Alabama Football: What Saban Hopes to Find in Upcoming Spring Practices

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer) When spring practice begins on the campus of Alabama next month, there are several things that Nick Saban is hoping to see and answers he hopes he can find in the battles that will rage. In no particular order they are: Leadership—With Greg McElroy gone the offense has no go to leader for the team to rally around and it won't automatically go to the winner of the quarterback battle, if in fact there is a clear winner. And each positions has it's leaders, Julio Jones led by example in the receiving corps and Mark Ingram was the quiet leader for the running backs. On offense, only William Vlachos will continue his leadership role over the offensive line. Things are more set on defense where many of last years leaders return and new leaders are emerging. Defensive Back Consistency—Last year Saban tried a lot of people in a lot of positions and still things never seemed settled to the point where you could count on that group when you...