Alabama Football: Summer Enrollees Who Could Make Immediate Impact

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Over the next few months, the other 16 members of Alabama’s No. 1-ranked 2015 recruiting class will get to Tuscaloosa.

Some will come in May, some in June and others closer to the start of the fall semester, depending on their high school situation and personal life. By August, Alabama will have its full arsenal of players on campus.

During spring practice, we saw plenty of progress from some of the early enrollees. Safety Ronnie Harrison was consistently praised for his play in the secondary, while Desherrius Flowers jumped right into the running back rotations with all of the hits the Crimson Tide took at that position.

While Alabama’s summer enrollees won’t have the same benefit of an extra semester of work, there are still several who could see the field sooner than later.

Here are three who could make an impact right away.

Calvin Ridley

If you’re looking for the next Julio Jones or Amari Cooper, you could do worse than consider the 5-star Ridley, who comes from the same South Florida area that Cooper does.

Credit: 247Sports

Ridley stands at just 6’0", 170 pounds, but his speed, quickness and hands made him the No. 1 receiver of the 2015 cycle.

There certainly will be an opportunity for him at wide receiver when he gets to campus.

Alabama's top three is just about set with Robert Foster, ArDarius Stewart and Chris Black, but the picture at receiver becomes murky past that. There is certainly a plethora of talent but no clear hierarchy behind those three as it stands, especially after the knee injury to Cam Sims.

In Cooper’s freshman year, he wasn’t a starter right away. He had certainly shown his flashes, but in the fifth game of the season, he was forced into a bigger role when DeAndrew White went down. He caught eight passes for 84 yards and two touchdowns that night and remained at the top of the depth chart for the rest of his career.

A similar situation could play out with Ridley, as he finds himself behind three established wide receivers but could shine if given the opportunity.

Damien Harris

Alabama desperately needs running back depth, and Harris may be its answer.

Right now, behind Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake, Alabama has a converted safety coming off Achilles surgery in Ronnie Clark, early enrollee Flowers and Bo Scarbrough, a 5-star with a torn ACL.

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Clark and Flowers are coming along, but neither turned any heads at A-Day. Harris could be the next 5-star to have an impact right away.

Alabama has a definite track record of getting its best running backs on the field as soon as possible. Henry, T.J. Yeldon, Trent Richardson and so on all had big freshman years that kickstarted their careers.

If Harris comes in and shows he can do the things needed to be that No. 3 spell back, he could be the next name on that long list.

Daron Payne

For all of the talent that Alabama has on its defensive line, it doesn’t quite have an established run-stuffing nose tackle it can trot out against teams that still want to play a lot of power run.

Credit: 247Sports

Jonathan Taylor was supposed to be that piece, but his Alabama career ended three months in after a domestic violence accusation that is still working its way through the legal system.

Payne, a 6’2” 325-pound 5-star tackle from Birmingham, could be that piece.

The Crimson Tide already use a deep rotation that’s prone to getting young players on the field, like it did with Da’Shawn Hand and Josh Frazier last season.

Payne has the size to come in and play a specific but important role for Alabama that could find him on the field as a freshman.

Marc Torrence is the Alabama lead writer for Bleacher Report. All quotes and reporting were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.

Follow on Twitter @marctorrence.