re: Official In-Season Practice, Injury Reports and Press Conferences Thread: 12-0

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- One of the top concerns for No. 1 Alabama entering the season was its depth along the defensive line. After a 2015 season that featured one of the best front lines in all of college football, the Crimson Tide was tasked with replacing two starters and two contributors and replacing them with relatively inexperienced players and a trio of newcomers.

After two games, Alabama’s defense has been the strength of its team, and the defensive line has not taken a step backward in terms of its push up front. That’s because the Tide has found some quality depth in the form of Dakota Ball.

Ball, a fifth-year senior, started out as a defensive lineman when he joined the Alabama program but moved to tight end as a redshirt sophomore. The Lindale, Ga., native switched back to his original position this spring because of a lack of experienced depth along the defensive line, a move Tide head coach Nick Saban made that has proven to be a wise one.

“Dakota Ball has shown some progress,” Saban said earlier this fall. “This is the natural position that he played. We moved him to tight end a year ago because we had depth problems there. I think he can help us some.”

In Alabama’s first two games of 2016, Ball has been one of the first reserves off the bench to spell starting defensive ends Jonathan Allen and Dalvin Tomlinson. He has registered four tackles and teamed up with Allen to split a sack in the team’s 38-10 victory over Western Kentucky in the Tide’s home opener this past weekend, showing off the motor Allen vouched for.

“He’s a baller,” Allen said of Ball. “I think he can play really well. I think he’ll really help the defensive line out. I definitely feel like he has an incredible motor, and that’s what makes him one of our best defensive linemen.

“He’s a really good player, run and pass rush.”

A former three-star product of Pepperell (Ga.) High School, Ball may not be the player most expected to see make an impact from a depth standpoint this fall. There are other, larger players at his position that have more practice time along the defensive line than the 6-foot-3, 268-pound Ball. Plus, the Tide added a trio of talented newcomers to the roster this summer.

But Ball kept his motor running in practice, presenting Alabama’s offensive line with another obstacle on the practice field. And because of that, the redshirt senior has seen more and more playing time this fall.

“Dakota is a very physical athlete,” center Bradley Bozeman said. “Just like the rest of our D-Line and everywhere else on our team, they are trying to get a starting spot and compete to the best of their ability.”

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Really proud of Dakota Ball. He could have transferred out like others in the past, but he worked his arse off and now he's getting recognized for it.