Alabama Crimson Tide

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Nick Saban opened spring practice by saying it was a time for re-invention. When you lose 25 percent of your team each season, it has to be. Who would be this team's leaders? Who would be the ones to step up and set an example?

Then, in the next breath, the head coach of the defending national champion Alabama Crimson Tide spoke about three players trying their hands at new positions. Running back Dee Hart and wide receivers Christion Jones and Cyrus Jones are all playing cornerback this spring. And through three practices, they've done their best to pick up the new, yet somewhat familiar position.

Deion Belue, who started at cornerback opposite Dee Milliner last season, said the rookies on defense have played like naturals.

"Coming out of high school they were athletes, so it was a smooth transition," he said, "because they've played on defense before. It's not their first time."

But for the secondary as a whole, it might as well be starting from scratch. Milliner is gone, as is veteran safety Robert Lester. Even rising senior cornerback John Fulton is out for the spring as he recovers from surgery on his toe, leaving few experienced options for Saban and defensive coordinator Kirby Smart to work with. Thus the experiment with Hart and the Jones receivers. Belue isn't guaranteed anything after an up-and-down first season, and though rising sophomore Geno Smith played well down the stretch, he's not being handed anything. Competition, Belue said, is at a premium.

"It's the University of Alabama," Belue said matter of factly. "All we do is compete all year around. In the summer, spring -- it doesn't matter. If the spot is there, just put your best foot forward and we'll see who comes out with it."

Even rising junior safety Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix is battling for starter's reps. Though he started 10 of 14 games at free safety and finished strong with a standout performance against Notre Dame in the championship game, he's not considering himself a shoo-in. Clinton-Dix, Vinnie Sunseri, Nick Perry, Landon Collins and Jarrick Williams are competing for two spots.

"There's a lot of competition going on," Clinton-Dix said, adding that Hart, his former high school teammate, is coming along quickly and recovering well from back-to-back knee operations. "The safeties, the corners -- like I said, no one has a starting job. So everyone is out there competing, going after it, balls to the wall, so you never know who could step up and who could step down."

Collins is one player poised to rise up the depth chart. The former top-rated prospect in the 2012 signing class and the No. 1 safety in the country played primarily on special teams last season. But with Lester gone, he has his chance. So far, he's earned the praise of his teammates.

"Landon’s coming along very well," Clinton-Dix said. "He’s maturing a lot. He loves the playbook now. He’s competing.

"He’s fast, he's strong, he can break on the ball really well -- he has it all down pat."

Whether that will translate to game situations remains to be seen.

Said Saban: "It takes time. We're very patient with the players we have."

He'll have to be, with so many new and young faces. He's called the team a work in progress, and for a coach who specializes in the secondary, that's where it will start. Thankfully for him, he has the spring to get his affairs in order.

"We feel like we can make a lot of progress toward getting where we want to be by the end of the spring," Saban said. "Then being able to work on the things that they need to do over the summer so we have an opportunity to continue to progress in the fall."

Editor's note: From now until the start of spring camp on March 16, TideNation will count down the 12 most intriguing players to watch on the Alabama football roster. Today we look at safety Landon Collins.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The training wheels are set to come off of Landon Collins in a few weeks when spring practice begins at the University of Alabama. No longer a rookie, it's the former five-star safety's time to prove he belongs in the SEC. Robert Lester is gone and there's a vacancy in the secondary with his name on it. Now, all he has to do is win the job.

Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix, Nick Perry, Vinnie Sunseri and Jarrick Williams will all compete with Collins to fill the two safety positions. And in all likelihood, Cinton-Dix, who started 10 of 14 games, already has one of the spots filled up, leaving four men and one position to do battle over.

There's little doubt Collins is the most talented option. According to ESPN, the former Under Armour All-American was the No. 1-ranked safety in the 2012 class, the top-rated player Alabama signed and the sixth best prospect in the country. He runs a sub-4.4 second 40-yard dash at 6-foot and 202 pounds.

His above-average athleticism showed up mainly on special teams last season, where he finished with 17 total tackles. He also blocked a kick late in the season, no doubt earning him brownie points with a coaching staff that values the small things more than most. He was one of four players to win the Special Teams Award at the end of the the year team banquet.

Rather than use Collins all over the field, Alabama coach Nick Saban opted to keep him on special teams and use him sparingly on defense. In other words, he brought him along slowly rather than burden him with too many responsibilities at once.

Sunseri, who starred on special teams in 2011 before seeing his role expand, said he saw Collins progress as the year went along. When it was Collins' turn to come on for mop up duty, Sunseri said he saw him, "not make any mental errors and play with tenacity."

With Lester gone along with top cornerback Dee Milliner, the secondary will need all the help it can get. The cornerback position could be thin with an up-and-down Deion Belue returning and a young but talented option in rising sophomore Geno Smith. Bradley Sylve could play a role and rising senior John Fulton has a shot at significant reps if he can recover from a nagging turf toe injury. With so much up in the air, the safety position becomes that much more important.

For Alabama to be successful, the back end of the defense has to hold up its end of the bargain. If Collins develops into the ballhawking safety some expect, it would go a long way to shoring up the entire secondary.

Editor's note: From now until the start of spring camp on March 16, TideNation will count down the 12 most intriguing players to watch on the Alabama football roster. Today we look at cornerback Deion Belue.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Ever since Javier Arenas became a starter in 2008, Alabama has had a lockdown cornerback to anchor the secondary. When Arenas graduated, the job fell to Dre Kirkpatrick. When Kirkpatrick left, Dee Milliner took over. It's part of what's made the Crimson Tide's defense so dominating. When a quarterback no longer has his top receiving target to throw the ball to, generating offense becomes an uphill battle.

Now that Milliner is gone, the question of who will be next to lead the charge at cornerback lingers. The heir to the throne, rising senior Deion Belue, has shown at times that he's capable of being the on-ball defender UA needs, but those flashes of execution have been fleeting at best. For every spectacular pass defended (see Notre Dame) there's an instance of him being either out of position or late on his break (see Georgia).

Belue's stat sheet tells the story of his up-and-down season. Both of his interceptions came in the first five games -- one against Western Kentucky and the other against Ole Miss. There were eight games Belue failed to register a single pass breakup, and it wasn't for lack of teams throwing on him. With Milliner leading the country in passes defended (breakups plus interceptions) for most of the season, it was often Belue who was targeted most by opposing quarterbacks. Of Belue's nine total passes defended, just one came in the final six games of the season.

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Like a high school athlete who is good at multiple sports and excellent at none, there's a temptation to do too much with young talent, to force the issue and create more problems than answers.

Such is the case at Alabama. The secondary is filled with mostly inexperienced players and it has caused the coaching staff to look at their roster and push the limits, to see how many positions for one player is too much.

"Where guys get into the complicated issues is, when they’re young players, and you try to teach them corner and star, or you try to teach them safety and money," Alabama coach Nick Saban said.

"Some of our younger players this year are in a situation because we don’t have a lot of depth in the secondary, where we’re having to do that with some of them. That probably makes it a more difficult learning curve."

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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. 13 and what it means to UA football. See all the previous editions here.

From the moment the Alabama coaching staff laid eyes on defensive back Deion Belue, they liked what they saw. The Tuscumbia, Ala., native signed with the Crimson Tide in 2010, but couldn't make it to campus that year. Like so many others, he took the junior college route to Tuscsaloosa.

The extra seasoning at Northeast Mississippi Community College seems to have paid off.

From the minute the 5-foot-11, 179-pound cornerback enrolled in February, coach Nick Saban has spoken highly of him. Through the spring and into the fall, Belue has made his mark and appears ready to step into a starting role for the Crimson Tide.

"We thought Deion was a really good player in high school," Saban said in early April. "Obviously, had to go to junior college. He certainly has matured in terms of his junior college experience. He has done a nice job of developing this spring. He’s a really good man-to-man cover guy. At times, gets a little bit unsure of himself in terms of what he’s supposed to do. But I think he’s definitely going to be a player that contributes and has the potential to be a starter on our team next year."

With the exit of Dre Kirkpatrick and DeQuan Menzie, it's up to Belue and others to step into the secondary and keep up what defensive coordinator Kirby Smart referred to as the "Alabama standard."

"Any time you come into camp after losing basically two cores who were both drafted and Phelon Jones, who was a good player for us, three guys we lost there, you've got to find new guys," Smart said. "For us, we've got great wideouts, we've got good wideouts to compete with every day and challenge those guys. We want Deion Belue to keep progressing. Jabriel, Bradley Sylve both keep progressing. Geno Smith, one of our new guys, is going to be able to help us. Travell Dixon has done a good job. We have the bodies there, we have the body types we want, we just have to give those guys some experience. Thank goodness with the way we practice and this camp we have, they'll have plenty of opportunities to play some ball and do some things we've got to do."

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The wear and tear of fall camp caught up with the University of Alabama on Saturday, as coach Nick Saban announced that starting running back Eddie Lacy is day-to-day with a sprained ankle and knee.

"Eddie sprained his ankle and his knee a little bit," Saban said after Saturday's scrimmage. "It's not a serious thing. He's probably going to be day-to-day and probably be a little bit slow next week, but I think in 5-6 days he'll be ready to go."

Lacy missed all of spring practice recovering from surgery to resolve his season-long battle with turf toe. The junior running back played 12 games last season, racking up 694 yards and 7 touchdowns on 95 carries. He finished in the top 15 nationally in yards per carry.

With Trent Richardson gone to the NFL, Lacy figures to be the starting running back when the season opens against Michigan. Junior Jalston Fowler is the No. 2 back in front of freshmen Dee Hart, T.J. Yeldon and Kenyan Drake.

The news of Lacy's sprain comes on the heels of another injury to freshman standout Amari Cooper, who is day-to-day with a toe injury. The 6-foot-1 wide receiver has drawn rave reviews from the coaching staff since enrolling in February and figures to play a role in the wide receiver rotation right away.

"It's not a bad thing," Saban said. "He's probably going to be day-to-day when we start the week next week. It may be a few days before he can get back out there."

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