Could Alabama Be Better Next Year?

Could Alabama (Really) Be Better Next Year?

This college football season has ended like the previous five, with a SEC team winning the BCS National Championship.  Alabama has claimed it's second title in three years.  Nick Saban became the first coach to win three BCS Championships (two with Bama, one with LSU).

The uncommon theme this year, was Alabama didn't win their conference.  Instead they faced the team that did win the conference and handed them their only defeat, LSU.  However, Alabama proved to be the best team in the nation with a 21 - 0 win in the rematch at the Super Dome.  It marked the first time two teams from the same conference played in a BCS Championship.
Don't think I'm crazy for this next question.  Could it be that after losing twelve starters Alabama is going to be better next year?  No way.... Right?  Don't write them off just yet.


Although this time around there will be no Trent Richardson, Eddie Lacy has shown he is only a notch below Richardson.  He will be backed up by "The Beast" Jalston Fowler, who is a 250 pound road grader.  Fowler will have to fight for carries with redshirt freshmen Dee Hart, who is coming off an achilles injury and will be full go for spring practice, as well as Alabama's "Mr. Football" true freshmen T.J. Yeldon.  The Tide will also look to their passing game more next year.  New Offensive Coordinator Doug Nussmeier brings his passing expertise to Alabama from Washington, where he learned under Steve Sarkisian.  A.J. McCarron will be playing with a season long confidence after Nick Saban cut him loose in the championship game.  He'll have two new starting receivers, but they'll likely be upgrades over Marquis Maze and Darius Hanks.  One void looks to be filled by Duron Cater who is the son of Cris Carter.  He's a lean 6'5 receiver who has been around and has star potential.  Also, players like DeAndrew White, Marvin Shinn, Kenny Bell and Kevin Norwood (who played a tremendous BCS game) are excellent athletes who will improve for the upcoming season.  In addition to the current receiving corps, Bama has four commitments in their 2012 recruiting class that look to play wide receiver, headlined by five star prospect Eddie Williams and two early enrollees, Amari Cooper and Chris Black.

The offensive line returns four starters.  Bama loses center William Vlachos to graduation.  "All-Everything" Barrett Jones will likely move to center from his tackle position.  Fifth-year Senior, Jones spent a lot of time at guard and was the emergency backup center last year.  Cyrus Kouandjio, the 6'7 325 pound phenom, will man the left tackle spot.  Many people around Alabama's staff think Kouandjio is a future All-American and possibly a top five pick in the NFL Draft.  The offense will no doubt be improved.

The major concern comes with the defense who led the nation in every major statistical category.  They lose seven starters.  They lose starting cornerbacks, Dre Kirkpatrick and DeQuan Menzie.  Super Safety, Mark Barron also leaves the secondary bare.  They lose three of their four linebackers, including their leaders in tackles (Dont'a Hightower) and sacks (Courtney Upshaw).  Underrated nose tackle Josh Chapman could be the hardest to replace.

Robert Lester is the lone returning defensive back.  He is likely to be paired with Ha'Sean "Ha-Ha" Clinton-Dix.  Reserve safeties look to be sophomore Vinnie Sunseri and Bama's prized recruit, Landon Collins.  Junior Dee Milliner is the only returning player with starting experience (19 starts in two years) but Alabama will have two cornerbacks with JUCO experience in Deion Belue and Travell Dixon.  John Fulton has shown excellent coverage ability in his little playing time.  Trey DePriest looks to get first crack at joining C.J. Mosley and Nico Johnson in the inside linebacker rotation.  Adrian Hubbard and Xzavier Dickson will battle for the "Jack" position vacated by Upshaw.  The aforementioned nose tackle duties will be the toughest replacement for Bama to find.  Jesse Williams could slide over from his 5-technique end spot or true freshmen Alphonse Taylor could cement a starting position with a good spring practice, as he is also an early enrollee.

There will be lots of turnover from one year to the next.  Twelve new starters, a new offensive coordinator and a seventh team in the SEC West (Texas A&M) will all be factors in Alabama's potential success next season.  The one constant through all this?  Nick Saban.  Whether or not Alabama becomes a better team next year is a fun question but they are not playing the 2011 team.  Will they prove to be better than LSU once again is the question that matters.