Alabama Football: Spring Practice Around the Corner and All Positions Are Open

There is no depth chart and no position is a given for any one player. We know who will be battling it out and for the most part where the talent will line up, but we do not know who will rise to the top.

A.J. McCarron feels confident of his position but he needs to know that he is one airhead play away from being overtaken by the player now considered next in line, Philip Sims. And that goes for every position in the lineup, on both sides of the ball.

Last year, after an exceptional freshman year, standing in the gap as a starter when teammate, Dont'a Zeus Hightower, went down, Nico Johnson had to consider posting as a backup behind younger talent. If not for the NCAA disqualifying Alfy Hill, it may have become a reality for Johnson.

Alabama is loaded at every position and every player has been working hard in the weight room, preparing for the special moments that present themselves, unannounced, during the spring practices. Video players have been spinning discs throughout the offseason and the players have reviewed their mistakes. They have no plans of letting new opportunities pass by the wayside.

"If you are not getting better, you are falling behind." That phrase is imprinted in the mind of every veteran Alabama player, and before the spring is over, the early enrollees will have heard it a hundred times. It will become their motto, as well.

Not one player better be complacent. Not one will be ready for what coach Nick Saban has prepared for day one. It will be hard core, by the end of the week, one or two players may consider transferring or just simply calling it quits.

As the days get warmer in the next few weeks, know that the smartest of these players will take every opportunity to get out into the heat and run until they are exhausted. Stamina and endurance will go a long way during the first week.

Being explosive at the end of the day will catch the eye of the position coach and it will be caught on film. Saban will review those images at 5:30 the next morning and will identify those who are prepared for the start of the 2011 season.

The 2011 season begins in spring practice.

It continues through fall camp and the starters on opening day will have paid their dues in preparation, study, conditioning and execution on the practice field. The Kent State team that will line up on opening day in Tuscaloosa better beware. Those Alabama players lined up on the other side of the ball will be tired of hitting their own teammates. They will be ready to hit a true opponent.

So it begs the question, Kent State football. "Are you getting ready for your opening day at Bryant-Denny?"

The chill of winter is about to pass. Spring is around the bend and while it's true that baseball is in season, it's football that we are anticipating, football that we love.

Get your game on, Men in Crimson, let's get ready to roll. It's Alabama football.