushed back outside if injuries or transfers pile up.
It's worth noting that George and Kight have the most experience of the group, though Latham and Brockermeyer are both just sophomores, and former five-star recruits at that. Not only is this the most important position battle for the Crimson Tide, it may also be the most wide open. Whereas there are early frontrunners to fill spots elsewhere, no such consensus seems to exist at the tackle positions, making for one of the more intriguing position battles not just in Tuscaloosa, but anywhere in the SEC.
