Saban said that receiver and running back are the two positions easiest for freshmen to pick up and play.
"If you can run three routes and you're really good at running those three routes and can get open, if you know those three routes, you can put in a guy to run those three routes," Saban said on the weekly radio show. "If you're an offensive lineman, you have to know everything there is to know because if they run one stunt and you don't block it right, the quarterback gets blown up or the running back gets blown up. Every position is different.
"Same thing on defense - you might be able to play defensive line some as a freshman because your mistakes can get covered up by the linebackers or the secondary. If you put guys in the back end and they don't know what they're doing and they bust the coverages, they're giving up big plays that are consequential to the outcome of the games....
Of course, Coach Saban is right. But it doesn't change anything for a 5-star recruit who wants to play as a freshman. Those egos are difficult to recruit, difficult to manage, and difficult to educate.
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