Alabama Crimson Tide

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Coming into spring practice, the linebacking corps was thought to be a strength for Alabama. Three of four starters were back for another year on campus and a handful of reserves were poised to develop as most underclassmen do. In general, the outlook was positive.

Fast-forward to the final week of camp and the unit has changed dramatically: C.J. Mosley is stuck in a black no-contact jersey, Trey DePriest is out with a fractured foot and Xzavier Dickson is a question mark after missing Saturday's scrimmage with an injury resembling a bruised knee, according to Bama coach Nick Saban.

None of the injuries threaten to linger on into the fall, supposedly, but it does dramatically change what fans will see come A-Day on Saturday afternoon. Instead of seeing the usual inside linebackers, the annual scrimmage in Bryant-Denny Stadium will spotlight some names people haven't become accustomed to hearing, names such as Tana Patrick, Reggie Ragland, Ryan Anderson and Dillion Lee. The four combined for 25 tackles and zero starts last season.

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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 linebacker Reggie Ragland.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- A few days ago, TideNation turned its attention to rising senior C.J. Mosley, who is poised to become an every-down linebacker this season after earning All-American honors in 2012. His role is expanding because of the departure of former Alabama inside linebacker Nico Johnson, who is preparing for the NFL draft.

While many are looking forward to Mosley's progression as the clear-cut No. 1 at his position, including Mosley himself, there remains the fact that there was a reason he wasn't an every-down linebacker in the first place. He was more athletic and more productive than Johnson, yet he was pulled out in favor of Johnson often, especially in short-yardage situations. The reason: Mosley is relatively slight of frame for an Alabama linebacker. In fact, he's the lightest scholarship linebacker on the roster at 232 pounds. Johnson, at 245 pounds, was simply better built to handle the physical play when teams tried to run between the tackles.

Take for instance this past season's game against the very physical LSU Tigers: Johnson played a season-high 50 snaps and registered a season-high 12 tackles that night, while Mosley played considerably fewer snaps and came away with a then season-low four tackles.

Now that the bigger, bulkier option in Johnson is gone, there's a window of opportunity for another linebacker to fill his shoes. The player best equipped to do so might be rising sophomore Reggie Ragland. At 6-foot-2 and 247 pounds, he's perfectly constructed to stand up to power running games.

Ragland played in 11 games and registered eight tackles during his freshman campaign. The former four-star prospect was listed as the backup to co-No. 1 Mike linebackers Trey DePriest and Nico Johnson. Ragland was one of four true freshmen on the two-deep depth chart, joining cornerback Geno Smith, safety Landon Collins and linebacker Denzel Devall.

Head coach Nick Saban said during the season that he had "high hopes" for Ragland and awarded him special teams players of the week honors along with Collins for their work against Auburn in the Iron Bowl.

And like Collins, Ragland is poised for a bigger role in 2013. Johnson is gone, and one of Ragland's biggest competitors for playing time, Tyler Hayes, is no longer with the team. With a need for heftier inside linebackers off the bench, Ragland could be the perfect fit. He has Mosley in his corner, even if that means taking snaps away from the veteran linebacker.

"I hope the best for him," Mosley said. "Everyone has their chance, and freshmen step in and do great things. If he steps up and becomes a role player, I hope he does."

Alabama coach Nick Saban took to the SEC's weekly teleconference on Wednesday morning to discuss this week's game against Ole Miss. While he was on the line, he talked about a number of issues, including the Rebels' up-tempo attack, the future of injury reports and how a few freshmen linebackers have improved this season.

1. Hurry-up issues

Saban isn't sleeping on Ole Miss' up-tempo offense and knows it's difficult to replicate in practice.

"Their hurry-up offense is really something that gets defensive players out of their comfort zone and we're working hard to get a picture of that and work on that," Saban said. "They've done a very good job of creating a lot of explosive plays for their really good skill guys."

Saban continued later in the call: "They also have pretty good players doing some of this stuff. They have really good speed, offensively, quarterbacks that do a good job executing what they do, a couple of wideouts who can make explosive plays. So this is a difficult preparation from the no-huddle part, but also from their ability to execute with some pretty good players.

2. NFL-style injury reports

Saban started off saying he didn't have an opinion on the desire for uniform injury reports, but went ahead and said what he thought anyways.

"If you're going to give injury reports, everyone should do them the same way," he said. "We kind of tell it like it is if he's going to be out.

"Even in the NFL, I think people manipulate the system to put questions in people's minds about whether a guy's going to play or not. I don't think it's imperative for the future of college football that we have an injury report. I'm not opposed to one if everyone has to do it the same way and it can be enforced."

3. Freshmen linebackers coming along

A number of freshmen have played at linebacker for Alabama in the first four weeks. From what Saban's seen, they're improving.

"[Denzel Devall] is playing a position that he's starting to develop confidence in what he's supposed to do," Saban said. "He's done a really good job for us and been productive, and we think he's going to be a really good player. We have confidence in being able to play him.

"Reggie Ragland was making really good progress and he was on a couple of special teams and got a high ankle sprain in the Michigan game, so he's just sort of getting back into it. We have high hopes for him.

"Tyler Hayes has gotten some playing time on special teams. All those guys have developed nicely for us and we're happy that they're making a contribution."

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The University of Alabama's 35-0 win over Western Kentucky will look good on paper -- that is, unless you scroll down to the injury and participation report.

No. 1 Alabama didn't escape its home debut Saturday without a few players getting dinged up. Junior running back Jalston Fowler had a scare late in the fourth quarter, injuring his knee. The Tide's No. 2 tailback had to be helped off the field and sat in pain on the trainer's table for several minutes. Players crowded around him and offered their support after seeing how serious the injury looked.

After the game, coach Nick Saban had no update on Fowler's knee and said he would get an MRI in the morning. Fowler left the game on a stretcher, emotionally distraught.

"It's really tough when you see a player, no matter what it is or who it is, go down," said receiver Christion Jones. "But one thing you have to do, is figure out what you can do to get him back right."

Sophomore linebacker/H-back Brent Calloway had to leave the game after injuring his shoulder. True freshman linebacker Reggie Ragland didn't dress out after injuring himself during last Saturday's game against Michigan.

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- It took exactly one week for Alabama to convince voters it's the best team in college football. A 41-14 thrashing of a top 10 team in Michigan on Saturday was enough to throw 28 more first-place votes the Crimson Tide's way and earn Alabama the No. 1 spot in the both the USA Today Coaches' and Associated Press Top 25 polls.

The championship hangover many pundits expected hasn't shown itself thus far. Alabama went to Texas and dominated the Wolverines, derailing Denard Robinson's Heisman campaign while putting on a display of nearly flawless offensive execution. UA jumped out to a three-touchdown lead before the first quarter had ended.

USC, LSU, Oregon and Oklahoma rounded out the top five. The Trojans received 11 first-pace votes to Alabama's 45. LSU had four such votes.

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Alabama made a statement with its 41-14 thrashing of Michigan on Saturday.

Those that predicted a championship hangover for the Crimson Tide were shown otherwise as UA dominated all phases of the game, turning back Big Blue's hopes of an upset before the third commercial break.

The chorus of praise rung out from Arlington, Texas, to both coasts -- and Tuesday, Alabama claimed the top spot in the AP poll. With 45 first-place votes this week, the Crimson Tide's gain of 17 first-place votes since the preseason poll eclipsed the week's combined total for USC (11) and SEC rival LSU (four).

Too bad the Dixie hymn hadn't made it to Nick Saban's ears. The gruff coach had stepped to the podium on Monday ready to rebuke all claims that Alabama is back on top of college football.

"Everyone thought we were too young, too inexperienced, couldn't handle success," Saban said. "Everybody was saying those things about our team. Now, people are saying something different.

"But my question is, what's different? Nothing."

The Crimson Tide's celebratory parade apparently never made it home to Tuscaloosa. It likely never made it to the home locker room in Cowboys Stadium.

"We're still inexperienced, we still have things to work on," Saban said. "It's going to be all about the maturity the team has to be able to focus on what they need to do to correct the deficits we have."

The stat line will tell one story about Alabama's win over Michigan, the coach's analysis quite another. Had Denard Robinson executed better, the score might not have been so lopsided. Missed opportunities plagued the Wolverines, chances Saban would rather not see occur in the first place.

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