Top-ranked Alabama relying on young, untested secondary
Associated PressTUSCALOOSA, Ala. — All the offseason chatter about who will be throwing passes for Alabama — Jalen Hurts or Tua Tagovailoa — has overshadowed the pressing question of who’s charged with defending them. “It’s a real work in progress to me,” said coach Nick Saban, who takes a hands-on role with the defensive backs in practice. How we fit the guys around those two guys remains to be determined.” This being Alabama, there’s a long list of highly recruited players trying to climb up the depth chart. Replacing star defensive backs is nothing new for Alabama, which has produced seven first-round NFL draft picks — including Fitzpatrick — from the secondary since 2010. “All of the older guys are going to leave and I was going to be in this position one day, so you’ve just got to take it how it is and just follow what the guys that left, Minkah and all those guys, just follow and pass it on.” Two of the newcomers are former five-star recruits, Surtain and Smith.
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