Meet Alabama's Next Great Defensive Line Duo, Da'Ron Payne and Da'Shawn Hand

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The switch was difficult enough, but what happened next was borderline unfair.

Coming off a successful redshirt freshmen year, when despite his age he landed a starting job at left guard on the University of Alabama’s offensive line, Ross Pierschbacher was moved to center to see if he could handle the position during the spring.

That first practice he lined up across a 6’2”, 319-pound player who wouldn’t be holding back anything. It was the perfect football example of baptism under fire.

“It’s been frustrating,” Pierschbacher said a few days later. “It’s different. I’ve got Da’Ron Payne in my face right here and I’m trying to get the ball back and he’s got his hands on me.

“I’m trying to work on it.”

Such is the luxury of being Alabama these days because the coaches know if Pierschbacher could hold his own against Payne, he can do so against anyone in college football. Most teams have to find out the hard way during the regular season.

The Crimson Tide continues to hold that distinction even though a big part of the defensive-line rotation from 2015 is no longer on the roster. Jarran Reed and A’Shawn Robinson are hoping to be selected in the first round this week’s NFL draft, D.J. Pettway will probably be picked during a later round and Darren Lake has moved on as well.

Now comes the next wave, led by Payne and Da'Shawn Hand, who would like nothing more than to be the next Reed and Robinson.

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“Technique, man,” Hand said was the biggest thing he learned from his predecessors. “Man, when I got out of high school, it was like one little step and the whole play can go by you.

“That was the biggest thing. Keeping your feet set and striking out first. Hips and hands and your feet will follow. In high school you could run and make a play because you were bigger and faster, but now everyone is bigger and faster.”

When the reigning national champions regroup for training camp in August, the defensive line is expected to feature seniors Jonathan Allen and Dalvin Tomlinson, who have 71 games of experience between them, in addition to 145 tackles and 11 passes knocked down.

Although Tomlinson has never started a game for the Crimson Tide, both the coaches and fans are confident about what the veterans can do. They’re proven commodities.

It’s the players coming up who worked with the first-team defense all spring that figure to turn the most heads.

“We're not really rotating anybody else in there with those two guys,” Saban said during the spring, before adding about Hand: “He's made a tremendous amount of progress. He's gotten bigger and stronger. He can still run. He's still a good pass-rusher.

“We're trying to develop him as an inside rusher as well for third downs.”

Hand is still listed on the Crimson Tide roster as being 6’4”, 278 lbs, but he both looks the part and appears poised to fulfill his potential.

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When recruited out of Woodbridge, Virginia in the class of 2014, he was tabbed by the 247Sports composite rankings as the top strong-side defensive end prospect and the No. 5 player in the nation.

As a reserve in 2015 he played in all 15 games and was credited with 16 tackles, including 6.5 tackles for loss and three sacks, and two quarterback hurries.

“Every now and then he will just shock the offensive lineman and [push him] back a couple yards when he isn't expecting it,” Tomlinson said.

“I feel like it is pretty rare to have that speed and power at multiple positions across the front.”

Meanwhile, Payne started three games as a true freshman when Alabama wanted a little more bulk against Arkansas, LSU and Florida in the SEC championship game.

He too had been a consensus 5-star prospect, seventh among defensive tackles and No. 29 overall out of Shades Valley High School in nearby Birmingham.

Payne played in all 15 games, with 13 tackles, a half-sack, with a broken-up pass, forced fumble and a hurry last season, but cracking the lineup with that group of deep defensive linemen was more impressive than any statistic he could post.

“He’s a freak,” Pierschbacher said about Payne. “He ran something like a 4.9-something and he weighs more than me and he’s a stud in the weight room.

“We’ve seen guys like that. A’Shawn, I went up against him every play last year, so I haven’t had it very easy here the last couple of years. But, you know, it makes me better.”

In many ways it’s nothing new for Alabama, which is the way head coach Nick Saban wants it. With these two, fans also cheer for the line to show the Hand and bring the Payne.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Christopher Walsh is a lead SEC college football writer. Follow Christopher on Twitter @WritingWalsh.