Nick Saban's Superior Recruiting Will Help Alabama Overcome Spring Injuries
If your program is the talk of spring practice, that's usually either really good or really bad. Either stars have emerged and the depth needed to compete for a national championship is being developed, or injuries have whittled away that depth to a point of concern.
For Alabama, it's the latter.
The latest injury scare came in the form of defensive tackle A'Shawn Robinson's ankle.
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The 6'4", 312-pound monster was carted off of the practice field on Tuesday, according to the The Tuscaloosa News' Aaron Suttles. However, according to Matt Zenitz of AL.com, the injury isn't believed to be serious.
That isn't a breeze you feel, it's a sigh of relief coming from Tuscaloosa.
Robinson had 49 tackles and 6.5 tackles for loss last year. He dominated the line of scrimmage in the SEC Championship Game win over Missouri when he notched nine stops and generally made life miserable for Tiger quarterback Maty Mauk.
Fortunately for Alabama, head coach Nick Saban's recruiting prowess over the last few years has made the defensive line one of the deepest units on the roster—even without recently dismissed lineman Jonathan Taylor.
Sure, had Robinson's injury been serious, losing both nose tackles within a two-week span wouldn't have been the most ideal situation in the world, but Alabama has created enough depth and versatility up front through recruiting to sustain the line when holes develop.
If 313-pound starting defensive end Jarran Reed—a former 4-star prospect—needs to slide over and play the nose, he can. After all, former 5-star prospect Da'Shawn Hand and 4-star stud Dalvin Tomlinson are waiting in the wings as rotational players behind Reed and former 4-star prospect D.J. Pettway at end.
If Saban and defensive coordinator Kirby Smart don't want to move Reed, no worries. Plans C and D could be to trot out Josh Frazier or Darren Lake at nose, both of whom chime in at a cool 315 pounds.
As if that wasn't enough, 5-star, 325-pound defensive tackle Daron Payne is coming this summer to provide the ultimate interior line insurance policy.
"Competition is always hot for us because we like competition," Tomlinson told Bleacher Report Alabama lead writer Marc Torrence. "That's how we are on the D-line. It just depends on which defense we're going to be in, and everybody has a better ability than someone else, and we try to help each other improve our abilities that we might be lacking at."
The same kind of recruiting success has helped Alabama withstand massive attrition at running back.
Remember back in 2013 when Alabama signed stud running backs Derrick Henry, Alvin Kamara, Tyren Jones and Altee Tenpenny—all of whom were rated as 4-star prospects or higher by 247Sports?
Kamara left after the 2013 season, Tenpenny transferred following the 2014 season and Jones was recently dismissed from the program following an arrest for second-degree possession of marijuana.
Those losses, combined with the loss of freshman Bo Scarbrough to an ACL injury suffered Friday afternoon, puts Alabama in a precarious spot at the running back position.
Think about that for a second—the loss of of three running backs with four or more stars attached to their names only puts Alabama in a precarious spot, and hasn't ruined the season before it starts.
That's a huge compliment to Saban and his recruiting prowess.
Henry is still around to be the bruiser, Kenyan Drake is back from injury to be the ultra-versatile weapon offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin likes in his offenses, 4-star early enrollee Desherrius Flowers is there to serve as Henry's primary backup and 5-star Damien Harris—the top running back in the class of 2015—is coming this summer.
It's not the X's and the O's, it's the Jimmys and the Joes.
Alabama's Jimmys and Joes are virtually all 4- and 5-star studs, and that allows Saban and the Crimson Tide to overcome what would be devastating spring injuries to most teams.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and college football video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on Sirius 93, XM 208.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports' composite rankings. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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