Alabama is having to defend its football national championship without quarterback Jake Coker and top tailbacks Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake from last year's team, but those are not the only pieces of the puzzle missing.
Center Ryan Kelly was a three-year starter for Crimson Tide teams that went 37-5.
"Everybody knows about losing two of the top three running backs drafted, and having to replace them will be very difficult, but I think the center is going to be extremely hard to replace," third-year offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin said in a news conference earlier this month. "Ryan Kelly was the first guy drafted from our team, which I don't think a lot of people would have thought a year ago with all the great players we had, and it shows how valuable he was to the guys around him and to both of our quarterbacks the last two years as well."
Kelly was the 18th overall pick in this year's NFL draft, getting snatched by the Indianapolis Colts, who needed an anchor for quarterback Andrew Luck. Kelly won last season's Rimington Trophy as the nation's top center, but Ross Pierschbacher worked at center throughout the preseason until Saturday, when Bradley Bozeman got a look inside.
Pierschbacher started all 15 games last season at left guard but moved to center at the start of spring practice.
"You can't replace a guy like Ryan Kelly," Pierschbacher said in a news conference earlier this month, "but I'm going to step in and do my best. Whatever the coaches ask of me, I'm going to try and do."
Kelly was a three-year starter after replacing Barrett Jones, who won the Riminington in 2012.
Pierschbacher, a 6-foot-4, 298-pound redshirt sophomore from Cedar Falls, Iowa, was a top-five guard prospect in the 2014 class according to ESPN and Scout.com, and he was stout from the start last season.
In the opener against Wisconsin at the same AT&T Stadium that will house Alabama's game Saturday against Southern California, Pierschbacher graded out at 88 percent, racked up four knockdown blocks and aided an offense that hung 502 yards on the Badgers in a 35-17 whipping. He allowed just 1.5 sacks over 15 games and was dominant in the 29-13 win at Auburn, having no missed assignments in 78 snaps as the Tide wore down the Tigers and all but secured Henry's claim on the Heisman Trophy.
Pierschbacher was able to learn from Kelly last season, which could prove valuable after a month in which he has snapped to Cooper Bateman, Blake Barnett and Jalen Hurts during the Tide's ongoing quarterback competition.
"We trust the coaching staff as far as who they put back there," Pierschbacher said, "and we have full faith in every guy who's back there. All of them are talented and work really hard."
Tide tidbits
Alabama practiced Saturday afternoon and will take today off before beginning game-week preparations for Southern Cal on Monday. Head coach Nick Saban has awarded scholarships to senior tight ends Truett Harris and Brandon Moore and junior cornerback Levi Wallace.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.