Alabama Football: Nick Saban Announces His First 2010 Depth Chart

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer)

Most of us in the press do a good job putting together a depth chart and that could be said about the depth chart that Nick Saban announced today just a few minutes ago on Monday afternoon.

But there was a surprise we didn't see coming and it was at defensive back, the position Saban has been spending the most time at.

While many thought DeQuan Menzie may have to take a redshirt year to recover from his Achilles tendon problem, or at least do a little backup work for the first half of the year, he was named as a starter over B.J. Scott today.

We'll still see a lot of B.J. this fall, but for Menzie to have recovered enough to start as well as grasp the defense despite being out just weeks ago is remarkable.

It tells us that Saban knows a lot more about his recovery and development than he was letting on to the press, especially after seeing B.J. with the first team for most of spring practices.

Saban also said that Menzie will be the first choice for the star position as well. That means that B.J. Scott and DeMarcus Milliner will maybe take turns coming in on the nickel packages and play outside like a corner, basically doing what Marquis Johnson did a year ago when he was considered a starter for all practical purposes.

Robert Lester, for now at least, has nailed down the other safety to play with Mark Barron, Dre Kirkpatrick, and Menzie, but I would expect to see the backups get meaningful playing time as well.

The linebackers were pretty much called earlier on and we'll see Dont'a Hightower at Mike, Upshaw at Jack, Chavis Williams at Sam, and Jerrell Harris at Will.

At nose guard it was no surprise that Josh Chapman beat out Kerry Murphy based on experience, but Saban has said today that they will rotate frequently.

The ends as you would have expected are Marcell Dareus and Luther Davis.

Offense was just as we expected. The only real question that Saban answered was D.J. Fluker finally nailing down the right tackle spot, at least for now.

However, there was one small curve by Saban when discussing the offense. He remarked that they would go with four running backs instead of just Ingram, Richardson, and Lacy. Apparently Demetrius Goode has shown enough to be worked into the rotation, so this quartet of fresh legs could simply kill opposing offenses.

As for special teams, the kick returners are Richardson and Julio Jones with Jones also doing the punt returns as well. This was not a surprise as he filled in for Arenas last year when needed.

Saban has said all year however that no one has a job that isn't open and that battles are always open for someone to show they deserve it more, so look for a lot of rotations and pushing for snaps from this team.