5-star RB EJ Crowell came to Alabama with all the hype, and despite an injury-riddled spring, is expected to carve out a significant role as a true freshman for the Crimson Tide.
He might not be the only true freshman ready to crack the RB rotation, though.
3-star RB Trae'shawn Brown was a late addition to the Crimson Tide's signing class, committing to and signing with Alabama during the early signing period, seemingly out of nowhere. He arrived in Tuscaloosa with zero expectations of playing anytime soon, but he has quickly impressed in spring practice and is proving to be another tremendous evaluation by Kalen DeBoer and his staff.
With Crowell not practicing since last week, the opportunity has been there for increased reps for Brown, and he's obviously making the most out of them.
DeBoer singled out Brown during his post-scrimmage press conference on Friday:
"The guy that I thought had a nice week was Tra'shawn," DeBoer said. The Tide's head coach praised Brown's instinctiveness and pop.
Freshman RB Trae'shawn Brown is turning heads for Alabama during spring practice
Alabama has to get more out of its RB room this year, and despite not landing a splashy addition in the Transfer Portal following Hollywood Smothers' decision to flip his commitment to Texas, the Crimson Tide should still get improvement, just organically.
With Crowell and Brown providing an injection of young talent, and rising second-year RB AK Dear continuing to develop, the veterans in the room, like Daniel Hill and Kevin Riley, have no choice but to get better or they'll get passed on the depth chart.
DeBoer mentioned Riley having a good day in the backfield on Friday, and Hill has clearly slimmed down a bit from last season to gain some added explosiveness that he was missing a year ago.
With Brown's stunning emergence, Alabama may end up having a different problem than anyone expected: too many quality RBs with not enough carries to divvy up.