By Michael Casagrande
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Throw it against the wall and see what sticks.
That’s the strategy Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart said he uses when teaching the Crimson Tide playbook.
It apparently also is the plan for finding the right combination of starting linebackers this season.
While cautiously avoiding any talk of a depth chart, head coach Nick Saban said the deck is still being shuffled in the final two weeks of the preseason.
“They are still moving guys around,” linebacker Dont’a Hightower said. “Everybody doesn’t know where they are on the depth chart. Everybody doesn’t know if they are going to play inside or outside. We’re all just out there trying to learn the defense.”
Hightower’s starting job is all but assured, but the rest remains up for grabs. Even Nico Johnson – a starter after Hightower’s season-ending injury last year and a preseason Butkus Award watch list member – is “teetering back and forth between being a starter and a backup,” Saban said.
So far this preseason, Johnson has worked at three of the four positions in the Tide’s 3-4 base defense, including a shot at the outside position known as the “Sam” in Tuesday’s workout.
“But it’s a day-to-day thing,” Saban said. “We’re trying to see who can do what and where we can get the best guys on the field. Those are not permanent moves.”
Johnson is the only linebacker back from those who started at the end of last season. Rolando McClain, Cory Reamer and Eryk Anders all are taking their shot at the pros now, so it’s up to their heralded group of former understudies to live up to the legacy.
The names are familiar as the backups and specialty players from the multiple looks the 2009 defense threw at the opposition. Where they fit into the new plan is still to be determined.
Hightower is the exception.
The former Freshman All-American said he’s settling into the inside linebacker position formerly occupied by McClain known as the “Mike.” Replacing the first-round draft pick was daunting at first, he admitted.
“I feel so comfortable in it now,” he said. “I feel like I’ve played Mike since I’ve been here. I’m so comfortable making the checks and all the calls and audibles.”
That still leaves a host of one-time top recruits and a few with starting experience including Courtney Upshaw, Jerrell Harris, Chris Jordan and true freshman C.J. Mosley.
Having the ability to play all of the linebacker positions is almost a prerequisite for consideration.
Harris plays an inside position when the defense uses the nickel formation but is an outside linebacker when using the base.