Alabama Football: Who's Tending Injuries and Who's Finished Mending?

Spring is in the air, and that can only mean one thing in Tuscaloosa: The fourth quarter program will end this week and spring practice will begin thereafter.

One thing that will be nice to see is Dont'a Hightower running like a race horse again without a brace on his knee. Like most fans and writers, it was obvious that Hightower was still a step slower for most of last season from that injury.

One reason he decided to come back was to show the NFL that he is now back at full power and, best of all, full speed.

The type of injury that Hightower suffered let him come back to play last year, but not at full speed. That type of injury usually doesn't quit diminishing speed for over a year. Doctors now say that he should be, and all by all indications he is, back to the same speed he was before the injury.

That's going to be dangerous for opposing players because since that injury he's put on pounds of muscle and upped his bench press weights as well.

One who won't be taking part in spring drills, at least the contact portion, is Mark Barron, who is still nursing a torn chest muscle.

However, he should be good to go by fall practice, and the time he gets off during spring practices will help Robby Green get more reps at safety in practice with the first team.

This could be valuable this fall when they could be called on in nickle and dime packages or should injuries occur.

And while we're talking about players who are recovering from injuries to be 100 percent this year, put Dequan Menzie on that list.

Although Menzie played a lot last year, he was still not 100 percent from the Achilles injury in his foot. The fact that he played as well as he did at just 75 percent or so mobility gives you an idea of how good he could be this year with the injury finally 100 percent healed and doctors claiming full mobility.

With his full return, Robby Green back and Dre Kirkpatrick acting like a guy who may want to make a statement year for the NFL, the defensive backs could easily go from the biggest liability on the team to one of the best parts of it.

Robert Lester ended the Capital One Bowl Game with an ice pack on his shoulder, and when I interviewed him after the game he laughed and said, "It's nothing, if I had to, I'd suit up now."

And he was right, it was just a deep bruise that healed nicely and didn't keep him from participating the in the winter's fourth quarter program.

So unless they kill each other in spring and fall drills, the Tide should hit the first game with everyone healthy and that hasn't happened at the Capstone in quite a while.