Tide works on depth at linebacker

TUSCALOOSA | The University of Alabama football team held its 10th practice of the spring Wednesday afternoon at the Thomas-Drew Practice Facility, and head coach Nick Saban acknowledged the lack of depth at linebacker, but said progress has been made.

“We don’t have a lot of depth there," Saban said. “We’ve got two outside backers who’ve never played there before. They’re making nice progress, but they have to make some improvement.

“We’re talking about guys reacting and making mental errors and penalties, because they’re not used to doing it. We’ve got to work through that and get better at it."

Ezekial Knight made the switch to outside linebacker this spring, along with Cory Reamer, who started working at the position Tuesday.

Middle linebacker Prince Hall said he thought Reamer would be fine experimenting with his new role.

“I think he’ll be all right," Hall said. “He looks good there. He probably needs to get more physical, but he’ll get it."

Keith Saunders and Brandon Fanney have also made the switch from a pure defensive end position to the “jack" position, which is a hybrid between an end and an outside linebacker.

Saban said the defensive personnel dictates the formation of the defense, but the “jack" position makes it possible to be flexible in rotating from a 3-4 (three down linemen, and four linebackers) to a 4-3 (four down linemen and three linebackers).

“It’s not a different defense," Saban said. “It’s just an implementation based on the personnel.

“That’s what we’re trying to do here with a couple of guys who aren’t really defensive linemen. Zeke Knight is not a defensive lineman. He’s an outside backer body type, and so is Saunders. Those two guys do a pretty good job, and we’re not getting them beat up playing over the tackle all the time."

Saban said Hall and Darren Mustin are leading the way at the inside linebacker positions, but consistency was an issue behind them.

“I think both inside backers are making progress [Prince and Mustin]," Saban said, “but we are still searching for anybody that can play with any kind of consistency behind those guys."

Saban confirmed on Wednesday that Reamer was practicing at outside linebacker, Taylor Pharr returned to the offensive line and Matt Collins was practicing with the defensive line.

“We don’t have any evaluation after one or two days as to whether they’ll make the Pro Bowl someday or not," Saban said. “It’s also very difficult in midstream to change guys around because you lose the cumulative effect of what their knowledge is at their position.

“It’s still more important to us right now to find out with some of this experimentation, so that we have an opportunity to know what some guys can do, if we need to do that next year."

Sophomore running back Jimmy Johns has returned to the practice field after missing Friday’s scrimmage. Saban confirmed Wednesday that Johns has participated in the last two sessions.

“He’s been practicing for the last two practices," Saban said. “He’s got to earn his way back. Or should we reward him for missing two days? Because, in my opinion, he missed. Everybody knows the rules.