The days are winding down to Alabama’s season opener against Miami. The Crimson Tide took part in its 19th preseason practice and now have just seven more workouts until it takes on the Hurricanes inside of Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sept. 4.

While fall camp has provided Alabama with a better look at this year’s team, there are still a few position battles that need to be ironed out by the season opener. Nick Saban touched on a few of those Wednesday during his post-practice Zoom call with reporters. Here’s a look at three battles the head coach mentioned.

Alabama’s biggest uncertainty comes on the offensive line as it looks to replace three starters from last year’s Joe Moore Award-winning unit. A mixture of minor injuries has muddled the first-team picture a bit this fall, but the line seems to be slowly coming together. Returning starters Evan Neal and Emil Ekiyor Jr. are near locks to retain their first-team status as Neal slides over to left tackle while Ekiyor remains at right guard. Sophomore Javion Cohen also seems set for a promotion as he has looked solid at the left guard position.

Outside of that, things get a bit more complicated.

Following Saturday’s scrimmage, Saban said there is still competition at the center and right tackle spots. Redshirt senior Kendall Randolph had been working with the first-team line at right tackle before spraining his ankle. That appears to have opened the door for five-star freshman JC Latham to take his place.

The battle at center is a bit more of a surprise. Sixth-year senior Chris Owens entered camp as the heavy favorite to land the role after starting both of Alabama’s playoff games in replacement of an injured Landon Dickerson last season. However, Owens now has Darrian Dalcourt nipping at his heels as the junior has seen time with the first-team unit in recent weeks.

“I think we got to get a lot more consistency at the position,” Saban said Wednesday. “Consistency in snaps, consistency in blocking. We do have competition at the position, no doubt about that. Both guys are making progress and both guys are competing. Both guys [have] been a little banged up at times so there hasn’t been that consistency that we’d like to see in terms of them being able to go out there every day and do what they gotta do but it’s a work in progress right now and no decision has been made as to where we are as to who’s going to win that job.”

Alabama loses just one starter from last year’s secondary. That being said, replacing Patrick Surtain II at cornerback won’t be an easy task. Last season, the All-American was the highest-rated cornerback in the nation, earning a 90.1 defensive grade from Pro Football Focus.

While the first-round pick left some big shoes to fill, Alabama still has plenty of talent at its disposal.

So far this offseason, Jalyn Armour-Davis has taken the majority of first-team snaps in Surtain’s place across from Josh Jobe. However, the redshirt junior hasn’t quite locked up the job as Alabama has also seen plenty of potential from Rivals100 freshmen Kool-Aid McKinstry and Terrion Arnold as well as JUCO transfer Khyree Jackson and returning junior Marcus Banks.

Wednesday, Saban revealed that Armour-Davis has “been a little bit banged up” over the past couple of days which has opened up opportunities for the competition to perform.

“Some of the young guys are showing promise,” Saban said. “I think they’re still maybe feeling their way a little bit, but they’ve shown some promise. Khyree, Kool-Aid, those guys, Marcus Banks has done a pretty good job. ... We need to get everybody out there on the field so we can work together as a unit, which is something we haven’t been able to do for the last three or four practices.”

Unlike the center and cornerback position battles, Saban didn’t delve into the punting unit as a whole Wednesday. However, the head coach was asked about freshman Australian punter James Burnip, who drew rave reviews from sources in attendance at Alabama’s scrimmage on Saturday.

Burnip is currently battling with junior Ty Perine and Troy transfer Jack Martin for the punting role. According to sources, Burnip and Perine handled punting duties over the weekend with the Australian coming away as the far more consistent performer.

On top of his reliability, Burnip also has the advantage of having a variety of kicks in his arsenal. The former Australian rules football player is capable of rolling out of the pocket for directional punts and is also able to kick the ball in a way to produce better backspin to pin opponents near the goalline.

When asked Wednesday if he felt comfortable utilizing Burnip’s full kicking radius, Saban deadpanned that he had the Australian practice with the school’s rugby team in order to get more comfortable. On a serious note, the head coach proceeded to say has been impressed with what he’s seen from the new specialist throughout camp.

“He has made a lot of improvement and a lot of progress in terms of feeling comfortable,” Saban said. “He does have a variety of ways he can punt the ball, and he’s pretty effective at it.”