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http://alabama.247sports.com/Article/Five-areas-where-newcomers-might-help-35458650
The ink is dry. The faxes are in. The decisions are final.
Ridley won't get the headstart that Amari Cooper did, but he's still a good bet to make an impact.
For the 24 recruits who officially joined the Alabama Crimson Tide on Wednesday, now comes the hard part. What they did over the last three or four years got them to this point. None of that will get them where they would like to go moving forward, however.
For more than a few, reality will present itself in the form of a redshirt year spent on the scout team. For some, though, the opportunity to get on the field in 2015 is just as real. Crazy as it may sound, even a program that has reeled in five straight top-ranked recruiting classes has holes to fill.
With that, here are five areas of the Crimson Tide that could see a newcomer make an impact in the fall.
Safety
Gone are 2014 starters Landon Collins and Nick Perry, a duo that combined to make 27 starts last season. In Collins, the Crimson Tide must replace a an All-American who projects as the Crimson Tide's third, first-round draft choice at the position in the last four years. Include Jarrick Williams, a starter at star in 15 games over the last two seasons, among those moving on and UA will need to replace three of its top four safeties from 2014.
Of those returning at the position, rising senior Geno Smith is easily the most experienced safety on the roster, having appeared in 39 games, including eight starts, for the Crimson Tide. Beyond Smith, Alabama welcomes back Jabriel Washington, Laurence Jones and Jonathan Cook, with Washington, who appeared in 13 games last season, ranking second to Geno Smith in terms of game action at the position.
Given the departures, an area where young players are typically developed at a reasonable pace might be expedited a tad. That means January arrivals Deionte Thompson and Ronnie Harrison could have a bit more thrown at them this spring than Jones had a year ago.
Remember, it's not just the two safety spots in the base defense that Alabama is looking to replace. There's the star and money positions in the nickel and dime packages to consider as well.
Watching signees Thompson, Harrison and Shawn Burgess-Becker on tape, all three are true safety types. That serves as a break from the long list of recruited corners who have converted to safety in recent years at UA, a group that includes Geno Smith, Washington, Cook and potentially Maurice Smith beginning this spring.
Thompson shows nice ball skills, but also played in the box a good bit in high school. Harrison is a long athlete who might be at his best as a free safety-type in the middle of the field. As for Burgess-Becker, while he may not be as polished as Thompson and Harrison in coverage, at 6-foot-1, 195 pounds, he fits nicely between his two classmates when looking at measurables.
The biggest concern with going with youth at safety involves the mental aspect of the game. Is a first-year player capable of running the show in the secondary while also making sure he doesn't bust his own responsibilities?
If either Thompson, Harrison or Burgess-Becker proves that he can, he will have done something Collins, Mark Barron and HaHa Clinton-Dix didn't. Of course, the need at safety for the Crimson Tide right now is a little more pressing than it was in 2012, 2011 and 2008, too.
Tight end
With two-year starter Brian Vogler moving on, this spot essentially boils down to OJ Howard and a handful of situational performers.
Brandon Greene and Dakota Ball are primarily goal line and short yardage options, although Greene's 24-yard grab in overtime against LSU will long be cherished by Alabama fans. There's also Ty Flournoy-Smith, a junior college transfer who didn't see the field much in 2014.
With that, the quest for an every down tight end to go along with Howard led UA to Hale Hentges, a four-star prospect in the Composite 247sports.com rankings. Hentges lined up at a number of spots in high school, including the in-line and Y positions.
Hentges used his 6-foot-5 frame to effectively work the middle of the field in the passing game on the prep level. The question moving forward is, will the 230-pound Hentges be able to hold his while going against defensive ends and outside linebackers in the run game early on in his career?
Wide receiver
To be clear, no one receiver is going to replace the record-setting production UA got from Amari Cooper in 2014. And while their numbers were dwarfed by those put up by Cooper, DeAndrew White and Christion Jones also played a lot of snaps for Alabama the last few seasons.
Reloading at wide receiver will require a collective effort, with rising sophomores ArDarius Stewart and Cameron Sims and junior Chris Black heading the list of prospective candidates to move to the top of the rotation. Another sophomore, Robert Foster, will look to validate the five-star ranking that accompanied him to Tuscaloosa in 2013 and the Crimson Tide will also welcome back a pair of big targets in redshirt freshman Derek Keif (6-foot-5) and rising junior Raheem Falkins (6-foot-4).
So, it's not like Alabama hasn't recruited for this very moment. Still, even with promising options returning, it's hard to envision incoming freshmen Calvin Ridley and Daylon Charlot not pushing for prominent roles as rookies.
Watching Ridley, it's easy to see why some would compare him to Cooper. Some guys are explosive off the ball. Others are dangerous after the catch. A select few have the ability to maintain top speed and body control when coming out of the break.
Like Cooper, Ridley looks to have all of those qualities. Is he the polished product Cooper was coming out of high school? Not many guys are. When it comes to physical gifts, however, he's right there with his fellow south Floridian at the same stage in his development.
As for Charlot, he'll give Lane Kiffin another No. 1 receiver-type talent with which to work. While he may get his start at the Z or Y, Charlot has X receiver explosiveness and attacks the ball with his hands as well as any high school receiver out there. With Alabama in the market for a return man, Charlot could be in the mix at that spot as well early in his career.
Inside linebacker
Reggie Ragland is a given at this spot for the 2015 season. Veteran Dillon Lee has worked inside on a situational (nickel and dime) basis throughout his UA career, but he doesn't appear to be an every down option at the position. Otherwise, there are a handful of inexperienced candidates to consider, with Reuben Foster, Shaun Hamilton and Keith Holcombe leading the way.
The expectation is that the void created by Trey DePriest 's departure will be filled by one or a combination of those three players, but the opportunity for early playing time could be there for incoming freshman Adonis Thomas. While his UA-issued Signing Day bio projects him as an outside linebacker for UA, Thomas worked inside a good bit during his high school career. Thomas has the closing speed and athleticism needed to give the Crimson Tide another playmaker in space.
Cornerback
Another area where a starter -- Cyrus Jones -- returns but a question mark looms at the other spot. I'm on record as calling for a rebound season from Eddie Jackson in 2015, but that doesn't mean there won't be competition at his spot.
Look for that to come from a pair of 2014 five stars in Tony Brown and Marlon Humphrey with 2015's five-star double down of Kendall Sheffield and Minkah Fitzpatrick potentially in the picture as well. All four players have legitimate track speed.
As for ball skills and the maturity needed to deal with the highs and lows the position presents, those are a few of the great unknowns when dealing with freshman corners. And they're ones Sheffield and Fitzpatrick will have a chance to answer beginning in August.
The ink is dry. The faxes are in. The decisions are final.
Ridley won't get the headstart that Amari Cooper did, but he's still a good bet to make an impact.
For the 24 recruits who officially joined the Alabama Crimson Tide on Wednesday, now comes the hard part. What they did over the last three or four years got them to this point. None of that will get them where they would like to go moving forward, however.
For more than a few, reality will present itself in the form of a redshirt year spent on the scout team. For some, though, the opportunity to get on the field in 2015 is just as real. Crazy as it may sound, even a program that has reeled in five straight top-ranked recruiting classes has holes to fill.
With that, here are five areas of the Crimson Tide that could see a newcomer make an impact in the fall.
Safety
Gone are 2014 starters Landon Collins and Nick Perry, a duo that combined to make 27 starts last season. In Collins, the Crimson Tide must replace a an All-American who projects as the Crimson Tide's third, first-round draft choice at the position in the last four years. Include Jarrick Williams, a starter at star in 15 games over the last two seasons, among those moving on and UA will need to replace three of its top four safeties from 2014.
Of those returning at the position, rising senior Geno Smith is easily the most experienced safety on the roster, having appeared in 39 games, including eight starts, for the Crimson Tide. Beyond Smith, Alabama welcomes back Jabriel Washington, Laurence Jones and Jonathan Cook, with Washington, who appeared in 13 games last season, ranking second to Geno Smith in terms of game action at the position.
Given the departures, an area where young players are typically developed at a reasonable pace might be expedited a tad. That means January arrivals Deionte Thompson and Ronnie Harrison could have a bit more thrown at them this spring than Jones had a year ago.
Remember, it's not just the two safety spots in the base defense that Alabama is looking to replace. There's the star and money positions in the nickel and dime packages to consider as well.
Watching signees Thompson, Harrison and Shawn Burgess-Becker on tape, all three are true safety types. That serves as a break from the long list of recruited corners who have converted to safety in recent years at UA, a group that includes Geno Smith, Washington, Cook and potentially Maurice Smith beginning this spring.
Thompson shows nice ball skills, but also played in the box a good bit in high school. Harrison is a long athlete who might be at his best as a free safety-type in the middle of the field. As for Burgess-Becker, while he may not be as polished as Thompson and Harrison in coverage, at 6-foot-1, 195 pounds, he fits nicely between his two classmates when looking at measurables.
The biggest concern with going with youth at safety involves the mental aspect of the game. Is a first-year player capable of running the show in the secondary while also making sure he doesn't bust his own responsibilities?
If either Thompson, Harrison or Burgess-Becker proves that he can, he will have done something Collins, Mark Barron and HaHa Clinton-Dix didn't. Of course, the need at safety for the Crimson Tide right now is a little more pressing than it was in 2012, 2011 and 2008, too.
Tight end
With two-year starter Brian Vogler moving on, this spot essentially boils down to OJ Howard and a handful of situational performers.
Brandon Greene and Dakota Ball are primarily goal line and short yardage options, although Greene's 24-yard grab in overtime against LSU will long be cherished by Alabama fans. There's also Ty Flournoy-Smith, a junior college transfer who didn't see the field much in 2014.
With that, the quest for an every down tight end to go along with Howard led UA to Hale Hentges, a four-star prospect in the Composite 247sports.com rankings. Hentges lined up at a number of spots in high school, including the in-line and Y positions.
Hentges used his 6-foot-5 frame to effectively work the middle of the field in the passing game on the prep level. The question moving forward is, will the 230-pound Hentges be able to hold his while going against defensive ends and outside linebackers in the run game early on in his career?
Wide receiver
To be clear, no one receiver is going to replace the record-setting production UA got from Amari Cooper in 2014. And while their numbers were dwarfed by those put up by Cooper, DeAndrew White and Christion Jones also played a lot of snaps for Alabama the last few seasons.
Reloading at wide receiver will require a collective effort, with rising sophomores ArDarius Stewart and Cameron Sims and junior Chris Black heading the list of prospective candidates to move to the top of the rotation. Another sophomore, Robert Foster, will look to validate the five-star ranking that accompanied him to Tuscaloosa in 2013 and the Crimson Tide will also welcome back a pair of big targets in redshirt freshman Derek Keif (6-foot-5) and rising junior Raheem Falkins (6-foot-4).
So, it's not like Alabama hasn't recruited for this very moment. Still, even with promising options returning, it's hard to envision incoming freshmen Calvin Ridley and Daylon Charlot not pushing for prominent roles as rookies.
Watching Ridley, it's easy to see why some would compare him to Cooper. Some guys are explosive off the ball. Others are dangerous after the catch. A select few have the ability to maintain top speed and body control when coming out of the break.
Like Cooper, Ridley looks to have all of those qualities. Is he the polished product Cooper was coming out of high school? Not many guys are. When it comes to physical gifts, however, he's right there with his fellow south Floridian at the same stage in his development.
As for Charlot, he'll give Lane Kiffin another No. 1 receiver-type talent with which to work. While he may get his start at the Z or Y, Charlot has X receiver explosiveness and attacks the ball with his hands as well as any high school receiver out there. With Alabama in the market for a return man, Charlot could be in the mix at that spot as well early in his career.
Inside linebacker
Reggie Ragland is a given at this spot for the 2015 season. Veteran Dillon Lee has worked inside on a situational (nickel and dime) basis throughout his UA career, but he doesn't appear to be an every down option at the position. Otherwise, there are a handful of inexperienced candidates to consider, with Reuben Foster, Shaun Hamilton and Keith Holcombe leading the way.
The expectation is that the void created by Trey DePriest 's departure will be filled by one or a combination of those three players, but the opportunity for early playing time could be there for incoming freshman Adonis Thomas. While his UA-issued Signing Day bio projects him as an outside linebacker for UA, Thomas worked inside a good bit during his high school career. Thomas has the closing speed and athleticism needed to give the Crimson Tide another playmaker in space.
Cornerback
Another area where a starter -- Cyrus Jones -- returns but a question mark looms at the other spot. I'm on record as calling for a rebound season from Eddie Jackson in 2015, but that doesn't mean there won't be competition at his spot.
Look for that to come from a pair of 2014 five stars in Tony Brown and Marlon Humphrey with 2015's five-star double down of Kendall Sheffield and Minkah Fitzpatrick potentially in the picture as well. All four players have legitimate track speed.
As for ball skills and the maturity needed to deal with the highs and lows the position presents, those are a few of the great unknowns when dealing with freshman corners. And they're ones Sheffield and Fitzpatrick will have a chance to answer beginning in August.
