Five talking points for Alabama during SEC Media Days

Alabama’s fall camp won’t begin until next month, but the unofficial start to college football season kicks off this week with SEC Media Days. The four-day media event will return to Hoover, Ala., this year as teams will gather inside the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — Wynfrey Hotel.

Alabama’s appearance is scheduled for Wednesday morning as Nick Saban will be accompanied by Tua Tagovailoa, Jerry Jeudy and Dylan Moses. Here’s a look at some of the talking points surrounding the Crimson Tide this week.

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It was always likely that Saban would be asked about transfers, but with junior tight end Kedrick James recently placing his name in the NCAA transfer portal, the topic is even more inevitable.

If James elects to leave, he will be the sixth scholarship player to exit Alabama this offseason. The Crimson Tide’s most notable departure came when quarterback Jalen Hurts joined Oklahoma as a graduate transfer. Alabama has also lost several backups in offensive lineman Richie Petitbon (Illinois), defensive back Kyriq McDonald (Cincinnati), quarterback Layne Hatcher (Arkansas State) and long snapper Scott Meyer (Vanderbilt). Alabama added former Florida State offensive lineman Landon Dickerson as a graduate transfer.

The increase in comings and goings has been spurred on by the NCAA transfer portal, which was established in October of last year. The new set up allows players to enter their name into a database in which they can be contacted by other teams to initiate transfers. Players can remove their names at any time and are still eligible to play while their name is listed.

Saban was asked about the transfer portal during SEC Spring Meetings in May, stating, “I’m for whatever benefits the player.” However, as possible distractions linger on closer to camp, it will be interesting to hear what the head coach has to say on the matter.

The last news surrounding Tagovailoa came when he skipped a trip to the Manning Passing Academy due to a minor hamstring injury. While the injury is not expected to affect the starting quarterback this fall, it adds to a growing list of setbacks he has faced since his rise to stardom.

Despite putting up record numbers last season, Tagovailoa experienced his fair share of injuries. He sat out last year’s spring camp after twice fracturing a bone in his throwing hand. He then sprained the posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in October and suffered a quadriceps injury the following month before spraining his left ankle in the SEC Championship Game. The series of knocks contributed to an inconsistent end of the season as Tagovailoa struggled against Georgia in the SEC Championship Game before throwing two interceptions in the national championship game loss to Clemson.

Concern surrounding the Heisman finalist grew during the spring following a disappointing performance during Alabama’s A-Day game where he completed 19 of 37 passes for 265 yards and a touchdown with an interception. While Saban said there was “nothing wrong” with Tagovailoa following A-Day, the head coach later called for his starting quarterback to focus on improvement over the summer.

“I think that he has to challenge himself to get back into great shape and overcome some of the things that happened toward the end of the year," Saban said during SEC Spring Meetings. "And I think he should take the perception that he has a lot to prove relative to how we ended the season.”

Tagovailoa apparently took that challenge to heart, returning to Alabama 15 pounds lighter than he was during the spring. This week should provide more information toward how the left-hander has progressed heading into his junior year.

Saban’s mantra throughout the spring centered on the “Alabama factor,” a tagline drawn up to encompass the Crimson Tide's ethos of commitment, discipline and accountability — traits that appeared to go missing toward the end of last season.

“It’s been who I am for the last 27-some years,” Saban said this spring. “It’s been who we are ever since we’ve been here. You could ask someone who played on the first or second team here that went 12-0 and lost in the SEC Championship Game, and they could recite and tell you exactly what that is. So it’s not a slogan. It’s really what the program’s built on.”

Alabama players seemed to buy into the “Alabama factor” this spring with many still holding a chip on their shoulders from the Crimson Tide’s 44-16 loss to Clemson in the national championship game. Following Alabama’s loss to Clemson in the 2017 national championship game, Saban spoke out at SEC Media Days stating, “I don’t want to waste a failure.”

Will Saban and his players come up with a new motto this week or stick to its catchphrase from the spring? Either way, we should get a good look at the team’s mindset heading into the season.

Alabama’s coaching carousel continued to turn this offseason as the Crimson Tide welcomed in seven new assistants in its second staff rebuild in as many years. The latest coaching haul comes after Alabama introduced six new coaches following the 2017 season. After both shakeups, the Crimson Tide is now left without any of the nine on-field assistants from the team that beat Georgia in the 2018 national championship game.

Key among conversation this week will be offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, who will replace Mike Locksley after he left to become the head coach at Maryland. Sarkisian is in his second stint with the Crimson Tide after taking over as offensive coordinator for Lane Kiffin during the 2017 national championship game. Unlike last season, Alabama’s offensive coordinator will also oversee the quarterbacks as Sarkisian takes over for Dan Enos, who left to take the offensive coordinator job at Miami.

Alabama will also see a change of guard on the other side of the ball as Pete Golding was promoted to defensive coordinator to replace Tosh Lupoi, who left to coach defensive line for the Cleveland Browns. Despite being listed as the co-defensive coordinator/inside linebackers coach last year, Golding called the defense for the Crimson Tide for the majority of the season.

Along with Sarkisian, Alabama’s other new additions include: Kyle Flood (offensive line), Charles Huff (associate head coach/running backs), Holman Wiggins (wide receivers), Brian Baker (associate head coach/defensive line), Sal Sunseri (outside linebackers) and Charles Kelly (associate defensive coordinator/safeties).

After overseeing the entire secondary last season, Karl Scott will focus exclusively on the cornerbacks. The only assistant to keep his exact title from last year is Jeff Banks, who will continue to coach special teams and tight ends.

With Dylan Moses serving as Alabama’s lone defensive representative, there are bound to be questions about who will line up next to him this season. Moses is coming off a breakout sophomore year in which he was named a Butkus Award finalist after leading Alabama with 86 tackles. This season, the former five-star recruit will step into an even bigger role as he takes over signal-calling duties for Mack Wilson at Mike linebacker. While Moses’ ability to take on the new role isn’t in question, finding his replacement at Will linebacker is much more of an uncertainty.

Outside of Moses, Joshua McMillon is Alabama’s only upperclassman at inside linebacker. However, the redshirt senior has yet to start a game and tallied just 14 tackles over 10 appearances last season. Freshman Shane Lee looked impressive this spring, while sophomores Markail Benton, Ale Kaho and Jaylen Moody all showed plenty of promise as well. However, it will likely take a while to break in any player Alabama decides to line up next to Moses.

The inside linebacking unit received mixed reviews from Saban during the spring. Both he and Moses should be able to provide a better update on where Alabama stands at the position this week.