We’re only a couple of weeks away Nick Saban and the Alabama football team enters the driving range to kick off the spring ball.
As with any off-season, there are many questions that need to be answered before Tide takes the field to kick off the 2023 season.
As spring practice approaches, we are going to break each group of positions on both sides of the ball. We have already looked at defenders, running spins, line of defense, hard endsAnd outside linebackers.
Today we turn our attention to the midfielder’s inner room, which will replace a lot of experience here in 2023.
Let’s dive right in!
Notable departures
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Henry To’oTo’o | Jaylen Moody
This spring, Alabama will try to replace a linebacker with vast experience. Veterans Henry TooToo and Jaylen Moody move to the NFL. While neither To’oTo’o nor Moody were elite midfielders, replacing their wealth of experience will be a challenge for the Crimson Tide’s defense. Alabama also lost a reserve inside linebacker DeMouy Kennedy due to a transfer portal.
Notable returning players
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Deonte Lawson | Kendrick Blackshire
Jihad Campbell | Sean Murphy
As I mentioned earlier, the midfielder doesn’t have much experience. In fact, the only returning player to play important first-team defensive snaps is Deonte Lawson. Lawson started showing up at the end of the season in 2022 and appears to be one of the best linebackers in the SEC. Kendrick Blackshear, Jihad Campbell and Shaun Murphy will compete for first place opposite Lawson.
New faces
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Tresman Marshall | Justin Jefferson
This offseason, Alabama has added some quality talent as an inside linebacker with the addition of Georgia transfer Tresman Marshall and Yuko transfer Justin Jefferson. Marshall is an SEC veteran with experience defending Nick Saban when he played for Kirby Smart. Jefferson is an elite athlete whose future as an inside linebacker looks very bright.
What to look out for
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Competition with Deonte Lawson
This spring, all eyes will be on the only vacant linebacker position against Deonte Lawson. Will Marshall or Jefferson be able to come in and take over, or will it be taken over by one of the younger but super-talented guys? This competition will undoubtedly be tough and very interesting.
Predicted Depth Chart
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MIKE: Tresman Marshall | WILL: Deonte Lawson
It’s such an interesting group of positions to look out for as we get closer to spring football. Before the addition of Tresman Marshall, I assumed Deonta Lawson would take MIKE’s place and be the signal bell for Alabama’s defense, but with the arrival of Marshall, Kevin Steele and Nick Saban may be hoping to keep Lawson in the WILL so he can use his elite athleticism to play all over the field. , instead of defining the game.
I’m guessing this is the group we’ll be discussing all summer as we head to fall camp.
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Source: sports.yahoo.com
