Alabama Football 2012: Latest News, Updates and More from Spring Practice

The Alabama Crimson Tide are fresh off of another national championship, and you can bet your bottom dollar that they're hungry for another one. They return a total of 12 starters and have one of the top recruiting classes coming in.

The defensive side of the ball took the biggest hit, as they lost seven starters, but Alabama remains one of the more talented teams in the country. They should be able to fill in those holes and will once again be an extremely talented team next year. On offense, seven starters return, which should once again be one of the better offenses in the country.

But, of course, there are questions with this team, and the spring should provide a few answers. Alabama already kicked off its spring practice in preparation for the spring game that takes place on April 14.

As the Crimson Tide get ready to defend their title, stay tuned for all of your latest news and updates on spring practice.

Offense Looked Good in Second Scrimmage

Alabama recently held their second scrimmage in spring practice and the offense looked a lot better than they did in the first one. About 120 plays were ran and running back Jalston Fowler seemed to be the star of the day. He touched the ball 22 times and ran for 151 yards and scored three touchdowns.

Quarterback A.J. McCarron also had a big day, completing 14 of 2 passes for 160 passing yards and four touchdowns. DeAndrew White was the leading receiver with five receptions for 112 yards and two scores.

But although there were many bright spots on the offensive side of the ball, depth is still an issue according to head coach Nick Saban.

"We certainly have some work to do, especially with the depth on our team. Saban said via RollTide.com. We have a lot of young players and they have a very enthusiastic attitude and they are trying hard, but I think they need a little more knowledge and experience to get them where we need them to go."

Junior linebacker C.J. Moseley led the way on defense with eight tackles and one pass broken up.

Nick Saban Talks Practice

Nick Saban recently spoke about the progress his team is making and where he see's them going as they begin preparing to defend their national championship. So far he likes what he sees, but says these practices are extremely important for such a young team and with many key players leaving from last year.

“With a lot of young players, the thing we need to improve on is getting more players to understand what it takes to play winning football on a consistent basis," Saban said.

Saban also gave an update on wide receiver DeAndrew White who is having a great spring, but continues to get hurt.

"DeAndrew White was having a really good spring prior to pulling his hamstring again. I feel pretty good about the progress those guys have made. AJ has had a really good spring, and sometimes the quarterback can make the receivers look pretty good and vice versa.”

White finished his freshman season last year with 14 catches for 151 yards and two touchdowns.

Jesse Williams Just Trying to Help out

Alabama recently finished their seventh spring practice, including the fourth time they were suited up full pads. One of the interesting moves of the season for the Crimson Tide is that Jesse Williams will be moving from the defensive end position to nose guard.

"It isn't too bad, I'm just trying to do whatever I can to help out," said Williams. "It's a bit more of close quarters with a lot of people, there's a lot more crunching with people rather than just going with the tackle or the guard. It's nothing too serious; I'm just trying to do everything I can to help out."

Williams will have the task of trying to replace Josh Chapman who played the last two seasons at nose tackle and finished last season with 23 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and one sack.

"We (Chapman) have two different body types, so I'm going to do as best I can to fit my body, run around and fit blocks and do whatever I can to help." said Williams.

Nick Saban Got Paid

While most high profile coaches are tempted to leave for a better job, Nick Saban isn't going anywhere and has many reasons to stay at Alabama. His contract was just extended another two years, meaning that he will remain the coach of the Crimson Tide through year 2020.

The contract gives him a raise of $550,000 this year alone and if he ends up remaining the coach of Alabama throughout the contract, he'll total $44,983,333.36.

It's amazing what winning can do for you, huh?

Alabama Back to Work

Alabama is back from spring break and ready to hit the field heavy leading up to the spring game. Every player is ready to compete for his position, and it should be very intense these next few weeks in Tuscaloosa.

"

“It’s going to be real intense. Around here, we’ve won two national championships,” linebacker Nico Johnson told reporters in Tuscaloosa before the break. “Being a young player—I was one before—and having that mindset, ‘I want to be part of that.’ So it’s going to be a lot of intensity.

“I think they’ll come out and get after it every day. That’s going to help our team, help our defense, help our offense. Because it’s going to push each player, whether we’ve been here a long time or not. I can’t wait.”

"

There will be four practices this week alone, as the Crimson Tide are preparing for their spring game that takes place on April 14 at 2 p.m.

Tide's Barrett Jones Moves from Left Tackle to Center

Alabama recently hit the field again for the first time since they were crowned national champions. Only this time they look a little different considering they lost a total of 10 starters. That means that head coach Nick Saban has some work to do and will have to do a little playing around with the roster.

One of the most interesting moves he has made so far is moving left tackle Barrett Jones to the center position.

"

"We obviously have a lot of opportunities for a lot of people out there,'' Saban said. "I think it's really important that we as a team understand that this is not the team that won the national championship.

"It's very, very important that this team dedicates itself and commits itself to creating an identity of its own. You've never arrived so you certainly can't feel satisfied or feel entitled.''

"

This move means that sophomore Cyrus Kouandjio will likely shift over to left tackle, a position he played a bit last season before suffering a knee injury. Jones has played the center position before, which has Saban confident that he'll be able to get the job done.

"

"We think he can be a very, very good player. There's no experiment involved in Barrett playing center. That experiment was all done last year. He got a lot of reps and played some in games. I don't think there's any question about the fact he'll do a really good job.''

"

Although Alabama returns seven starters on the offensive side of the ball, they did lose two key offensive linemen in William Vlachos and Alfred McCullough.

Updates

This slideshow will continue to be updated with the latest news, quotes, position battles and more throughout spring practice. Stay tuned for everything involving your Alabama Crimson Tide.