2011 Alabama Recruits:Look by Position For Possible Playing Time and Depth Chart

Alabama is in a very envious position. With this incoming class, it will be Nick Saban's forth top 5 class in a row and possibly his second overall top class.

What that means is this is a team with top talent at least four years of top recruits with years of Scott Cochran conditioning and great coaching behind them.

Quite simply, no incoming freshman will have a chance to earn a starting spot and only some of the Jr. College transfers have a legitimate shot at contending for such for lofty goal.

So going position by position, let's take a look at where the new recruits may get some playing time.

Quarterback

A. J. McCarron is the projected winner of this spring's QB battle

Unless there is a major catastrophe, there is zero, zilch, nada chance of any incoming freshman seeing playing time as quarterback.

This is a position that all but carries a mandatory red shirt year by Nick Saban.

Projected Depth Chart:

A.J. McCarron - Jr.

Phillip Sims - Soph.

Morgan Ogilvie - Soph

Phillip Ely - 2011 recruit

Running Backs

Dee Hart is sure to "get his feet wet" this year.

Here is a spot where Nick Saban allows his freshman to "get their feet wet". He doesn't redshirt a hot shot running back usually because he knows they're here for three years and gone if they live if they indeed live up to their hype.

Incoming recruits will have a chance to show what they have in limited play and perhaps on special teams.

Dee Hart is sure to see some carries and if Isaiah Crowell signs, he certainly will as well.

Depth Chart:

Trent Richardson - Jr.

Eddie Lacy - Jr.

Demetrius Goode - Sr.

Dee Hart - 2011 recruit

Corey Grant - Soph

Jalston Fowler - Soph

Receivers and Tight Ends

Bradley Sylve may get to put some of that speed to work this year.

Receivers:

With two solid seniors returning in Maze and Hanks, that only leaves one starting job open, which Senior Brandon Gibson and Soph. Kevin Norwood look to battle for the other, but there will be others who can and will see playing time.

The Tide had eleven receivers left on the roster before signing day and look to add three more with this incoming class. That's going to be a lot of competition going on.

It's hard to imagine a freshman getting any playing time this fall, even on special teams. The only exception could be Bradley Sylve, who has blazing speed. Should anything happen to Marquis Maze, you might see Sylve being used on kick and punt returns.

The incoming recruits so far are:

Bradley Sylve - Port Sulphur, La. -  5'11" - 175 punds

Caryl Collins - Gadsden, Al. - 6'0" - 190 pounds

Marvin Shinn - Pritchard, Al. - 6'3" - 177 pounds

Projected Depth Chart -

Side One - Marquis Maze - Sr.

Kevin Norwood - Soph

Kenny Bell - Soph.

Side Two - Darius Hanks - Sr.

Brandon Gibson - Sr.

Michael Bowman - Jr.

Tight Ends:

Side one - Michael Williams - Jr.

Chris Underwood - Sr.

Harrison Jones - Soph.

Side Two- Brad Smelly - Senior

Brian Vogler - Soph.

Chris Underwood - Senior

The incoming recruit is Malcom Faciane, a 6'6", 265 pounder from Picayune, Ms. He is a star of the future, but may be red shirted this year.

Offensive Line

Will he or won't he? I say Cyrus Couandijio signs with Bama.

Alabama is set at every position but one, one of the tackle positions. James Carpenter did a good job of filling that role for two years as a Jr. College transfer, and other JUCO transfer could take his place, Aaron Douglas.

But he'll have to battle Alfred McCullough, a Senior and Tyler Love, a Jr. that still hasn't shown the promise he was supposed to have. Could this be the year?

And everyone could end up battling with Cyrus Kouandijo who has the talent to play and start as a freshman. Could he be the next Chris Samuels?

Before signing day, Alabama had 16 linemen for the five spots, and with three coming in that's 19 linemen on the roster, so there's a lot of quality depth there.

Listing the incoming 2011 recruits for the offensive line:

Aaron Douglas - Yuma, Az. - Tackle - 6'6" - 280 pounds - JUCO transfer

Issac Luatua -  La Mirada, Ca. - Center - 6'2" - 300 pounds

And I feel confident about - Cyrus Kouandijo - Hayattsville, Md. - Tackle - 6'7" - 325 pounds

Projected Depth Chart:

Depth Chart:

Center - William Vlachos - Sr.

Chad Lindsey, Soph.

Isaac Lautua - 2011 Recruit

Ryan Kelly - 2011 Recruit

Right Guard - Chance Warmack - Jr.

James Boswell - Sr.

Anthony Steen - Soph.

Right Tackle - D. J. Fluker - Soph.

Arie Kouandijio - Soph.

James Boswell - Sr.

Austin Sheppard - Soph.

Left Guard - Barrett Jones - Jr.

Anthony Steen - Soph.

Kellen Williams - Soph.

Left Tackle -Alfred McCullough - Sr.

Aaron Douglas - JUCO Transfer

Cyrus Kouandijio - 2011 Recruit

Tyler Love - Jr.

To see what fate awaits Alabama's departing left tackle, James Carpenter, go to:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/583745-senior-bowl-alabamas-left-tackle-james-carpenter-to-fight-an-old-foe-for-time

Defensive Line

Jesse gets the Crimson uniform, will he get the starting job too?

Jessie Williams, the "Awesome Aussie" JUCO transfer, will certainly make things interesting this fall at the nose guard position. Can he unseat a proven starter in Josh Chapman?

That remains to be seen but we will see what this man can do and the fans are sure to like it.

Quinton Dial finally makes it to campus after two years of JUCO ball and he could battle for a starting job at one of the end spots. That's two new recruits who could have a huge impact.

That's the two new players on the team's defensive line that could make an impact and four new ones in total. Put that with the 13 already on staff and we have 17 players for three slots.

That's a ton of depth.

Depth Chart:

Nose Tackle - Jesse Williams - JUCO Transfer

Josh Chapman - Sr.

Kerry Murphy - Jr.

Brandon Ivory - Soph.

Nick Gentry - Sr.

Side One Defensive End - Undra Billingsly - Jr.

Kerry Murphy - Jr.

Xzavier Dickson - 2011 recruit

LeMicheal Fanning - 2011 recruit

Side Two Defensive End- Quinton Dial - JUCO transfer

Damion Square - Jr.

Darrington Sentimore - Soph.

D.J. Pettway - 2011 recruit

That lists all the defensive linemen recruits and puts them in the possible depth chart too.

Linebackers

Trey DePriest may see the most playing time of any of the incoming freshmen linebackers

There is no way that with this amount of talent at Alabama in the linebacking corps that a freshman, even Jadaveon Clowney, could roll one of the starters at Alabama for a starting nod, but Saban loves to use freshman linebackers on the special teams and to play them enough to get a bit of experience, so you will see some new faces this year from this group.

The incoming linebackers that we know at this point that are coming in are:

Vinnie Sunseri - Tuscaloosa, Al. - 5'11" - 193 pounds 

Trey DePriest - Springfield, Ohio - 6'2" - 231 pounds

Shannon Brown - Adel, Ga. - 6'2" - 225 pounds

There are 16 linebackers at Alabama before signing day, these three will make 19 linebackers on this team. That means there's one linebacker and three backups at some line-backing spots. That's an incredible amount of depth.

Depth Chart -

Sam Linebacker - Jerrell Harris - Sr.

Alex Watkins - Sr.

Jonathan Atchison - Soph.

Will Linebacker - Dont'a Hightower - Sr.

Nico Johnson - Jr.

Chris Jordan - Sr.

Vinnie Sunseri - 2011 recruit

Mike Linebacker - C.J. Mosely - Soph.

Nico Johnson - Jr.

Tana Patrick -  Soph.

Shannon Brown - 2011 Recruit

Jack Linebacker - Courtney Upshaw - Sr.

Alex Watkins - Sr.

Trey DePriest - 2011 Recruit

Chris Jordan

One thing you have to admire about Kirby Smart and Nick Saban is that they mix and substitute linebackers frequently and even between positions, so most linebackers can and often do play more than one line-backing spot.

Defensive Backs

"Ha Ha" Hasean Clinton-Dix could see the playing field as a freshman

The defensive backs were the weak link in the Crimson armor last year and was one of the reasons they didn't repeat as champions. They were a young group and made mistakes like inexperienced people are prone to do.

Will that experience gained last year help them this year? That remains to be seen. This group had the athleticism last year to be great, but made mistakes in zone coverage at bad times.

Many feel they have now become a solid unit and the influx of red shirts and new recruits can only help make things better.

There were 19 defensive backs on the roster before signing day, with just three new ones coming on board, and they are all listed below.

Left Corner back - Dre Kirkpatrick - Jr.

Phelon Jones - Sr.

John Fulton - Soph.

Jabriel Washington - 2011 Recruit

Strong Safety - Mark Barron - Sr.

Will Lowery - Sr.

Chris Jones - 2011 Recruit

Free Safety - Robert Lester - Jr.

Robbie Green - Jr.

Kendall Kelly - Soph.

Right Corner back - Dee Milliner - Soph.

Hasean Clinton-Dix - 2011 Recruit

DeQuan Menzie - Sr.

If this group of defensive backs come together and stop the blown coverage issues they had last year, they could propel this team right back into another BCS title game.

And This Wraps It Up

Thanks for your readership

There are no 2011 recruits as kickers or punters but many 2011 recruits could see action on special teams.

If you like the slide show click the LIKE button and if you enjoy the work of this author, then click on the Become a Fan button above his picture on his bio page. Just click on his name to go there.

For other Alabama articles, go to: http://bleacherreport.com/users/56155-larry-burton

Thanks for taking the time to go through the slide show, your LIKES, Fan Votes and comments.