Alabama is one football practice into its 13th spring under coach Nick Saban, and the Crimson Tide appear to be in better shape at outside linebacker compared to the inside.
Sophomore inside linebacker Ale Kaho, who tallied 11 tackles as a freshman last season and a team-high seven on kickoff coverage, did not attend the two-hour workout in helmets and shorts.
"He's got some issues that he's dealing with," Saban said in a news conference afterward. "We're trying to be supportive of him every way that we can. I think that we'll just continue to try to help him every way that we can.
"I don't know if there will be some point in time he'll be ready to come back and play football or not."
Kaho, a 6-foot-1, 224-pounder from Reno, Nevada, was the nation's No. 7 inside linebacker in the 2018 class. He signed with Washington but transferred early last August after Alabama had already started practicing.
Alabama must replace inside linebacker Mack Wilson, who elected to bypass his senior season for the NFL draft. Junior inside linebacker Dylan Moses is a returning starter, and working alongside him Friday was fifth-year senior Joshua McMillon out of Memphis. McMillon played in 10 games last season and tallied 14 tackles.
The Tide have much more experience at outside linebacker, a position headed by fifth-year senior Anfernee Jennings, redshirt junior Terrell Lewis and redshirt sophomore Christopher Allen. Lewis and Allen are coming off torn ACLs last summer.
"We think those guys will be fine," Saban said.
Saban said redshirt junior linebacker Ben Davis (shin splints), a former five-star prospect who has played in three games in his Alabama career, and senior safety Shyheim Carter (hernia) will be limited this spring. Junior cornerback Trevon Diggs practiced Friday for the first time since sustaining a broken foot last October.
Redshirt freshman Cameron Latu, a 6-5, 247-pounder from Salt Lake City who had two tackles last season at weakside linebacker, is practicing at tight end due to a lack of depth created by the departures of Hale Hentges and Irv Smith and a four-game suspension awaiting Kedrick James.
"It was good to start practice today," Saban said. "I was glad we could get outside. It wasn't a perfect day from a field-condition standpoint, but it was good to get out after a good offseason program. I think our No. 1 goal this spring is that we've got to re-establish the 'Alabama factor.'
"To do that, people have to have humility and understand that regardless of how much success you've had, you still have to pay attention to detail."
Saban had high praise for new safeties coach Charles Kelly, who has the added title of associate defensive coordinator and will assist defensive coordinator Pete Golding. Kelly spent last season as Tennessee's special-teams coordinator and safeties coach under Jeremy Pruitt and worked the five years before that at Florida State, where he was defensive coordinator from 2014 to 2017.
"Charles Kelly is a guy I've often considered being a coordinator here," Saban said. "I thought Pete did a really good job last year and that he should be the coordinator, but I also thought Charles Kelly was somebody who could do that because he's been in our system with other people - Jeremy at Florida State and Jeremy again at Tennessee.
"It's like having someone who's been on your staff as far as the knowledge and the terminology."
Alabama will hold its second spring practice March 18, when the university returns from spring break.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.