Secondary sees shuffling through fall camp

There’s a lot of movement in the secondary. That’s not abnormal during fall camp, a time that sees some experimentation.

Marlon Humphrey is a constant at cornerback, the redshirt sophomore started all 15 games last season opposite Cyrus Jones. He was the guy leaning on Jones last year when he had questions. Now, he’s the guy others are leaning on when they’re unsure.

The others include the young corners vying for a role on the defense, including Kendall Sheffield, Jared Mayden and Shyheim Carter, who is being looked at at several spots in the secondary.

Sheffield was not at practice Monday.

With the departure of Maurice Smith, sophomore Minkah Fitzpatrick is now playing two positions. In nickel and dime defense, Fitzpatrick mans the Star defensive back position. In regular, he’s at corner. As a freshman, Fitzpatrick started 10 games.

It’s not unheard of for a sophomore to play such a vital role in the defense, but to do so at multiple positions isn’t what UA coach Nick Saban wants in an ideal situation. When Smith left the program, it didn’t create an ideal situation.

“Last year (Fitzpatrick) just had to play Star and never really had to play much corner,” Saban said. “This year he's having to do both. I'd like for a guy not to have to do that. I'd like to have a guy that could play corner or a guy that could play star so that guy could always sort of play in one position. I'm not sure we have the luxury to do that at this point relative to the players that we have available. So he may have to do that.

“He's very versatile and he's bright, he's smart, he's very conscientious, he works hard every day. So if there's anybody who can do it, I think he's certainly the right kind of guy to do it. That may be how we end up this year.”

Fitzpatrick recorded 45 tackles, two interceptions and 13 passes defended.

If Fitzpatrick stays at Star, that will mean an inexperienced cornerback will see major playing time this season.

Averett, a redshirt junior from New Jersey, played in six games last season and made two tackles. Jayden and Carter are both true freshmen.

“We're out there working with them every day and we're going to try to put the best parts together that we can,” Saban said. “And we've got some young guys that I think can be really good players but it's a work in progress to sort of get those guys to know and understand not only what we do, but all the adjustments we have to make for what other teams do when we play them.

“It's going to be important that some of these young guys provide us with the depth that we need and there's a lot of opportunity for these guys to play and I think they're working hard and focused on it and making improvement every day. But it's too early to tell how it's going to all fall in place for us.”

Reach Aaron Suttles at aaron@tidesports.com or at 205-722-0229.