"If we had all positions settled, all depth issues settled, and we had 10 guys that we felt like were really, really what we need at every position, then those four guys' development and their evaluation would not be really that important because we're set," Saban said. "I can't say coming out of spring practice that we're completely set with where we are in the offensive line. There's still some early-in-camp evaluation that must go into the new players and how much the older guys improved relative to how the new guys could contribute.
"And there may be a couple of those guys that can contribute."
The easiest choice from that group is the most experienced: junior-college transfer Dominick Jackson.
6-foot-7, 320-pounds "He has a lot of catch-up to do, but during the summer time he sat with the older guys like us and we caught him up," center Ryan Kelly said.