Who Will Alabama Replace Richardson, Hightower and Kirkpatrick with Next Season?

The Alabama Crimson Tide may have won this year's national championship, but they will now have some work to do. Several of their key players have decided to leave on top and declare for this year's NFL draft. The list includes running back Trent Richardson, cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick and linebacker Dont'a Hightower. All three of those players made huge contributions to this year's success.

The good news is that Alabama has great backups and a stellar recruiting class to help replace those top players. 

While there is no time to waste, here are the likely replacements for each player taking their talents to the next level.

Running Back

You knew Alabama was going to be set at the running back position once Trent Richardson decided to leave. Eddie Lacy will be able to step in and fill the void quite nicely. He's very much like Richardson, as they are both power backs and more downhill runners than anything. Lacy may not have as many moves as Richardson has, but he will lower his shoulder and always fights for the extra yards.

In his first two seasons, Lacy has rushed the ball 151 times for 1,080 and has 13 touchdowns. Alabama will be fine at running back just like they were when Mark Ingram left.

Linebacker

The linebacker position is probably the biggest hole for Alabama to fill this offseason. With the loss of Courtney Upshaw and now Dont'a Hightower, Nick Saban and company are really going to have their hands full.

There are a lot of players that have the potential to step in, but I believe sophomore Trey DePriest will become the starter at the middle linebacker position. He was rated the No. 1 linebacker in last year's recruiting class and finished this season with 25 tackles and 1.5 tackles-for-loss. 

He's quick for a guy that's 6'2", 225 pounds, is a great tackler and is fantastic at rushing the quarterback. He may be young, but he's talented enough to step in and make some plays for the Crimson Tide defense.

Cornerback

Replacing a player like Dre Kirkpatrick is nearly impossible. You're talking about a cornerback that can take away half the side of the field and makes things extremely difficult to throw the ball. While somebody will have to earn the vacant cornerback position, you have to like junior John Fulton to earn the starting job.

Fulton was a top recruit back in 2009, and while not earning much time the first two years at corner, he has been a solid special teams player, picking up a total of four tackles this season on kick coverage. As a corner, he has great speed, excellent at jamming receivers and, as you've seen on special teams, he tackles well. I expect him to be the starter next season at cornerback.

You may also see freshman Geno Smith and Travell Dixon get some playing time as well.

Randy Chambers is a B/R Featured Columnist that covers college football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail]