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Alabama Football: 5 potential breakout candidates for spring 2019

By John Mitchell

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA - NOVEMBER 03: Brian Robinson Jr. #24 and Kyriq McDonald #26 of the Alabama Crimson Tide take the field prior to their game against the LSU Tigers at Tiger Stadium on November 03, 2018 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA - NOVEMBER 03: Brian Robinson Jr. #24 and Kyriq McDonald #26 of the Alabama Crimson Tide take the field prior to their game against the LSU Tigers at Tiger Stadium on November 03, 2018 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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With spring football revving up, Alabama Football officially gets back to work with 2018 in the rearview mirror. Here are five potential breakout candidates.

Losing has a way of reigniting the diminished flame inside of you. Complacency has long been the biggest obstacle for championship teams, and at Alabama there’s certainly been a bevy of championship teams to roll through Tuscaloosa under Nick Saban’s watch.

Winners of five of the last 10 National Championships, Alabama begins their preparation for 2019 on the heels of a humiliating defeat two months ago in Santa Clara with a sixth title on the line against a Clemson team that has become a yearly rival in the College Football Playoff. Alabama has lost games under Saban before, but never like that. The 44-16 loss to the Tigers was the biggest margin of defeat of Saban’s tenure in Tuscaloosa by 14 points.

It was a margin of defeat that fans and players had completely forgotten how to process. The Crimson Tide is used to being the one doing the bludgeoning to overmatched opponents; never before had they looked so overwhelmed against a superior foe.

The loss to Clemson brought plenty of people out to opine about the ending of the Crimson dynasty, with sportswriters across the country hoping to capitalize on the falling Tide and be among the first to pen the obituary. That’s something we’ve seen for several years now, though, and each time Saban and Alabama have answered the bell and used the doubts as fuel as they climbed back up the mountain and captured another national title.

To do so this year, it will be with yet another cast of characters on the coaching staff as Saban’s staff was once again completely overhauled for the second straight offseason. Time will tell if this staff is an upgrade from last season, and their on-field work begins in earnest as spring practice revs up.

A lot of talent returns to Tuscaloosa for 2019, but a lot of key pieces from last year’s SEC Champion must be replaced. Along with some key senior departures, Alabama saw seven underclassmen depart early for the NFL Draft, opening up holes on the roster that returning players and incoming freshmen will try and fill.

Alabama once again signed the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class, so another influx of freshmen talent will be converging on the Capstone. We’ve talked at length about the recruiting class, so in this space we’re going to focus on some returning players who could potentially breakout during spring practice and push for bigger roles in 2019.

Here’s five players who could do just that this spring:

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