Alabama Crimson Tide

Editor's note: RecruitingNation is taking a look at the state of each team's brand.

On April 14, Alabama's crystal football was shattered, dislodged from its stand by the parent of a player walking the halls of the athletics department on A-Day. The janitorial staff came by to sweep up the mess later, pushing brilliant shards of Waterford Crystal into a dingy dustpan.

Coach Nick Saban and the Alabama administration didn't bat an eye at the $30,000 accident.

Saban's response: "Look, we'll get another one."

No big deal, it's just a trophy. There are plenty of those lying around these days in Tuscaloosa, Ala., as well as the expectation of more to come.

The football program has traveled along those lines since Saban arrived in 2007. It took a few years to get to BCS form, and now that it has, no one is looking back -- not even to January and the Tide's 14th national title.

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From now until kickoff in Arlington, Texas, we'll be counting down the days before Alabama and Michigan get the season started. Today, we move to No. 18 and what it means to UA football. See all the previous editions here.

Since Nick Saban's arrival in Tuscaloosa, Ala., the University of Alabama has had an argument for often overused moniker of "Linebacker U." Just a few months ago, the Crimson Tide had two linebackers taken in the first 35 picks of the draft. Between the likes of Dont'a Hightower, Courtney Upshaw, Rolando McClain, DeMeco Ryans and Dwayne Rudd, UA has had more than two dozen first-team All-American linebackers in its history.

So when Reggie Ragland signed with the Tide in 2012, he immediately joined a prestigious class of linebackers. The No. 2 inside linebacker in the country put on No. 18 at Alabama and followed in the path of some of the game's greats.

But Ragland isn't the only high-profile linebacker to sign with Alabama out of high school. The depth chart is littered with four- and five-star recruits. Here's a breakdown of all the linebackers to sign with Alabama since 2008 and how they've ranked.

2012
Reggie Ragland -- No. 2 ILB
Dillion Lee -- No. 6 OLB
Ryan Anderson -- No. 7 OLB
Tyler Hayes -- No. 10 OLB
Denzel Devall -- No. 22 DE

2011
Trey DePriest -- No. 2 OLB
Xzavier Dickson -- No. 4 DE
Shannon Brown -- No. 13 ILB
Vinnie Sunseri -- No. 18 OLB
Brent Calloway -- No. 23 ATH

2010
C.J. Mosley -- No. 7 OLB
Jalston Fowler -- N/A OLB
Petey Smith -- N/A ILB

2009
Nico Johnson -- No. 2 ILB
Petey Smith -- No. 5 ILB
Tana Patrick -- No. 9 OLB
Jonathan Atchinson -- No. 14 OLB

2008
Courtney Upshaw -- No. 4 DE
Jerrell Harris -- No. 8 OLB
Chris Jordan -- No. 20 OLB
Dont'a Hightower -- No. 26 DE

Texas A&M and Missouri had plenty of reasons to leave the Big 12 for the SEC. But what exactly have they gotten themselves into? Amy Brachmann and Hallie Grossman look at how the new kids on the block stack up with the big dogs in this interactive piece from ESPN The Magazine.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- At the close of last season, running back Jalston Fowler could have reasonably expected to take more snaps on offense when he returned to the University of Alabama for his junior year. Trent Richardson was off for a career in the NFL and the No. 3 tailback on the depth chart was poised to rise to No. 2 behind Eddie Lacy, the presumed starter.

As it turns out, Fowler might take more snaps this season, just not at his usual position.

The 6-foot-1, 242-pound wrecking ball is changing one spot in the I-formation for another. Instead of dotting the "I", Fowler has been practicing leading the charge from the H-Back position. There's been no indication that he'll give up his running back duties altogether, but as tight end Michael Williams put it, he's too skilled to keep off the field when Lacy or another back is in the game.

"He's big. He's strong. He has good blocking skills. He can catch out of the backfield," Williams said. "He's somebody that can play running back also, but when he's not in there, as good as he is you don't want him coming off the field, so he helps us at H-Back."

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Mitch Sherman writes: While college football waits for its playoff, recruiting moves at warp speed. During the process, more than anything, recruits want to hear the truth. They rave at the no-nonsense approach of Alabama coach Nick Saban, who's known, while talking to prospects, to crack a smile about as often as his Tide defense gets embarrassed.

From now until kickoff in Arlington, Texas, we'll be counting down the days before Alabama and Michigan get the season started. Today, we move to No. 19 and what it means to UA football. See all the previous editions here.

Alabama's offense wasn't explosive or even very entertaining last season, but it was opportunistic. When there was a chance to score, the Crimson Tide rarely let the points slip by the wayside.

Case in point: In 14 games last season, the offense attempted just one field goal from inside the 19-yard line.

Field goal attempts by yardage
1-19: 1-1 | 20-29: 9-9 | 30-39: 9-11 | 40-49: 4-11 | 50-99: 0-4

Alabama was deadly inside the 20. UA finished the season 19th in red-zone offense, scoring 32 touchdowns in 58 attempts.

The Crimson Tide scored 88 percent of the time they crossed the 20-yard line, putting the ball in the end zone 55 percent of the time.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The week at the University of Alabama started off slowly. The Crimson Tide put on shells, then went into full pads. The sun rose, the sun set.

It was fun, bordering on something similar to excitement. Football, after months away, was back with us.

Nick Saban went on a rant about expectations, we got to speak with both coordinators for one of the few times all year and Jesse Williams finally got the chance to speak out about his weight room prowess.

Then, real life (also known as breaking news) happened. Chris Black went down with a shoulder injury, Travell Dixon left the team and Jarrick Williams tore his ACL.

"Boom!" is right. The calm couldn't last forever, and frankly, where would be the fun in that?

Are the Crimson Tide better off today than they were a week ago? Probably not.

Are they hurt beyond repair? Absolutely not.

Losing three players is never a good thing, but if you're going to suffer injuries there are far worse scenarios one could dream up. The defense is still young, talented and deep. The offense still possesses one of the most impressive line's in recent memory, AJ McCarron continues to blossom as a leader and the receivers are still an upgrade over last year's bunch.

If we're grading Alabama's start to camp, let's say they passed. And with 12 practices in the books and 13 to go, passing isn't bad thing.

Looking back, here are a few things we learned this week:

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From now until kickoff in Arlington, Texas, we'll be counting down the days before Alabama and Michigan get the season started. Today, we move to No. 20 and what it means to UA football. See all the previous editions here.

If there was one area where the Alabama defense was less than stellar at last season, it was at creating turnovers. The Crimson Tide forced just 20 turnovers in 2011-12, coming in as the 77th best team in the country.

Alabama was able to intercept 13 passes and recover seven fumbles on the year.

Here's a glimpse of how the defense stacked up nationally in other categories:

• Sacks: No. 30 with 30
• Interceptions: No. 41 with 14
• Scoring defense: No. 1 at 8.8 ppg
• Total defense: No. 1 at 191.3 ypg
• Passing defense: No. 1 with 1,396 total yards allowed
• Rushing defense: No. 1 with 899 total yards allowed

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The University of Alabama secondary looked a lot different only a few days ago.

Coach Nick Saban announced on Saturday afternoon that cornerback Jarrick Williams will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL. The news comes on the heels of fellow cornerback Travell Dixon deciding to leave the program on Friday for family and personal reasons.

"Jarrick was a core special teams player for us," Saban said following Saturday's scrimmage. "[He was] doing as good a job because he has a better understanding now of getting better and being able to execute in the secondary.

"[He] was probably going to be a role player and a solid backup there for us."

While the core of the secondary remains intact, the loss of two key reserves hurts a unit already undergoing a serious facelift this offseason. Three-quarters of the secondary must be replaced from a year ago, and only a handful of experienced players are in position to take the reins.

"We're going to have some young guys in the secondary who are going to have to be backup players and they're probably going to have to have some roles," Saban explained.

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