Rough Offseason Has Left Alabama's RB Depth Surprisingly Thin

In the winter of 2013, when Alabama signed Derrick Henry, Alvin Kamara, Altee Tenpenny and Tyren Jones, it appeared that head coach Nick Saban was intent on constructing a city in west Alabama with a population consisting solely of running backs.

That appeared to be the case again during the two most recent recruiting cycles, when Bo Scarbrough, DeSherrius Flowers and Damien Harris signed with the Crimson Tide.

Now, that city looks more like a ghost town.

Kamara transferred to junior college and eventually to Tennessee, Tenpenny bailed, Jones was dismissed and Scarbrough tore his ACL in spring practice.

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The running back corps took another hit on Wednesday afternoon, when the school announced via email that Flowers—who enrolled early in January and participated in spring practice—will not be cleared for enrollment at Alabama this fall because of a recently discovered initial-eligibility issue.

The 6'0 ½,", 204-pounder from Mobile, Alabama, was a 4-star prospect in the most recent recruiting class and being counted on to provide depth this year in the Tide backfield.

As Marq Burnett of the Anniston Star notes, that leaves Alabama's running back depth perilously thin behind Henry and the ultra-versatile senior Kenyan Drake.

That is going to put an enormous amount of pressure on incoming true freshman and 5-star stud Damien Harris because he's going to get his fair share of true No. 2 carries three months removed from high school.

Drake, assuming he's back to 100 percent after recovering from a broken leg suffered last fall against Ole Miss, will play a more hybrid running back/wide receiver role, with Henry gobbling up the majority of those first-team carries. Essentially, the duo will be 1A and 1B for offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin.

That means it's Harris and then a bunch of question marks in the true "backup" role, which not only gives Alabama zero margin for error on the injury front all year long, but also hurts the scout team and the way a defense prepares for opponents.

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Flowers wasn't going to be a superstar this year, and barring a few late-game carries against UL-Monroe or Charleston Southern, he might not have even seen the field at all.

But he was good enough to give the defense something to contend with in practice on the scout team. Now that responsibility is going to fall on defensive back/running back Ronnie Clark, who's coming off an Achilles injury, as well as Buddy Pell, Hamilton Phillips and Lawrence Erekosima, all of whom walked on.

At the very least, Flowers would have been an effective emergency/scout team running back for the Crimson Tide, and his absence will hurt in that respect.

This is a true "rich man's problem" for Saban, though.

For normal teams, the transfer of a 4-star prospect (Tenpenny), dismissal of another (Jones), potential season-ending injury to another (Scarbrough) and eligibility issue with another (Flowers) in one offseason would derail the entire season.

For Alabama, it has cut away at the depth.

If somebody else gets hurt or departs the program, though, Saban's worst fears could become reality.

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.

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.

Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.